And regardless of the number of new birds I might add to my lists, I was really looking forward to an extended birding trip on the coast.
My birding plan heading back from the CBC meeting was to focus on NC targets – with a first full day on the coast and the next day at inland sites. So I developed an extensive NC itinerary to either chase after recently reported rarities, or to head to good birding locations with the potential for other targets.
But all that was pending any rarities that might be spotted at the CBC or nearby in SC that could be chaseable. It turned out that earlier in the week news got out that a Bullock’s Oriole was being seen at a feeder in Pineville, SC. Not wanting to pass up on a chance at the extremely rare Bullock’s, I decided to try for the Oriole in SC as my first stop before embarking on the NC part of the trip. Even though it would mean a fair amount of backtracking, and I wouldn’t get to NC till late morning. So I revised my itinerary to spend only half of the day on the 19th on the NC coast along with a few hours in the morning of the 20th, followed by only a partial day birding inland on the 20th. It was unfortunate that the weather on the 20th was supposed to be quite a bit colder and windier, which would likely hamper my birding efforts especially on the coast.
Luckily I did find the Bullock’s Oriole in SC – hopefully the impact of the reduced time available to bird NC later that day would not be too significant.
This blog post covers the NC portion of the trip on my trip back from the meeting; the previous post summarized the SC portion.
January 19, 2020 – Coastal NC
My first NC target was Wood Stork which is found in very low numbers in winter along or near the southern NC coast. One or 2 had been reported recently from several spots in that region, initially sporadically from several nearby locations in Sunset Beach. Plus there were occasional White Pelican sightings from the area. Then more recently Storks were apparently more reliable from 2 locations in and around Wilmington. But I would pass by Sunset Beach on my way to Wilmington, so I decided to stop at Sunset Beach first. I made multiple stops around the Oyster Bay golf course, and the Twin Lakes, but with no luck. Given that I had less time to bird NC, I was hoping to find a Stork on this first stop, but now I still had to give it a try at least at one of the Wilmington spots.
Next I was off to Holden Beach where 4 of my targets had been reported recently – Clay-colored Sparrow, Sedge Wren, and Iceland Gull and Parasitic Jaeger from seawatches. Though I was realistic that none of these were particularly likely. The downside for the CCSP was that it was only reported once, 23 days earlier. On the positive side location details were excellent, and my past experience with wintering CCSP rarities is that they will often stick around for quite a while. The Wren location was sketchy, though there seemed to be a lot of suitable habitat on the island. And of course you can never guarantee any species on a seawatch.
Undaunted, my first stop was where the Clay-colored Sparrow had been reported. The eBird post from 12/27 not only included a specific location, but also that the bird was in a flock of Song Sparrows. I quickly found the location mentioned in the checklist and started to spish – almost immediately Song Sparrows started to pop up. But after a few minutes of searching, and more than a dozen Songs coming in to investigate, I couldn’t find the Clay-colored. The bird certainly must have moved on I thought, so I gave up and walked a short distance away to check out a Spartina marsh to try for Sedge Wrens, but again with no luck. As I headed back to the car, I decided to give the Sparrow one more try. And with just a couple more sphishes a smaller sparrow popped up – it was the Clay-colored! (NC statebird #1) Yet another datapoint where a wintering CCSP sticks around for some time. As shown in my statebird map below, NC is the 8th eastern state, not to mention CA, where I’ve now seen this wide-ranging wanderer as a wintering vagrant. (Cross-hatched states are those where this species is regular but I have not yet seen it.)
