Sunday on the Banks

[Harry Legrand <harry.legrand@ncmail.net>]

Derb Carter and I spent Sunday on Hatteras Island looking for rare gulls
and ocean-watching. I've now heard about the 2 female Harlequin Ducks
seen yesterday (Monday) under the Oregon Inlet bridge. On Sunday, we
checked the southern end of the bridge -- at least in the water -- and
we saw no Harlequins, but we were aware to look for them, eiders, and
Purple Sandpipers there. They could have arrived later in the day or
Monday morning, or could have been resting on the pilings, where we
could have overlooked them. 

We had no rarities, though we totalled about 10 Lesser Bb Gulls, about
5-6 at Cape Point, and the rest along  various east-facing beaches. As
the strong wind was from the west, the east-facing beaches were fairly
flat. We must have stopped at 10-15 spots up the coast to Whalebone. In
the Avon area, we went thru streams of Bonaparte's Gulls (maybe 5000 or
more), but could not find a Little Gull. We did see a Humpback Whale,
but that was the main excitement on the ocean. Cape Point had maybe 3000
gulls (GBB, Herring, and Ring-billed, with a few Lessers). Couldn't find
anything else there. Drove by an Am. Bittern within 5 feet at Cape
Point.

The only thing of note written in the Pea Island logbook as of Sunday
was a Glossy Ibis at Bodie I. lighthouse pond.

Sandy Cash didn't mention that one of the warblers on the Mattamuskeet
causeway was a female Black-throated Blue, only a few of which have ever
been seen in winter in NC. (I still haven't seen one in winter.) That's
worth looking for among the other good warblers there -- Chat,
Black-and-white, and maybe a few others.

With the extreme cold weather to continue this week, I expect lots more
gulls to stream south. February has historically been the best month of
rare gulls on the Outer Banks (as well as best results for winter
pelagic trips). More and more fresh and brackish water is freezing up
now north of us, so waterfowl may well be streaming south as well. 
-- 
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
1615 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1615
(919) 715-8687 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net