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

Adventure on Shackleford Banks, July 20



Hello, birders.

Elisa Enders and I spent a very enjoyable day on the
east end of Shackleford Banks, Carteret County, NC, on
Sunday, July 20.  The boat trip from Harkers Island
was enjoyable with wading birds, pelicans and other
birds on or over the sandbars and on a nearby small
island, the name of which I do not know.  Highlights
of the trip were REDDISH EGRET, LONG-BILLED CURLEW,
AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER and MARBLED GODWIT.

We were dropped off on the beach across from the Cape
Lookout Lighthouse.  In the first few minutes after we
got off the boat, Least Terns flew by and we spotted
an AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER fly a few hundred feet away. 
The Shearwater landed on the water briefly before
continuing around the corner of the island.

Much of the island that we could see seems to be made
up of dunes.  This habitat was almost devoid of birds.
 There are shrub thickets on the island, too.  Marsh
forms the eastern edge of the island and a wide tidal
creek enters the island and ends at a large, shallow
pond.  These wetlands held most of the birdlife.

Shorebirds and wading birds made up most of the
birdlife that we saw.  Some of the species that we
observed are below.

The pond area was where we found 3 REDDISH EGRETS. 
They were hanging out near some other wading birds.  A
LONG-BILLED CURLEW was found at the edge of the marsh.
 We enjoyed watching it feed, probing the mud. 
Sometimes it would stick its whole bill in.  Later, we
refound it or perhaps another individual farther south
in the marsh.  We think it was probably the same bird.
 Whimbrels, which were common, were near the curlew in
both locations, which provided a nice comparison. 
Wilson's Plovers were common, mostly on a mudflat near
the marsh and pond.  We counted about 50, almost all
of which were adult females or immatures.  Willets and
dowitcher sp. were common, too.  Another nice bird was
MARBLED GODWHIT, we found at least 8 in the marshes. 
Wading birds were numerous, especially White Ibis,
which numbered at least 75 individuals.

Songbirds were scarce.  Orchard Orioles were a
surprise.

If this island can be this good for birdlife, I
recommend a visit by every area birder who has an
interest in shorebirds and wading birds.  Elisa and I
saw no other people on the island until it was time to
head back to the beach later in the afternoon, when a
few were on the beach fishing and swimming.  Along the
beach, you can see a lot of boat traffic in the
surrounding waters, however.  

Two notes of caution: 1) walking into and out of the
island by way of the dunes is a lot easier then
trudging through the marsh and muck, especially when
the tide is coming in.  We found this out the hard
way.  It's hard to see how extensive the marshes are
and judge distance here.  Several times we thought the
marsh was ending but then we'd found ourselves wading
through deep water again.  We asked the boat operator
to pick us up at 3PM but we arrived back at the beach
an hour late.  2) There are apparently a lot of ticks
here.  Elisa had a few dozen on her.  For some reason,
I haven't found any on me yet.  Mosquitoes were not
numerous, though.

We came upon an odd situation when we frightened a
flock of shorebirds but one Wilson's Plover couldn't
fly away with the others.  It appeared to be stuck in
the mud.  It kept flapping to escape from us but it
wasn't going anywhere.  On closer examination, we
found that one of it's toes on its left foot was stuck
in some sort of shellfish!  The mussel or whatever had
clamped down on it was not going to open up.  Luckily,
Elisa had a pocket knife with her.  I gently held the
bird while she tried to pry the shell open.  The
shells wouldn't open so a small part of the shell had
to be broken so that we could save the bird.  Sadly,
the plover lost part of it's toe to the mussel.  I
don't know that there would have been a way to save
it.  We finally got the poor bird free and it ran off,
apparently exhausted from the struggle.

We only covered a small part of the island.  I'd say
we walked just a few miles total in about 7 hours but
it was enough to keep us entertained in one way or
another the whole time.
  
Lastly, thanks to all those who helped us with our
trip.  We appreciate it very much.  Personally, it was
one of the best and most fun birding days I've ever
had.

Scott Baron and Elisa Enders
Fairfax and Portsmouth, Virginia, respectively