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Scissor- & Swallow-taileds
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Scissor- & Swallow-taileds
- From: mjw22@cornell.edu
- Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2002 23:15:38 -0400 (EDT)
- Resent-date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 20:51:14 -0500
- Resent-from: "Will Cook" <cwcook@duke.edu>
- Resent-message-id: <E185z1A-0001Gn-00@scaup.mail.pas.earthlink.net>
- Resent-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hello All,
I'm a birder from Mass. and have been doing a little birding
while visiting my brother's place near Charlotte.
In Monroe this afternoon (8/24), thanks to some good directions
from the June RBA, I found the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher spot but the
"Flycatchers" sign was gone. Thinking that the birds were probably gone
too, I turned around at the dead end and drove out slowly. I heard some
strange calls coming from the south and then saw 2 SCISSOR-TAILED
FLYCATCHERS at the back of an open, grassy field. One appeared to be an
immature (shorter scissors) and the other an adult. As I stood there
enjoying them, a raptor appeared near the powerlines in the distance. At
first, I thought that it might be a Peregrine but the flight was very
un-falconlike. It soared, glided around and lingered in the area.
Overall, the lighting was very poor and the bird appeared all dark. For
a brief moment, I caught a darker terminal band on the underside of the
tail. I then saw that this bird appeared to be eating something in
midair. I've seen Merlins do this but this was certainly not a Merlin.
That behavior helped to reassure me that I was looking at a MISSISSIPPI
KITE. Later, I saw 3 birds, all apparently this species, but those looks
were very distant and I'm not as confident as I am with the first one.
Shortly after I saw the first Mississippi Kite, a bird appeared low and
close and I thought I was going to get my first nice looks at that
species. I was pretty shocked (and a little disappointed) to see that it
was a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE, since I've seen plenty of those in FL. The
sky here was also filled with at least 100 CHIMNEY SWIFTS, a few PURPLE
MARTINS and some other very high swallows. A few RED-TAILEDS, ~15 TURKEY
VULTURES and 1 BLACK VULTURE were seen during my attempts to relocate the
Kites.
Very early this morning, I made the 2 hour Drive to Sandhills NWR and had
my life BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH, CHUCK WILL'S WIDOW and, of course
RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER (although the last was harder than I expected).
I saw an "extended" family group of 5-7 birds with at least one
red-capped Juvenile who seemed to be doing a little foraging on its own.
Throughout the day, I had lots of RED-HEADED a few RED-BELLIED, 2 DOWNY
and 3 PILEATED WOODPECKERS. At Mays Lake (mostly drained), I saw at
least 6 GREAT EGRETS, 2 BALD EAGLES, ~10 KILLDEER, a few FISH and
AMERICAN CROWS.
Sincerely,
Matt Williams
Sunderland, MA (currently Troutman, NC)