Next I was off to Heron Landing Marsh which was a site of a recent Sedge Wren report. This marsh looked like an excellent spot for the Wren, and I listened intently for this normally vocal bird, without luck. Then I decided to take a walk out into the marsh to try more distant portions. After a few minutes I flushed a small bird that disappeared into a stunted bush at the edge of the marsh. I finally got a glimpse and noted orange on the head – it was one of the “sharp-tailed” sparrows. Now I needed much better looks to get an ID. Finally it moved a bit more in the open and I saw a bright orange chest with somewhat diffuse streaking – it was a Nelson’s Sparrow of the inland race (NC statebird #2). I spent some more time with this skulking bird to get better looks and started to realize there were actually 2 birds there. Finally, the second bird gave me a look and it was also a Nelson’s, but this one had very blurry streaks on the orange chest making it an Atlantic race bird – one I’m especially familiar with on their breeding grounds in NH and ME. Amazing to get one of each race sitting next to each other! Most of my birding on the southern Atlantic coast was before the Nelson’s/Saltmarsh split, and as a result I don’t have records of whether I had wintering Nelson’s in those states. So with my move to the region I’m hoping to be able to fill these gaps in my statebird map. And of course I need them in all the Midwest states where they breed or are a regular migrant.
On my way back to the car I went by a small flock of shorebirds in the salt panne in the middle of the marsh. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it did include three “Western” Willets. Some day this might be a split from the “Eastern” Willet, so good to keep it in the bank.
My next planned stop was a fishing pier at Holden Beach to do a seawatch. Unfortunately the pier was closed so I set up my scope to scan the ocean from the beach at the base of the pier. But there was nothing on the water and very little flying by. Rather than continue here, I decided to call it quits pretty quickly, giving me more time for hopefully more fruitful stops in the future.
Now I was on to Wilmington and two more stops where Wood Stork had been reported recently. The first stop on my route was Greenfield Park and Gardens, though my odds seemed more promising at the farther stop at Reunion Road. I decided to cross my fingers and hope to find my target at the closer location, saving a bit of time. Though realistically I figured it could take me the rest of the day to find a Stork at either of these stops.
Greenfield Park included a lake lined with mature bald cypress trees draped with Spanish moss – a very nice classic southern swamp. The recent sightings noted that the local Stork would perch in those cypresses. And the latest report mentioned the bird was on the north side of the lake, “roosting in a cypress tree a few hundred feet east of the viewing shelter with the short boardwalk to it, between the paddleboat dock and the long footbridge”. That seemed pretty specific, assuming I could find all these landmarks. When I arrived I was alarmed to see just how many trees there were –would this be a needle-in-a-haystack kind of search? But I quickly found the paddleboat dock, and then headed east on the path along the shoreline. Soon I found a wooden structure that could well be the viewing shelter mentioned in the post. I walked out to the shelter on the short boardwalk and was just about to start looking out to the east when something caught my eye at the water’s edge just a few feet away – it was the Wood Stork! (NC statebird #3). It stayed there for just about a minute before flying over to the other side of the lake, disappearing out of view behind the outer cypresses. If I had gotten there just minutes later I would have missed it. I only need Wood Stork in 1 more southeast state where it is regular.
And since it took me less than 5 minutes to find my target, I had time for at least one more stop yet that afternoon. That could be especially worthwhile since my next target was a stakeout Black-headed Gull at Carolina Beach Lake. On the positive side this bird had been reported every day for at least a couple weeks, and was in with a small flock of Ring-bills on a rather small pond. On the negative side this bird was not always at the lake, with some birders needing to wait a considerable amount of time before the bird appeared. Originally I planned to try for this bird the next morning on the 20th, but now with extra time on the 19th, I could give it a try both days if necessary.
As I pulled into the park I spotted 4 birders with binocs and cameras all pointed in one direction. As I always say “bird the birders”, so I quickly went over to them and found out that the Black-headed Gull had just flown in, though it was on the back side of the roof of a gazebo and mostly obscured. I changed my angle a bit and could see the bird’s head – just enough to see the tell-tale fieldmarks though I could only see 10% of the bird (NC statebird #4). I took a quick walk to get to the other side of the structure, and quickly spotted it on the roof among Ring-bills, now looking away from me. Unfortunately seconds later it took off and disappeared off to the north. During the brief time I saw the immature Black-headed I was able to take this photo holding my phone up to the binocs – not exactly the best “Kodak Moment”.
