[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Little league world series of birding? (LONG)



Hi Carolinabirders,

Having passed my prelims (oral examination in defense of my Ph.D. 
proposal), I was in the mood to celebrate. And, as I said in my late 
e-mail on Friday, I have a new German friend who needs several American 
lifers (thanks to Robin Carter and Bob Perkins for their prompt 
responses). So we spent Saturday and Sunday birding most of the NC coast. 
I decided, since both Robin and Jeff Pippen said seeking Swainson's and 
other breeding warblers now was likely to fail, to make Saturday into a 
Big Day, challenging the reigning NC September mark of 79 species, held 
by some guy from New Jersey who spent half a day birding on Cape 
Hatteras (Jeff says he has seen over 130 species in a day in September, 
but never reported it to ABA). I figured we could do another big day 
Sunday if necessary, or just watch birds, or go home.

Se we met Sunday morning at 4 AM, waiting around just long enough to hear 
a Barred Owl in the Duke Forest near my yard, and to listen but hear 
nothing outside the closed Lake Crabtree. We (I) then drove to Fort 
Fisher to look for migrants; Frank had been at a party until 2 AM and not 
slept, so he slept in the car all the way to the coast. Lucky for him I 
didn't see much while driving, else we might have lost species to the 
ABA's 95% rule. I did see one duck, probably a Woodie, which eventually 
proved significant...

We picked up nearly a dozen urban-type species in the town of Carolina 
Beach, including Starling and Rock Dove but not, ominously, House 
Sparrow. Fort Fisher was virtually dead; the only migrants (maybe) were a 
Great Crested Flycatcher and a few flocks of Eastern Bluebirds. Frank 
spotted a Marsh Wren in the marsh near the old fort. For the first hour, 
that was our highlight!

Finally, around 8:30 or so, birds suddenly started appearing. My theories 
were that either they had collected overnight at the south end of the 
peninsula, and were dispersing north; or that they had flown out over the 
sea overnight, and were just reaching land. All were heading north over 
the fort; most were little warbler shapes whizzing overhead above the 
treetops, unidentifiable; a female Yellow was the only one which we could 
ID, of the few stopping in the trees south of the fort, although we did 
add some non-warbler migrants like Summer Tanager and Baltimore Oriole. A 
Clapper Rail briefly appeared out of the marsh, and a Loggerhead Shrike 
drew an instant cloud of mobbing bluebirds and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. A 
short walk near a patch of shrubs turned up a female Painted Bunting and 
an immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron. The highlights here were a 
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, feeding on the lawn with some Killdeer and 
Mourning Doves; and a Merlin which flew in, landed, and took off again, 
being chased away by a hummingbird! We saw the Buff-breasted again by a 
roadside puddle with some assorted peeps (Least, SemiP, Western) and 
Sanderlings, probably just before or after Clyde Sorenson spotted the 
same group.

A visit to Federal Point was fruitless; the landbirds must only collect 
there early in the morning. Nothing to show but a pair of American 
Oystercatchers. So we headed to Carolina Beach SP. Here we finally found 
some migrant warblers! A Black-and-White was with some Pines near the 
visitors' center; a Hairy Woodpecker was feeding independently nearby. 
Then, on the Campground Trail, we found a wet patch of woods with another 
Black-and-white, a female Hooded, an immature Prairie, and an American 
(yellow) Redstart. Also two White-eyed Vireos (lifer for Frank, as was 
the Hooded) and an apparent Eastern Wood-Pewee. A walk on the Flytrap 
Trail yielded few birds of interest, but we did see the Venus' Flytraps!

Next we drove down to Sunset Beach, where I hoped to see the Reddish 
Egret and other waders and shorebirds. We made two major big-day 
mistakes: (1) not checking the tide times and (2) not checking the 
driving mileage. We drove a long way, only to find the beach packed with 
people, not birds, and the mud flats submerged! However, a great 
consolation prize from an unexpected source: while driving through the 
town north of Sunset Beach, a striking black-and-white bird flew across 
the road and into a small tree at the edge of the Food Lion parking lot. 
Red-headed Woodpecker, another lifer for Frank; there was a family of 
three, apparently used to the heavy traffic as they let us drive within 
20 feet or so to watch them!

It was 6 PM when we left Sunset Beach, and while Frank had some lifers, 
we had a disappointing 72 species, 7 short of the record; we still had 
not seen House Sparrow! It took us until 6:15, while waiting for the 
traffic light on the bridge leaving the island, to find a Great Blue 
Heron! After some debate, we decided to try the Green Swamp next, in 
hopes that some mixed-species migrant flocks might be there. Alas, it was 
silent when we arrived, except for the whine of hundreds of the biggest 
mosquitoes I've seen since the Everglades. But we walked the Shoestring 
Savannah trail anyway, and found a Red-cockaded Woodpecker as well as 
more Flytraps and several pitcher plants, mostly Yellow. We did find a 
curious mixed-species flock just before reaching the car, featuring 
bluebirds, Pine Warblers, and one new species for the day, Eastern 
Kingbird.

