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Final Call for Spring Reports and Some Birds



Hi Folks

This is a Final Call for your Spring (March-May) bird sighting reports for 
North American Birds Field Notes and the CBC Chat Briefs for the Files. Please 
get me your sightings NO LATER than Thursday, July 10, 2003. Emailing is 
definitely the fastest. You can also call me if your report is not too involved or 
long or has written details of some real rarity! You can send me a Fax to my 
work Fax number also. If you send something by the USPS, please be sure and get 
it in the mail by Monday to assure that I receive it when I need it. Thanks, 
and I hope everyone is having a great summer with some real neat bird sightings.

As for me, last Sunday, June 29, I went down to the Cape Fear River in 
Columbus County at the NC 11 bridge to hope to see the Swallow-tailed Kites reported 
in that vicinity during June. First I went to Ft. Fisher for the early part 
of the morning. A lot of the usual birds were seen but I did find an imm. 
Reddish Egret at the Zeke's Island part of the basin at the end of the road at Ft. 
Fisher. This seemed a little early for this species, with most first turning 
up there in July. Eurasian Collared-Doves by the way, are present at the Air 
Force Recreation Center just north of the Fort, I have seen them there very 
regularly this year. I got over to the NC 11 bridge about 10:15 and set up my 
scope on the bridge. I might add that traffic was somewhat of a problem, but 
bearable! I told myself I would give it until 2:00 PM before I headed back home to 
Rocky Mount. During my vigil, I saw at least four Mississippi Kites, four Wood 
Storks, several Little Blue Herons trading back and forth, and probably a 
dozen or so Anhingas during my wait. Well 11:00 passed - no SWT, 12:00 passed - 
no SWT, 1:00 passed - no SWT, 1:30 passed - no SWT. By this time I was telling 
myself that it was not meant to be, and as I was packing up my scope, at 1:55, 
a beautiful Swallow-tailed Kite flew up high enough over the treetops on the 
Columbus County side of the river in the direction of the area toward 
Reigelwood that seemed to be the main area for the birds. Needlessly to say, I was 
thrilled. Once again, the old adage about patience, patience, patience once again 
came true! If anyone else tries to see the birds like me, without a boat, be 
patient and diligent. Swallow-taileds tend to feed lower than the Mississippi 
Kites which got quite high in the air. 

On another note, I have had Mississippi Kites hanging around my backyard in 
Rocky Mount for over a week now. I believe they use the trees in back as a 
roosting site and then when the heat of the day arrives around 10:00, they head 
over to their feeding area along the Tar River, only about a mile and a half 
from my house. They can be easily seen from the area along US 301 Bypass where it 
gets very close to the Tar River. It is way cool that they use my backyard 
for roosing and they present great opportunities for study with a scope on my 
back deck! It is probable that nesting occurred somewhere in my neighborhood, 
there are at least two adults and two imm. birds in the area.

Later, Ricky


Ricky Davis
ABA North American Birds - Southern Atlantic Region
CBC Chat - Briefs for the Files

608 Smallwood Drive
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
(252)443-0276 (H)
(919)269-7401 (W)
(919)269-5647 (W-Fax)
RJDNC@aol.com (H)
rickyd@theodavis.com (W)