Luckily, I’ve seen many Black-headed Gulls over the years especially in the northeast, so I didn’t need great views to confirm the ID (see my statebird map below).
And since I needed less than 5 minutes to find the Gull, I had at least some time to head to my next planned stops at Fort Fisher just a short distance down the peninsula to the south. The first stop was the Basin Trail where a Sedge Wren had recently been reported calling from the marsh. With the help of input from some local birders I figured out how to access the Basin Trail, but soon realized perhaps a half mile of the trail went through marsh habitat that could be suitable for a wintering Sedge Wren. This one could be problematic, especially given my limited time.
The first part of the trail went through nice coastal woodlands, but my target was in the marshes ahead so I didn’t stop. As soon as I came out of the woods I trail began to skirt along the edge of what appeared to be a very nice stretch of marsh. Sedge Wrens are very responsive to taped calls, and even poor vocal imitations. So I stopped and made a few imitations of its characteristic “chat” call and almost instantly got a single response. It was likely a Sedge Wren but I wasn’t going to ID it based on a single call. Then I waited for a minute or so but heard no further calls. I tried my imitation again and this time the bird responded with multiple call notes, confirming it as a Sedge Wren (NC statebird #5). That was far easier than I expected it would be.
After yet another very quick (and successful!) stop, I still had time for a bit more birding. I made a quick drive to the southern end of the peninsula at the ferry stop, scanning the rocks and inlet for seabirds. There were lots of birds but nothing out of the ordinary.
And then at 4:45 I pulled into a parking lot at Fort Fisher overlooking the ocean to do a seawatch. Visibility was excellent, lighting was great, and there were only gentle swells on the ocean, so I was hopeful. But on my first few scans I didn’t see much flying by, and only a couple gulls on the water. And then I spotted a Loon quite a distance out swimming on the surface that caught my attention – its back was much darker than I’d expect for a Common. My initial gut feel was that it might be a Pacific Loon, a bird I’ve seen a few times as a rarity off the New England coast (and of course on the Pacific coast). But I needed a lot more details to confirm such a rarity. I zoomed in and recorded these observations while I watched it over the next 30 minutes -
- Although it was all alone and I couldn't make direct size comparisons, it didn't look large and heavy enough to be a Common
- Back was very dark and one solid color - darker than a Common
- Hindneck was very dark, with a sharp vertical edge separating the dark hindneck and the white foreneck.
- I could not see a chinstrap - but it was likely too far out to be able to see one even if it were present
- Bill seemed too small for a Common
- Way too dark for a Red-throated, and held bill horizontal unlike typical Red-throated
I took a few phonescoped photos, and although the bird was really distant, these three seem to support the ID as a Pacific Loon (NC statebird #6).
Wow – what a way to end the day! And since I was able to find my last 3 targets so quickly, I was able to bird all my planned coastal locations on the 19th, despite starting my day chasing after the Bullock’s Oriole in SC. I would have preferred more time birding the coast, but now I could concentrate on my inland targets the next day.
January 20, 2020 – Inland NC
I had two key stakeout targets on my way back home on the 20th – Lark Sparrow and Western Tanager. It would have been nice to try for a couple others, like relative longshots Iceland Gull and White Pelican, and Sandhill Crane which would require additional driving time. But I needed to be sure to leave enough time to find the Sparrow and Tanager as key rarities, and of course still have time for the drive home. Perhaps I could find these three others more locally somewhere in western NC.
The Lark Sparrow was discovered on the 11th at the Ezell Farm Community Park in Mint Hill, an eastern suburb of Charlotte. It was seen again on the 12th but not reported for another week. I had assumed this bird had moved on and had taken it off my target list until it was re-found on the 18th and again the 19th. It was once again back on my itinerary. The bird was most often found in and around the fenced community garden at the park, and sometimes in the fields surrounding the garden. And just as important, it was often reported to be in a flock of Savannah Sparrows.
