North Carolina May 29—Jun 05, 2010
Posted by Michael O'Brien
Michael O'Brien
Michael O'Brien is a freelance artist, author, and environmental consultant living in Cape May, New Jersey. He has a passionate interest in bird vocalizations and field...Related Trips
Adapted from Marshall Iliff's "Mid-Atlantic Breeders and Seabirds" tour, this new offering in 2010 was more focused on coastal North Carolina and its offshore waters. It was a fun and very successful tour that yielded all of the expected specialties of the region, along with some fine local seafood.
We began in the quintessential southern town of Wilmington with a visit to Greenfield Lake. This lovely spot, with a backdrop of some magnificent bald cypress (they hold a Cypress Festival here in October!), offered us a nice variety of woodland and swamp birds, including stunning views of a drumming Pileated Woodpecker, a beautiful Prothonotary Warbler, and our only Anhinga of the tour. We moved on to the USS North Carolina Memorial to look for rails and found what appeared to be (and sounded like) a hybrid Clapper x King Rail—a very interesting bird, but not the most satisfying for the checklist. Our afternoon was spent at North Topsail Island where we had excellent views of a pair of Painted Buntings. We particularly enjoyed watching the male "mate guarding" as it followed the female wherever she went. A short walk on the beach at the island's north end produced good views of a male Wilson's Plover, which spent most of its time running around chasing fiddler crabs.
Our second day was spent exploring the nearly 160,000-acre Crotan National Forest with its mix of open longleaf pine savannah, impenetrable "poccasin" pine savannah, hardwood forest, and swamp. This mix of habitats offered us a wonderful array of birds, highlighted by a stunning Black-billed Cuckoo; Red-headed and Red-cockaded woodpeckers; Brown-headed Nuthatch; Yellow-throated, Pine, Swainson's, Worm-eating, and Hooded warblers; Bachman's Sparrow; and Summer Tanager. In the evening, some of us returned to Crotan to enjoy the dusk chorus of Chuck-will's-widows, a few of which we were able to see.
Our third day took us northeast to the vast marshes of Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge where we saw Seaside Sparrow and had amazing views of a family of adult and baby Clapper Rails feeding and swimming in a roadside ditch. As we waited for the ferry to Ocracoke, we found a few migrant shorebirds including several White-rumped Sandpipers. A baby Northern Mockingbird that was practicing its wing flash display also kept us entertained. The long ferry ride proved productive for studying terns, and some brief birding on Ocracoke Island yielded Northern Gannet and Prairie Warbler.
The next two days were spent offshore on pelagic trips aboard the Stormy Petrel II with Capt. Brian Patteson. Although seas were a bit rough on both days, making viewing conditions challenging at times, we did manage to see all of the expected specialties including Black-capped Petrel; Cory's, Great, Sooty, and Audubon's shearwaters; Wilson's, Leach's, and Band-rumped storm-petrels; Bridled Tern; and Pomarine Jaeger. Most of these species were seen well at one time or another. The Wilson's Storm-Petrels put on a particularly great show as they "danced" in tight flocks right next to the boat. And a real bonus was seeing a subadult White-tailed Tropicbird pass right overhead! To add even more interest, we saw several marine mammals including Risso's, bottlenose, and Atlantic spotted dolphins. A special thanks to Capt. Patteson for doing such a great job on these trips. The Gulf Stream was a little farther offshore than usual this year (due to the intrusion of Greenland meltwater, it is believed), so he had to work extra hard to get us to the birds.
Our last day was a pleasant and relaxing one spent exploring the Outer Banks. The impoundments at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge still held numerous migrant shorebirds—it was a good exercise to watch their different sizes, shapes, and feeding styles. Highlights at Pea Island included Marbled Godwit, Stilt Sandpiper, Black Tern, and a surprise Hooded Merganser (rare here in summer). At Oregon Inlet we enjoyed watching a thriving colony of Least and Common terns and Black Skimmers. The first few Least Terns had recently hatched and the tiny fluffball babies were hiding under their parents' wings! Also at Oregon Inlet, we found several Gull-billed Terns hawking insects over the dunes, and a subadult Lesser Black-backed Gull flying through the colony. On our final stop, we visited the boardwalk and pond at Bodie Island Lighthouse and heard a King Rail calling, but could not see it.