The Rundown

It's about time I posted! I'm about to give you the rundown on my birding adventures since the CBC trip in early May. Since then, we've gotten 19 lifers and the life list is now at 220. Here we go!

After the CBC trip, we birded three more times in May, two of those at Howell Woods in Johnston County, NC. We ended up with one lifer on each visit.

The first visit to Howell Woods yielded one lifer, Mississippi Kite. Other birds included Green Heron, Eastern Wood-Pewee, White-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Kentucky and Prairie Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, and Indigo Buntings. The kites made #202.

The second trip to Howell Woods wasn't as great due to limited time. That being said we had Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher (lifer), White-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Hooded Warbler, Summer Tanager and Blue Grosebeak. The flycatcher made #203.

We ended up with one more lifer in the month of May, Warbling Vireo. It turns out the pair from last year returned for the second year in a row to Shelley Lake in Raleigh. We were able to pick them up fairly easily to make #204. Only other birds present were a pair of Orchard Orioles.

Then, one June 1st we headed to Mid Pines Rd. in Raleigh in hopes of Grasshopper Sparrows, and they showed. We had great looks at one singing bird through the scope. Later that day, our lifer Fish Crow turned up in our yard! That whole ordeal put us a 206.


Our next outing was a one day trip to the Outer Banks on June 3rd. We got SEVEN lifers: Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Red Knot, Black-necked Stilt, Gull-billed Tern, Northern Bobwhite, and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Other birds included American Black Ducks, Little Blue and Tricolored Herons, White Ibis, Bald Eagle and Osprey, Black-bellied, Semipalmated, and Piping Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Least, Forster's and Royal Tern, Black Skimmer, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Prairie Warbler. 213 on the list.

I then (without my dad) headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for an AAU tournament. I got lifer Eurasian Collared-Dove in downtown North Myrtle and at Huntington Beach State Park lifers Reddish Egret and Caspian Tern. Also had FOY Cattle Egret, Painted Bunting, Wood Stork, and Anhinga, among others. 216

When I got back to NC, my dad and I successfully chased a Horned Lark on Mid Pines Rd. for lifer 217 then picked up Wood Thrush at Shelley Lake for #218.

Our next outing was a trip to the mountains. I was there for a whole week before my dad arrived and picked up FOY Yellow Warbler, Cliff Swallow, and Baltimore Oriole. The warbler and oriole were both from Valle Crucis Park. Other birds present were Veery, Hairy Woodpecker, Orchard Oriole, Red-eyed Vireo, and Least Flycatcher. Once my dad arrived we headed to Trout Lake and picked saw Chestnut-sided, Black-and White, Black-throated Blue, and FOY Canada Warbler. Also present were Veery and Wood Duck. The next day my dad and I headed to Mount Mitchell SP. Along the way we had numerous Wild Turkey on the Parkway. We also saw a very nice Canada Warbler at Bald Knob Overlook, near Mt. Mitchell. At Mt. Mitchell we had FOY Winter Wren and Red Crossbill. We also saw Black-throated Green and Chestnut-sided Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Cedar Waxwings, and a late pair of male Yellow-rumped Warblers. We continued on the Parkway towards Bull Creek, in hopes for a late Cerulean Warbler. Along the way we had multiple Broad-winged Hawks which was a lifer. At Bull Creek we immediately saw Blackburnian and Worm-eating Warblers and with a little patience a late male Cerulean Warbler for a lifer.

That's how we got our 19 lifers to put us at 220 on the life list and 194 on the year!

CBC Mountain Trip Day 2

For the second day, we were scheduled to go to Max Patch Rd. and Lake Junaluska. Our leader today was Steve Tracey, a great birder. When we arrived at Max Patch, we stopped at a church that was know to have Least Flycatcher. It did. We had one nice male singing and my first male Orchard Oriole. Both were FOYs. We stopped numerous times along the road and on the first we heard a Black-billed Cuckoo, but never got a visual. At that same spot we picked up a lifer Chestnut-sided Warbler! #196! We had a bunch of great birders in the group including Jeff Click, John Ennis, and Kent Fiala. The next time we stopped we got a great lifer, Golden-winged Warbler! We even got pretty good views! At that same spot, we got RE Vireo, a pair of Scarlet Tanagers, FOY Veery and some Pine Siskins. Sorry for the terrible quality.


Golden-winged Warbler

 



After that it was lunch time, we stopped at the picnic area to have lunch. Unfortunately, me and my dad didn't bring anything, so we went birding, good thing we did too. We found a wave of warblers, including Chestnut-sided, Black-and-White, Blackburnian (lifer), and Northern Parula (lifer). This whole mess put us at 199. We only needed one more. After that, we headed to Lake Junaluska, a large lake in Haywood County. We found Northern Rough-winged, Tree, and Barn Swallows. We got two lingering American Coots and FOY Spotted Sandpiper. Then came #200, Cape May Warbler! It was a beautiful female that we found at "the Cross". The bird was actually in the tree know to locals as the "Cape May Tree". We finished up early so we decided to go check out Hooper Lane in Hendersonville for shorebirds. We only found one, a single Killdeer, but we did find a flock of about 40-50 Bobolinks! #201! That was the final lifer and the last stop of the trip. In the end we finished at 201 for our life list, 199 for NC, and 152 for the year! It was great!!!!!

