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Outer Banks Trip Report and Questions - Day 1



I had the weekend to myself, so, rather than spend it home alone, I took
an impromptu trip to the Outer Banks in search of the Tropical Kingbird
and whatever else came my way.  So far (I am writing this Saturday night
but don't have an Internet connection so it won't be posted until
Sunday) it has been a great trip.

I made reservations at the Duke of Dare in Manteo.  Its cheap and clean,
but that's about it.  You can't even plug a standard phone cord into the
wall - or the phone - they are so old.  The proprietors are very
friendly though - I can't remember ever checking into a motel and not
having to give my credit card number before.

The motel was full of fishermen, and I imagine some hunters as well, and
I woke up at 5: 30 when they started to leave for the day.  I decided to
get an early start as well, and was out the door before 6.  After a
quick stop for breakfast, I was at the small pond on the ocean side of
South Pond, eagerly hoping for the kingbird, by 6:45.  It was a
beautiful morning, sparrows were chirping, geese were flying, and I was
hopping from foot to foot by the pond, looking around for the kingbird
and trying to keep warm.  No kingbird.  I see some sparrows, some
butter-butts, a yellowthroat.  No kingbird.  I look around some more,
and back on the South Pond side, on top of a small tree, there is a
suspect.  Kingbird!  6:59 a.m. and I have my kingbird.  I was able to
get my scope out of the car, and get good looks at it through the scope
before it took off into the brush.  Before leaving the area, I was able
to get some other nice birds, including a beautiful singing Eastern
Meadowlark and a Red-breasted Merganser. ( I also saw several sparrows I
couldn't readily identify - throughout the day, I saw birds I couldn't
readily identify, but for the most part I just felt like watching them
rather than trying to ID the ones I wasn't familiar with.)

My next stop was the Visitors Center at North Pond.  I spent a couple of
hours on the dike.  The highlight was actually mammalian - I got to
watch a raccoon take a very thorough bath through my scope.  It was VERY
amusing.  He then settled down for a nap, just like one of my cats would
have after the same experience.  The most interesting birds to me were a
good sized flock of American Avocets (at least a hundred birds, I would
guess) and an American Golden Plover.  The waterfowl I recognized
included American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Green-winged Teal, American
Wigeon (I looked for the Eurasian Wigeon and did not see it, but
probably would only have reliably recognized it if it is a breeding
plumaged male), American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Mallard, Hooded
Merganser, Canada Goose, Snow Goose, Tundra Swan, and Double-crested
Cormorant.  Wading birds at North Pond included Great Blue Heron, Snowy
Egret, White Ibis and Great Egret.

One of the questions I have arises from a bird I saw near the Visitors
Center.  This question actually starts back in July.  When I visited Pea
Island in July, I saw a bird that made me stop and think "what the heck
is that?"  After a minute, I realized it was a female towhee with red
eyes, shrugged it off, and moved on.   Today, I saw the same female
towhee, thought to myself, there's the female towhee with red eyes (and
I mean, RED eyes), which made me really think about it.  Is it possible
that there is a hybrid Eastern x Spotted Towhee on Pea Island?  Have
there been any sightings of a Spotted Towhee at Pea Island?  Sibley has
a green dot on the NC coast for a Spotted Towhee.  Has anyone else seen
the towhee I am referring to?

At about 10:15, I decided to go see of I could get another peek at the
kingbird.  It was cooperative again, and after another nice look I
decided to walk out to the beach and take a look out over the ocean.  I
got really lucky because a pod of dolphins was swimming by!  It looked
like there was at least 10 of them.  And to top it off, they were being
chased/accompanied by a group of about 7 or 8 pelicans, which appeared
to include one American White Pelican.  I got good looks at the white
wings with black flight feathers of this pelican as it flew behind one
of the dolphins before wheeling up and into the main group of pelicans
that were more in the direction of the sun and harder to see.

After a stop at the north dike of North Pond, and a stop for lunch at
Oregon Inlet, I headed to Bodie Island Lighthouse Pond.  I didn't see
much from the observation decks, so ended up walking the trail.  The
entire trail.  By the time I got done, some 6 miles or so later
(according to the people in the Visitor's Center) and having been on my
feet for 9 hours or so by that time, I was really wondering what I had
been thinking.  But, be that as it may, there were some neat things in
the
middle.  There are a lot of Tricolored Herons and White Ibises in the
marsh along the trail - I was surprised to see so many.  I was even more
surprised to see, along the bank across from marker 5, my first ever
rail.  I believe it was a Clapper Rail based on the illustrations in
Sibley, but my other question of the day is whether any of you know if a
King Rail would be more likely in that spot.  I assume that water is
salt water, not freshwater, but its just an assumption.  I will admit
that my powers of observation were probably somewhat diluted by the "Oh
my gaw, I can't believe I am finally seeing a rail" that kept running
through my head. <g>

Hopefully tomorrow will turn up something interesting as well.

Amalie Tuffin
Durham, NC