Spring in North Carolina

I get to bird North Carolina whenever I visit my family there; usually once a year or so. But I have only ever done so in winter or summer. Over spring break we loaded up and went to Raleigh for a week, which provided a nice new set of birds that I’m not used to seeing.

Brown Pelicans

The best birds were those that I got to see on a day trip to Wrightsville Beach in New Hanover County.

More Brown Pelicans

I have seen Brown Pelicans before, but not since I have been an actual birder. Watching the flocks soar in formation over the Atlantic was a big highlight of the trip.

Osprey

Bonaparte’s Gulls

Wrightsville Beach

Some familiar Midwest birds, an Osprey and Bonaparte’s Gulls, were in some vastly different habitat than I am used to seeing them in.

Sandwich Tern

There was also a totally new bird for me – Sandwich Tern! This trip now marks my third consecutive beach visit with a lifer. We’re going to the Lake Michigan shore in June, so I am optimistic to make it four for four.

Barnacles

Oh, and there were other life forms, too.

Eastern Phoebe with nesting material

Back at my parent’s place in the central part of the state, the birds were getting ready for spring too. A pair of Eastern Phoebes were busy building a nest under the deck.

Carolina Chickadee with nesting material

The ubiquitous Carolina Chickadees were also nesting. This one found some animal fur caught on a branch at the hiking trails surrounding the art museum.

Fish Crow

The dominant crow down there is Fish Crow. I heard their distinct “ah-ah” calls constantly.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

And once you learn the squeaky dog toy call of the Brown-headed Nuthatch, you can never not hear it.

Eastern Towhee

In general, the avifauna of the inland Carolinas is similar to that of the Midwest. But the abundance of certain species is very skewed. Up here, Eastern Towhees are relatively hard to come by, but they are a dime a dozen down there.

Northern Mockingbird

Ditto that for Northern Mockingbird.

Hermit Thrush

In early April anywhere, though, it’s easy to get excited about the start of migrant season. Hermit Thrushes start to appear in numbers.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

I caught four of the early warbler species, but just like home, Yellow-rumped were the most abundant.

Purple Martin

Purple Martins also gathered in flocks, which entertained Jaime and Alice as they walked with me one day.

White-eyed Vireo

A surprise White-eyed Vireo gave me a new state bird for NC as we watched the kids at the neighborhood playground.

Great Blue Heron

The real neighborhood celebrities, though, were the Great Blue Herons flying around.

Double-crested Cormorant

And finally, it was a great change of pace to get daily Double-crested Cormorants as yard birds.

Some Thoughts on Fall

I have been to much (although admittedly not all) of this country, and I have very strong feelings about fall in the Midwest being one of the greatest season/location combinations possible.

Foster Park

Things are still green here, but once September 22nd hit, fall was official. Football season returns. You don’t have to feel weird about eating soup. And all manner of farm-related family activities beckon you to the countryside. These are not the trappings of high-brow culture. But, man, are they fun.

Portrait of a Barred Owl

I feel the same way about my recent September birds. I haven’t gone anywhere extravagant, and I didn’t see anything at all rare. But I enjoyed the run-of-the-mill immensely, even though the blogosphere might make you think you are not living life if you aren’t seeing a Juan Fernandez Petrel.

I know this guy well.

I would much rather spend some quality time with some good friends, the common birds in my neighborhood. I hear this Barred Owl every once in a while, and occasionally he even makes a roost in the spruces in my back yard. It isn’t that big of a surprise to see him along the southern part of the woods at Foster Park, either. And that is exactly where I found him on Friday, but this was one of the best encounters with any bird I have ever had.

As I was following a trail, he flew up from ground level just a few yards ahead of me. He perched in a low branch very close, and watched me for a minute as I tried hard not to move or make any noise. Then, he turned his attention to an acorn falling through the foliage, and watched for the Blue Jays calling in the area. He wasn’t concerned with me. For a bird to ignore you, is that respect? It felt like it. It was an incredible sighting.

Northern Flicker

As I continued my walk, I came upon a big mixed flock of birds. Notable in it were some Black-throated Green and Blackpoll Warblers, both green year birds. I didn’t get great photos, but that doesn’t matter when the young Northern Flicker they were with was quite willing to fill in.

Cooper’s Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Next, a Cooper’s Hawk successfully chased away a young Red-tailed. The much larger buteo was undoubtedly making its first go of it alone in the world.

