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Gallinule? Mississippi kite, least tern.



Cbirders,

Last night I talked a couple of non-birding friends into going looking for 
the purple gallinule.  (The novelty of a little purple chicken hooked them.)  
It is officially now my new nemesis bird.  I had expected as much after 
missing it a couple of times near Wilmington.  Then there was the day when 
several of us snuck away from a Cape Hatteras Christmas Bird Count to look 
for one in a gale-driven snow storm.  Then there was the one that I could not 
get away to see on Oak Island.  I missed it again today.  Did anyone else see 
it?  I did not even make it half way.

In order to get to Fort Fisher by 7:00, we left Buies Creek well before sun 
up.  One of my friends opted to drive, but an hour down the road the ride had 
gotten so rough that we thought the front wheels were falling off.  We limped 
into Goldsboro (his hometown) forty minutes later and parked the car at his 
mechanic's shop (still well before opening time).  

Within a minute, a Mississippi Kite circled us and then headed west along Ash 
St.  Are they nesting somewhere in Goldsboro again?

We walked down the street and got breakfast.  By the time we walked back, the 
car had been fixed (wheel bearing).  It was too late for the gallinule, 
however. 

After touring Goldsboro, we took a pass through Cherry Hospital (no birds) 
and then went to the waste lagoons on Arrington Bridge Rd.

One of the joys of birding is walking along the dried, cracked bed of a 
drought-dried sludge pond in near 100 degree morning heat.  A convention of 
killdeers seemed to enjoy the site even more than we did.  

Of note was a least tern panting among the killdeer.  

Now I read that on the same day others saw three more birds my NC list lacks!

Hal Broadfoot
halwb@aol.com
Buies Creek, NC