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Outer Banks Weekend Birding Trip results



Carolinabirders,

Paula and I just returned from a fun birding weekend on the Outer Banks.  We
led a trip sponsored jointly by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and
Carolina Bird Club.  Phil Cox and Lisa Lowrance of the museum staff brought
those nice big vans which are great for a trip down Highway 12.  It felt
like a homecoming, for in addition to long-time birding friends like John
Fussell, Eloise Potter and Buddy Garrett, I actually got my sister and
brother-in-law to come along.

The weather was somewhat cold in the mornings, but warmed up nicely during
the day.  And, although the trip was fairly low-key (we didn't get our feet
wet or go crashing through the any bushes) we had a pretty good list of
nearly 100 species.  From Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon we had 22
waterfowl species and a whopping 10 species of raptors.  In checklist order,
our best birds included:  Great Cormorant at Oregon Inlet, American Bittern
at North Pond, Glossy Ibis at Cape Point, Oldsquaw (I mean Long-tailed Duck)
at Oregon Inlet marina, Common Goldeneye (male & female) at Wanchese,
several Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Cape Point, and a Short-eared Owl at
South Nags Head.  The 10 raptor species included Bald Eagle (adult), Golden
Eagle (imm.), and Rough-legged Hawk at Alligator River NWR Sunday afternoon.
The other raptors, seen on the Banks were Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin and
Peregrine Falcon.   We tried but failed to relocate the White-tailed Kite
reported from the refuge on Friday.

On the way home on Monday we detoured to Lake Jordan and Hampstead.

John Wright
jwright@skantech.net

Greenville, NC