CBC Mountain Trip Day 1

Over the weekend my dad and I went to the Carolina Bird Club spring meeting in Asheville. We met a bunch of great people and saw a ton of birds. The first day we went to Curtis Creek and Mt. Mitchell. Our leaders were Mark Simpson and Doug Pratt, two well-known birders. Mark said he knew a great place just off the highway for Kentucky Warblers, so we went for them. The weather all weekend was rainy and I decided to scratch the picture rule for good, so we didn't have to get a photo to count the bird anymore! When we arrived at the spot, we heard a Kentucky singing. After about ten minutes of playback, it popped out and gave us great looks! # 192! Just a couple yards away, there was a Worm-eating Warbler singing. We didn't even have to use playback because it showed right out in the open for about 5 minutes, singing! #193! Our next stop was Curtis Creek Rd. is the Pisgah NF. Mark knew a great spot for Swainson's Warbler just off the highway. Right when we got out of the car, we heard two singing. After about ten minutes of searching, a nice male Swainson's popped right out into the open and sang for about 3 or 4 minutes! #194!



Swainson's Warbler

 

 

Once we actually got onto the road, we saw a ton of birds including Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosebeak, Black-throated Green Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Scarlet Tanager, and the last lifer of the day, Hooded Warbler. Our next stop was Mt. Mitchell, but the weather was so bad on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we couldn't see anything up on the mountain. We did stop at an overlook and got nice looks at an Ovenbird, Blue-headed Vireo, and FOY Common Raven. That was pretty much the end of the day, but just my dad and I decided to stop back by where we saw the Kentuckys. All we found was a female Black-throated Green Warbler on a nest. Day 2 next.

 



 

It's been a while!

Ok, it's time to catch up on what's happened in the last three or so months. In mid January we took a trip to the eastern part of the state for a late Christmas present. One the first day we saw lifer Orange-crowned Warbler at Mattamuskeet NWR, our lifers Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, and a self-found Lapland Longspur at Alligator River NWR. The longspur was a great find for the area and was not relocated after we found it that day. It was definitely an unexpected surprise finding that bird! On the second day we found a large flock of our lifer Snow Goose at Pea Island, along with another lifer Great Comorant. We finished with sixth lifers on the trip and two nice birds for the state (Lapland Longspur and Great Comorant). We didn't get any more lifers in the month of January. In the month of February, we only went birding once. It was again to Mattamuskeet and to a place called Palmetto Peartree Preserve to look for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker. We went to Palmetto first. We found the "supposed woodpecker trees" that were marked by a white band at the base of the tree. After sitting there for about an hour with NO activity whatsoever we decided to go ahead to Mattamuskeet. There wasn't much to see there either, except for a self-found rarity that was never relocated, a very interesting Blue-winged Teal X Cinnamon Teal hybrid! Unfortunately, you don't count hybrids as lifers so we totally struck out in the month of February. Weeks later a Northern Lapwing turned up in Person County, NC, about an hour away from my house. This was it. I had to go see it, this is a bird that is accidental anywhere in the US. We set out Sunday morning to it's location, a small church in Roxboro. When we arrived, there was a couple that drove all the way from Ohio to see this bird! They had not located the bird yet, but about five minutes after we arrived, they did. It was about a half-mile away from us and the scope that I brought made the bird just look like a tiny dot! We had to use the other couple's scope to even see the bird, but it was definitely the European beauty. Now came the challenging part, getting a photo. Right as I was about to attempt to digiscope it, it flew half way across the field out of view. Fortunately, there was a dirt road leading right to where it was heading. We quickly ran to the car and got on the dirt road, but we couldn't find it. Around ten minutes later, I saw it fairly close to us on the bank of a lake behind the church! We got great looks and half-decent photos at our very rare lifer! This is a ABA code 4 bird which is extremely rare and it was a real treat to see this bird!

Stay tuned until we go on our next outing, and enjoy!

part 4, the last one

Upon arriving at Coquina Rocks, we found Razorbills, Savannah Sparrows, and Red-throated Loons. We did get one lifer, Black Scoter. That's really all I have to say, so.............. the trip ended with 11 lifers! 184! The last pic is the Nelson's Sparrow from Federal Point.

Black Scoter

Red-throated Loon

Nelson's Sparrow

part 3

First thing in the morning, we headed out to Fort Fisher. We went to Federal Point, that has the nickname "the rocks." We found loads of Savannah Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and Palm Warblers. Out on the rocks we found Dunlin, and lifers Marbled Godwit and American Oystercatcher. There were Seaside Sparrows and one Nelson's Sparrow, both lifers. There were also hundreds of Boat-tailed Grackles, Ring-billed Gulls, and Double-crested Comorants. We ended up with four lifers at Federal Point. Our final stop of the trip, Coquina Rocks, is coming up next.

Dunlin

Marbled Godwits and American Oystercatchers

Seaside Sparrow

part two

Our next stop was Mason Inlet WMA. We were able to see Black-bellied Plover, Common Loon, Bald Eagle, and lifers Black Skimmer and Dunlin. After that, we headed to Arlie Gardens. We saw American Black Duck, American Wigeon, American Coots, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, and our lifer Baltimore Oriole. We also saw one Red-headed Woodpecker. That was the last stop for day 1, so we headed to our hotel, in the town of Carolina Beach, NC. We found a small pond with Bufflehead, Am. Coot, Northern Shoveler, and one Lesser Scaup in it. The scaup was a nice addition and the only one of the trip. Day two coming next!

Baltimore Oriole

Black Skimmer

Lesser Scaup