Eastern Phoebe

This Eastern Phoebe was hanging on to summer for as long as it could. Rather than joining the mixed flocks and starting an adventure south, this bird perched in a tree and called “phoebe” the whole time while it sallied for bugs like it was still the early stages of June.

Broad-winged Hawks

The next morning, I woke up and went for a walk with the family. As we neared the park again, we saw a huge cloud of hawks swirling around in the morning sunlight. At least 100 Broad-winged Hawks were all tailgating together, with some of them eventually making their way right above our house. A pretty incredible sight for a yard bird.

Broad-winged Hawk

A lone bird landed in the spruces behind my house, chasing away a Mourning Dove. Not only was this group representative of a new species in the yard, but they were a state bird as well.

Blue Jay

Few hawks are game to stand up to a determined Blue Jay, however. This fellow and his posse were successful in running off the guy above who could have otherwise ruined everyone’s day.

Monarch

Hawks weren’t the only migrants making impressively large southward flights. Nearly two dozen Monarchs were also there this weekend, making their annual march to the hills of Mexico.

Eastern Tailed Blue

Other smaller leps have also made a last push recently. Eastern Tailed Blues were all over my yard for a few days, and then all of a sudden were gone.

Giant Swallowtail

Others, like this Giant Swallowtail at my in-laws’ house, decided to go it alone as the days shortened.

It is very easy to enjoy all of these species, no matter how common. I like to make metaphors in the things I see, which I guess is pretty cheesy, but makes the common things more relatable and more enjoyable. Cheesy yet enjoyable. Kind of like pumpkin spice everything, corn mazes, and homecoming. Fall in the Midwest is great. Bring it on.

Greg and Butterflies

I rode out to Eagle Marsh today in phenomenal weather, hoping that the line of storms last night would have dropped some interesting shorebirds into the area. Nope. But there were a lot of butterflies instead. I need to start a butterfly life list, because I have lost count, and I am getting okay at identifying them.

Black Swallowtail

A male Black Swallowtail jockeyed for position with a honey bee. Liferfly!

Fiery Skipper

My other lifer was this male Fiery Skipper. This lep was bright and shiny! I almost thought it was a sulphur for a moment.

Pearl Crescent

Pearl Crescents were puddling everywhere on the mud. They probably numbered in the hundreds. One bounced off of my face while I was riding home.

Common Buckeye

The Common Buckeye is one of my favorites just because of its name alone.

Monarch

And finally, a worn Monarch. Butterflies like this are really interesting to me, just because they have been through so much. You can pretty much bet that this one has been to Mexico and back.

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebes are not butterflies. But this is a bird blog after all.

Foster & Fox

That would make a great name for a British-style pub, no?

Over the last two weeks my primary birding destinations were Foster Park and Fox Island. Some of the highlights:

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrows are incredibly common early spring migrants, but I am loving my new camera.

Yellow-throated Warbler

This Yellow-throated Warbler at Foster Park was foraging in the same tree as a Brown Creeper. Disorienting, to say the least. The juncos and creepers hung around into last week, but an outing today netted none of the strictly winter birds.

Eastern Phoebe

I turned my bike toward Fox Island today and came up with a pleasing three dozen species. One of them was the above Eastern Phoebe imploring you to tread lightly. Earth Day vibes all over this one.

American Pipit

It was great to have about half a dozen warblers plus a few more new migrants, but the most surprising birds of the day came before I even got to the park. A tractor was plowing a field along the road, and some Killdeer and robins were gorging on the bugs that were getting kicked up. I somehow managed to catch sight of two smaller dirt-colored birds way out in the field with them, and they turned out to be American Pipits. This is only the second time I have seen this species, and it was not on my radar at all as a possible green bird! This one plus the others I got today bumped my list up to 80 on the year.

Garter Snake

I happened across an expert local birder at Fox Island who I hiked with for about an hour. He thankfully put me on to a ton of things I would have missed otherwise (hello, Pine Warbler!) He also managed to identify this snake for me as a Garter Snake. I probably should have known that. Thanks, Rodger!

Eastern Comma

While birds were numerous, they were less than cooperative for photos. Thank goodness for butterflies. I was actually able to call this Eastern Comma in the field thanks to the reading up on them I did last summer.

Who gives an [expletive] about an Oxford Comma?

It also helped that the namesake punctuation mark was easily visible on the underwing.

Spring Azure (?)

Not as easy was this supposed Spring Azure. I will take corrections on this one. Final thought: if you use birder banding code on butterflies, this one becomes SPAZ, which is very fitting.