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Ft. Fisher Birding



Had a chance to bird the Ft. Fisher area this afternoon.  I looked for the
Western Kingbird from noon until around 1:30 p.m. with no success.  I then
decided to drive down the beach to see what could be found.  I drove to the
end and parked just before the "Bald Head Island" sign.  I birded around the
marsh just to the west of this area.  Hoping the kingbird might show up
later in the afternoon, I arrived back in the vicinity where the bird had
been reported previously at around 3:30 p.m.  The bird was immediately seen
some 100 yds. before the first sharp curve on 421 only twenty-five yds. or
so on the east side of the road.

I then had the pleasure of meeting another birder, Mr. Harry Sell, from the
Southport area.  Harry pulled up and we watched the bird for another minute
or two.  The bird then flew to a perch just on the south side of the road
between the two sharp 90 degree turns on 421.  We drove down that direction
and soon found the bird back on the north side of 421, again between the two
sharp curves.  We continued to watch this beautiful bird until around 4:30.
The bird flew many times trying out every dead snag in the area, but always
remaining in that same section just north of 421 between the curves.

In addition to the kingbird, a few other birds were seen today as well.  A
complete list follows:

Red-winged Blackbird
Gray Catbird
Double-crested Cormorant
American Crow
Mourning Dove
Short-billed Dowitcher
Dunlin
Great Egret
Reddish Egret (immature, in the marsh west of the "Bald Head Island" sign)
House Finch
Purple Finch
Northern Flicker
Northern Gannet (mostly adult birds now)
Marbled Godwit (1, in same area as Reddish Egret)
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
Horned Grebe (1, around boat ramp at the end of 421)
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Black-backed Gull (several along beach and on marsh)
Herring Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Great Blue Heron
White Ibis
Blue Jay
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Western Kingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red Knot (3 on beach, 5 on marsh)
Northern Mockingbird
Baltimore Oriole (2, in area where Western Kingbird is being seen)
Osprey
Brown Pelican
Eastern Phoebe
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Clapper Rail
Sanderling
Savannah Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
European Starling
Tree Swallow
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Tufted Titmouse
Ruddy Turnstone
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Willet

Good Birding!
Ritch Lilly
Myrtle Beach, SC
scbeachbums@hotmail.com