Lowcountry Birding: Perplexing Peeps and My Outset

The Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend had a soothing feel on the beach with calm waves melting gently over the sand and soft rays of sunshine only comforting my skin. Suddenly, I began reminiscing in nostalgic memories after I finally felt I was really in Debordieu, SC; the place where this crazy liking of birds began. It first started with a Peterson's Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America sitting on the shelf over my grandad's desk at our beach house. I ran outside with a pair of binoculars and the field guide, and identified a Great Crested Flycatcher. What intrigued me was the puzzle of identification that came with each species and the knowledge of a whole other feathered world living around me. After the interest struck up by the flycatcher four years ago, every family vacation I spent birding and learning new species. I took this interest home and return several times a year to Debordieu and so far have seen rarities like a Western Kingbird, done a big day with my two birding friends, and continue rejoice in learning about birds, something Debordieu has always done with its marshes and beaches.

I returned my attention to the two mile walk south along the shore to the North Inlet( walking south to get North?) where I found Wilson's Plovers last year. The tall and stocky Willets were very vocal and Sanderlings were scurrying through the surf. Things really started to get fun when I peeked over a sand dune to my surprise and found a group of Whimbrels! It didn't stop there, I found another group at the inlet too!

An American Oystercatcher photo bomb! Birds tend to have that habit (Rufous-necked Wood Rail).

They are large, stocky shorebirds with a noticeably decurved bill, a personal favorite and the best view I've ever had. Eventually, I ran into two Wilson's Plover, which I found their nests where thankfully protected around the inlet.

Male Wilson's Plover

Glad to see this in place

Once I arrived at the Inlet, I was greeted by a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a Sanderling in its brick red breeding plumage and a gorgeous Black-bellied Plover feeding. I came across an identification that always stumps me as well as other birders: Peeps, a group of small shorebirds in the Calidris genus that appear very similar if not looked at closely. The main three are Western, Semipalmated, and Least Sandpipers. I encountered Semipalmated and even confused it with a Sanderling, another member of the the genus, still in a white plumage. 

Sanderling, breeding plumage wearing out from last September at DeBordieu.

To solve the problem, I stop and take as many photos as I can. This is the best way to learn because you can return home and stare at the the bird as long as you want and not worry about it flying off. 

Looking at the Calidris shorebirds birds I saw this weekend, I eliminated Least Sandpiper because the birds did not have yellow legs and were not in a LESA's preferred habitat of more mudflats were I usually encounter them.

This leaves Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper(SESA), and Western Sandpiper(WESA). Typically, WESAs are only a winter resident in the US and aren't found in the Spring by May, only SESAs are found in the spring in the US migrating North.

 Here are some other good field marks I used:

Overall Size and Shape: Sanderlings are stocky and much larger than the three main peeps. WESAs and SEWAs appear the same size in the field. WESA's head will look proportionally larger and flattened at the top. A SESA's head appears rounder. These field marks are best distinguished when the two species are beside one another. 

Plumage: This time of year, Sanderlings will be in their brick, red breeding plumage. I saw some individuals still blech white, I'm guessing they are just juveniles. If not in breeding plumage, they will be mostly washed in white with gray and dark specks on back, wings, and top of head.

Sanderling in breeding plumage, notice the brick red covering the head and entirely side of neck.

Sanderling in nonbreeding plumage.

SESA's are a mainly black and white with some brown on there back maybe a slight rufous on face. They are lightly streaked on the breast with none on their flanks. WESA's are heavily streaked, have more arrow-like streaks on the flanks, and a stronger rufous on head and cheeks.

No streaking on flanks of this Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Bill Shape is one of the most reliable ways to distinguish SESA and WESA. SESA's bill is straight and tubular where a WESA's bill ( I think it can almost resemble the shape of a Dunlin) droops at tip. SESA's bill are shorter; however females' bills are longer than the males and can appear to be the same as a WESA in the field. 

Thicker and straighter bill of a Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Hind Toes. Sanderlings do not have hind toes, SESA and WESA do. Hind toes can be hard to notice in the field, so a photograph of the feet would be best to confirm whether there is a hind toe. When they are running and you have a side view of the peep is the best way to see the hind toe. This field mark is most helpful if you struggle with distinguishing Sanderlings from WESA, SESA, and LESA. 

Semipalmated Sandpipers with a hind toe.

