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OBX Trip Epistle



Hi, folks!  Had a really good trip to the Outer Banks this weekend, despite
of, or because of the weather!  Whew!!

Ironically, some of the best birding was done off of our motel room balcony
in Nags Head.
         DC Cormorants
         Common Loons (2)
         Gannets (herds!)  One gannet seemed particularly  tired.  It got
blown in close to the water's edge and finally
landed in the water just for a couple of seconds then tried to fly again.
It kept doing this until                                         it was out
of sight.
         Common Eider (?)  Too far away for a truly positive id - it it
possible that it was an eider?
         Ruddy Turnstones (5)
         Whimbrel (3)   This was a lifer for me!
         Willets (about 20)
         A few peeps  (always have trouble id-ing those little guys)


Oregon Inlet, on Saturday, was super!
        Common Loon (1)  Put on a great show!
         Hooded Merganser  - female (1)
        Red-throated Loon (1)    Still in winter plumage, very still and
quiet.  It stayed in the same spot Sat. and Sun.  A
lifer for me
        Oystercatchers  (3)  Boy!  Can they make a racket!!!


Pea Island had huge flocks of mixed shorebirds in South Pond - Dunlin and
Dowitchers, mostly - right at the observation deck
        Dunlin (in summer plumage - boy, was my face red!  I thought I had
another lifer!  Obviously, the summer
plumage was a new one for me)
        Lesser Yellowlegs
        Greater Yellowlegs
        Long-billed and short-billed dowitchers
        peeps
        Little Blue Herons (counted 12 - all ponds inclusive)
        White Ibis (3) - at the Visitor Center bird feeder!
       Ospreys (2 at the nest)

Bodie Island
        Tree Swallows (small flock)
        Immature Bald Eagle - chasing the swallows
        Clapper Rail (heard, only) - Inlet side
        Tri-colored Heron - Inlet side


Hatteras - swallow-tailed kites are gone or were hiding from all the
tourists!


NC Aquarium
    Common Loons (3)
    Ospreys (2 adults and chick)


Alligator River was given a drive-thru on the way home, today.

      Immature Bald Eagles (2)
      watched a Crow walk from one side of the road to the other - who knows
what's in a crow's mind?

Ospreys have nested on the small island across from the observation deck at
Lake Mattamuskeet - actually, it looks as if they have their own nest at one
end of the island and have appropriated an eagle's nest at the other end.

It seemed to me that every nesting platform we saw had a pair of Ospreys -
large, healthy-looking birds!

We also saw a Summer Tanager  - somewhere between Columbia and Fairfield.

We saw a dead gannet washed up on the beach at Nags Head - too far gone to
have been the one I saw.


One last philosophical question:  Is this the Year of the Grackle?


Katherine Cherry
Raleigh, NC