I left my Wilmington hotel pre-dawn and arrived at the park around 10 AM. It had turned noticeably colder and it was rather windy, so I thought it might be a challenge to get the sparrows to perch out in the open. I could see the community garden a short distance ahead – a small half-acre patch of personal vegetable gardens surrounded by chain-link fencing. And the garden was in the middle of 30 acres of grassy fields – all suitable habitat for Savannah Sparrows. I headed right over to the garden, and made a slow loop around the perimeter but didn’t see a single bird. Then I noticed some nice brushy sparrow habitat to the southeast and spent some time there. But after a couple minutes I realized that although this area might be good for White-throats and Songs, it wasn’t right for Savannahs – they were more likely in the grassy fields – all 30 acres of them!
A couple reports from the 11th mentioned that the Lark Sparrow was in the grassy field “to the right of the entrance road”. I guessed that this meant “right” of the road as you walked to the gardens instead of from the gardens. [Note to anyone reading my post – please don’t give directions that include words like “left” and “right” that are often confusing – use of “east” and “west” are much more definitive.] I started a slow walk of this field, and flushed 2 individual small sparrows that were likely Savannahs, but found no flock.
I was now walking in the general direction of the gardens and noticed a couple birds up on the telephone wires to the south. After a few steps in that direction I spotted a small flock of sparrows fly from that area and land in trees to the west. With a quick scan I realized these were all Chipping Sparrows. It was a flock of sparrows, but the wrong species. So I once again turned my attention to the area with the telephone wires and spotted several sparrows in the distance. As I got closer I realized I had a flock of Savannahs just outside the fenced area – was it the right flock? Within a couple minutes the entire flock flew to the ground inside the garden area. As they flew away from me I spotted one larger sparrow with white outer tail patches – that must be the Lark Sparrow, but I wanted a better view. I got to the other side of the gardens just as the entire flock flew up to perch in the fencing. There were about a dozen Savannahs and the boldly-marked head of the Lark Sparrow (NC statebird #7). Here is a shot taken by holding my phone up to my binocs, first uncropped then heavily cropped.
NC was my 8th east-coast state where I’ve seen Lark Sparrow as a rarity.
After taking a few minutes to enter my sightings on the eBird app, I was off to try for my next target – the Western Tanager. This stakeout bird was coming to a feeder near the center of Charlotte just a few minutes away. It appeared to be quite regular so I was cautiously optimistic. When I arrived I found another birder there watching the feeders from her car. She said I had just missed the bird after it fed at the feeders for several minutes. Hmm – if I hadn’t stopped to do the eBird checklist at the Lark Sparrow spot I bet I would have gotten there in time. Are we spending too much time focused on our smartphone eBird app instead of actually birding? But that’s for another post…
I started my vigil watching the feeders from a short distance away. The feeders were mounted on the back of a condo complex on a second floor balcony. This was in a suburban location without much good habitat nearby, so there weren’t many birds in the area. I waited for about 45 minutes seeing just a couple Chickadees and Cardinals at the feeders. But then finally the target bird appeared on the feeders (NC statebird #8). I got this shot of the very photogenic adult male Western Tanager by holding my phone up to my binocs.
It stayed either feeding, or just perched on the feeders out in the open, for the next 10 minutes. I worried that this large bright yellow bird might be an easy target for a passing Accipter. Otherwise it seemed to be very contented at the feeders in this rather marginal habitat. Hopefully it makes it through the winter and returns to its normal breeding range in spring.
My Western Tanager statebird map is similar to the one for the Lark Sparrow – I’ve seen this species in most of the central/western states in its regular range, plus a number of eastern states as a vagrant.
What an excellent way to end my winter trip to coastal NC and SC, and points between. I added 8 new statebirds in NC, bringing my list to 285. That's in addition to 9 statebirds in SC. All in all, twice what I had hoped for. And that included seeing several stakeout rarities and finding a couple others on my own.
I understand the next CBC winter meeting will be in January 2021 in coastal NC. Can’t wait!
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