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

Good and Bad Bird news



Dear C'Birders:

Whew. . . I am very thankful this week.  Why, because having learned too
late so many times and chased a rare or interesting bird only to find out
that it was gone when I got there... It finally got through to me that 1- I
needed a computer  to get on birdlines  with their timely chat on birds, and
2- As Mr. Smith pointed out birds fly (and I suspect in the case of the
white pelican and the Western grebe, they swim too).  So, having been in
California birding my brains out, I was dismayed to learn of all the good
birds I had probably missed while I was gone,  and it might be too late to
get, especially those seen at W.O.W. - good idea about paying even if you
can't be there.  I will do just that in the future.  Went to Ms. Tickle's as
soon as we (Carolyn Bush and I), could get away leaving here very early in
the AM this past Wednesday, the 14th, and arriving 10 AM-ish.  And proceeded
to get  LONG and Frequent looks at the Broad-tailed Hummer Bird.  We left
after I finally saw the one red spangle which I would describe as nearer the
base of the bill.  We, a well-known birder who may wish to be anonymous and
CB and I went to look particularly for the Western Grebe on the way home.
And did not see it or the pelican after about an hour or more.

Friday we headed for the OBX, (Outer Banks), and spent the afternoon in the
wrong place for the Tropical Kingbird.  Finally got to the right spot and
only saw a very cooperative Clapper Rail who posed for an hour.  Must have
been a young bird.  Back early the next AM, STILL looking for American
Bittern for NC, and after the Cape Fear Bird Club located the TK up on the
dike 50 yards away while we were staring at the little pond and its trees
for it, we got wonderful views of that. ( Where do those darn bitterns go?)
It is a conspiracy.

Next stop Cape Hatteras Point's semi-grassy flats.  At first we didn't think
we had seen anything but  1 or 2 Savannah sparrows, but after conferring
with others and poring over the field guides I was quite sure we had seen
the Sprague's pipit, after tramping around the area a good while.  The only
one I had ever seen we had watched do its courtship flight literally for 3
hours in North Dakota way high over head.  I had never gotten a good close
view of one although that guy did come down and chase others away that none
of us had seen.  We also searched the field over which he was performing for
a female but never found one.  The Hatteras bird was over all very light and
I had a good look at his head.  His Jiz was similar to the Audubon book that
is in 3 volumes and has 2 photos of said bird.  I think we also had the
Longspur (Lapland), as I got a very good look at his head, and I had to get
home to my dozens of field guides and check them out.  I wish I could say
that it positively is still there, but I would definitely check out the area
if I were going back to the Banks.

We stopped the next AM at Mattamuskeet to look for the Golden Eagle.  We
think we saw it, plus the usual immature and adult Bald Eagles.  I
impulsively got out of the car too quickly and scared the all dark bird we
saw, which was sitting in the lake not too far from shore.  Do Golden Eagles
do this?  I think it sounds more like the method of eating its catch where
he got it like the Bald Eagle, but I saw no white ANYwhere on its body like
an immature and it had no white head.  The tail wasn't visible and as I tore
out of the car it took off and absolutely disappeared.  There were a lot of
trees in our way.

Then when I got home, just after dark we heard this tremendous whack against
the house.  And daggone it, a Woodcock had hit so hard it died immediately.
We will donate the skin to the museum at Ocean Isle.  (And it wasn't even a
new yard bird.)   I am very sad.

California was great and I did get the Red throated Pipit, thanks to a slew
of local birders and particularly 2 very helpful Japanese birders.  That's
about how many I need to get a new bird anymore!!

Keep on Birding,
Mary McDavit, Sunset Beach, NC