We spent the last of our sunset in Southport, scanning Battery Island and 
the surrounding water. I spotted an immature night-heron which looked 
Black-crowned, but Frank was convinced it was another Yellow-crowned. No 
other new waders there, nor waterbirds, not even a migrating Nighthawk 
for our troubles; we did see our first Chimney Swift and several Ruddy 
Turnstones to reach 78 species before darkness and dinner. During dinner 
we debated: were goatsuckers and owls more likely to spend September on 
their breeding grounds in the Green Swamp, or in a migrant trap like Fort 
Fisher? Or should we go for rails instead? We decided to return to the 
Green Swamp. A long drive found nothing on the road. In desperation, we 
stopped and played a tape on the way back. The Eastern Screech-Owl, after 
several minutes, finally drew a response, then a chorus of 4-5 responses. 
A ways down the road, a Great Horned Owl tape drew an instant, vociferous 
response... from more Screech Owls! I don't know if they were mobbing, or 
if the combination of my 12-year-old Peterson cassette and car stereo 
sounded like a Screech-owl to them. There was no sight nor sound of 
either GH or Chuck-will's Widow, and my ancient tape had somehow deleted 
the segment including Whip-poor-will. Around 11:45 PM, I thought we were 
doomed to kissing our sisters and tying the record, until Frank checked 
the list and ... remember that probable Wood Duck I mentioned before, 
which I saw while he was napping? He had not written it down, and we had 
seen no other duck species all day long. So "unidentified duck" boosted 
us to 80 species, retrieving the NC September record from New Jersey.

We debated and drove for a while, debating fiercely enough that a 
policeman pulled me over to make sure I was only sleepy and not drunk. We 
finally decided to drive to Cedar Island, so we could listen for Black 
Rails, sleep in the car, and take the first ferry to Okracoke and bird 
the Outer Banks when the morning came. Unfortunately, the Black Rails 
were completely silent, even when we resorted to the tape again, dropping 
my record to 0-for-6 in chasing this species (0-for-2 at Cedar Island 
NWR). Better yet, our attempt allowed dozens of mosquitoes to infiltrate 
the car; Frank, who had not slept before leaving Durham, still nodded off 
for a few hours, but I had only a few fitful naps between bouts of 
swatting.

Just before the ferry left, I exited the car and immediately spotted 
three Black Skimmers, which Frank needed for a lifer. He unfortunately 
did not see them very well before they left. However, after I returned to 
drive the car on board the ferry, he spotted some shorebirds including a 
probable Golden Plover. The ferry ride was disappointing, except for a 
pair of Sandwich Terns and a few dolphins; Frank went to the car for 
some food and missed what would have been a life bird, a pair of Least 
Terns.

Once on Okracoke, we started looking for landbirds. However, the spot 
that sounded the best, the Hammock Hill (?) nature trail, was flooded, 
and we weren't wearing boots; the mosquitoes were also fierce. The Pines, 
further north, looked like beautiful migrant habitat, but was completely 
dead when we arrived, and the mosquitoes were equally bad. The high point 
was Frank being startled by a small (2-foot) Black Rat Snake, at shoulder 
height in a pine sapling, eating a cicada; the snake was also startled, 
dropping his Sunday Brunch. 

Only when we were about to leave did Frank spot a Yellow-throated 
Warbler, another lifer for him; then an Empidonax, probably Acadian. A 
lovely male Hooded followed. After some unproductive birding along the 
road, we ducked back into the woods, and found the Hooded again with a 
Redstart, followed by Prairie, Yellow, Black-and-white, and suddenly 
numerous Pine Warblers, then a Great Crested Flycatcher, two more 
Empidonax, a Red-eyed Vireo, and a Common Yellowthroat. A stop at the 
Pony Pasture yielded surprisingly little; our second day without House 
Sparrow continued, and we could not convince ourselves that any of the 
dowitchers were Long-billed or that any of the peeps were either 
White-rumped or Baird's.

We finally left Okracoke around 2 PM. The ferry ride to Hatteras was 
spiced by one unexpected bird: a basic-plumage Common Loon, extremely 
early, presumably a young bird that had spent the summer. We saw little 
at Hatteras NS, although we skipped the salt pond; we had slept little 
the previous two nights, were wearing mostly the same clothes in which we 
had left Durham, and itched from mosquito bites, poison ivy (me only), 
chiggers, ticks (Frank only), probably athlete's foot too, and 
desperately wanted to shower, so we decided the salt pond was too long a 
walk and that driving the beach to the Point was probably not worthwhile.

At Pea Island, the dike along the south side of North Pond was virtually 
mosquito-free; this after I had been telling Frank all day that the 
skeeters of Pea Island were at least as bad as Cedar Island, and worse 
than Okracoke or the Green Swamp! I was surprised to see a Cedar Waxwing 
so early, and an American Kestrel as well. Frank also spotted a Merlin 
for the second day in a row; this one was harassing a pair of hapless 
Fish Crows, forcing them out of the air. Here we found our first 
Yellowlegs, not just of the day, but of the whole weekend!

The south end of the pool had fooled us into lowering our defenses. At 
the north end of the pool, we were ambushed by the usual Pea Island 
mosquito horde, making our pant legs look like they were growing fur 
coats. We tried to run, but our optical burden and sandburrs lodging in 
our sneakers made this difficult. We took refuge on the observation deck. 
A pair of Black Terns made us feel better, as did the Merlin flying past 
again. A massive feeding frenzy of egrets and herons was going on in the 
pools to the north of the dike; alas, no Roseate Spoonbill to be seen 
among them. We did find a surprising variety of early dabblers, including 
several Northern Shovelers, one Blue-winged Teal, a pair of Gadwall, and 
lots of American Black Duck (which for some reason I thought were 
supposed to be Mottled until we checked the books).

After escaping the Pea Island NWR mosquito horde, we basked in the sunset 
on the observation deck at the Bodie Island lighthouse pond, adding a 
Glossy Ibis as the last bird on our list for the weekend. That gave us 63 
species for Sunday, not enough to motivate us for nightbirding to 
challenge yesterday's pitiful "record", so we grabbed dinner in Manteo 
and drove on home, itching every mile...

Good birding!

Josh

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/ (where you can find an amusing photo of the 
	Olsens' male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher)