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

Fwd: Adventure on Shackleford Banks, July 20



I'm having trouble posting this to the listserv, I
don't know what's wrong with my account.  I haven't
been receiving messages, either.  I will try again,
it's a longer version of Mr. Enders' email yesterday.

Scott Baron

--- Scott Baron <brnpelican@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 14:40:43 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Scott Baron <brnpelican@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Adventure on Shackleford Banks, July 20 
> To: CarolinaListserv Birds <carolinabirds@duke.edu>,
> 
>     Elisa Enders <elisaenders@hotmail.com>
> 
> 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 GODWHIT.
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site
> design software
> http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
> 


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com