My next stop was to another local birding Hotspot, Huntington Beach State Park, that is a thirty minute drive North on Highway 17. The park has a large diversity of habitats. First you enter the park on the causeway with a saltmarsh side and a freshwater side called Mullet Pond. Then you have the inlet with a mile and a half of beach and dunes. I arrived too late in the day for the saltmarsh to be productive for rails. I headed straight to the Inlet and encountered a pair of Least Terns, with one offering a fish to its mate.

Least Terns, a threatened bird in this area. 

I got to the end of the crowded beach and decided not to attempt to look around on the jetty due to the many fishermen. I continued behind the sand dunes and spotted a Gull-billed Tern fly by and more Whimbrels behind the sand dunes. However, I never found the Common Ground Dove I wanted to see. The marsh had a lot of Semipalmated Plovers foraging around. Next, I encountered a winter resident, the Common Loon in breeding Plumage! Also, a Red-breasted Merganser and a White-winged Scoter all in the inlet. All those are very  late this time time of year and should be up North in their breeding grounds. 

Common Loon in breeding plumage.

Red-breasted Merganser left and White-winged Scoter right.

Next, I headed to the observation deck at Mullet Pond. It was full of surprises. It was quiet for the first minute then all of a sudden a Black-necked Stilt popped out of no where.

Then a female Wood Duck appeared with almost twenty duckling! And I thought having two siblings was tough.

The best surprise was a Least Bittern that flushed from the marsh grass. Least Bitterns are often to shy to give up their cover emerged in marsh grass. Huntington never disappoints.

Playful Otters

I ended the weekend at DeBordieu the next day. I explored a dirt road that extends into the marsh with a small canal parallel to the road bordering a mix forest of a wildlife refuge. Once I stepped onto the road, a group of Wild Turkeys jolted away across the canal. All of a sudden, my eyes met with a Raccoon foraging along the bank. Then I heard a snort and splash greeted by two heads popping out of the water. It was a playful pair of Otters!

"Uh, What are you doing here?"

 The canal had a myriad of songbirds playing their tunes. A Prothonotary Warbler made itself loud and clear with a beautiful view of its golden plumage. A female Painted Bunting was sitting on an exposed branch singing as well.

Female Painted Bunting

 DeBordieu and Georgetown County always show me amazing birds and really are the outset of my birding.

Wild Turkey

Spring by the Wing

Whoa! Spring is here and I can already see it! I got a nice taste of spring first with a trip to a hidden and "remote", some might say( I mean no cell service), part of the NC. It was at my friend Sam's house in Aurora, NC located on the Pamlico Sound. Despite the gray and cold weather, the birds warmed us uped. We found an amazing impoundment called Goose Creek Impoundments near by with countless Greater Yellowlegs and Dunlin along with Western Sandpipers and the highlight was a White-rumped Sandpiper, practically a shorebird paradise. We ran into a Dunlin that had good suspicion to be a possible Curlew Sandpiper, a vagrant shorebird from Europe that closely resembles  Dunlin. After two days of researching, we realized our bird was not a what we wanted it to be, but if a Curlew does show up, we know what to look for! A great spot for Marsh Wrens as well. Throughout the weekend we were greeted at our first of the year(FOY) Ovenbird giving it's teacher, teacher, teacher! call along with countless Prairie Warblers and White-eyed Vireos. We even heard a FOY goatsucker, Chuck-will's-widow calling one evening.

Spring migration starts the return of many neotropical migrants that have finished wintering in Central and South America and return to North America to breed for the summer. The migrants are warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, cuckoos, shorebirds, and other small perching birds. The best chance you have of encountering the widest variety of migrants is from mid April to mid May. Spring migration is such a relief, especially after this harsh winter, for birders to see more variety of species as close as a stone throw away from a local park that just seemed to house only White-throated Sparrows during the winter now has a boldly patterned Black-throated Blue Warbler and a Louisiana Waterthrush in the creek. For example, I  found a Veery in my school's parking lot!

Over the past month, I've been taking regular visits to my local parks. The most productive has been Fallon Park, only a five minute bike ride from my house. I got my first Black-throated Blue Warbler of the year along with many other surprises. One evening, a female Ruby-throated Humingbird was hovering around some plants which was a shock I wouldn't see one at a feeder first. I followed the the creek and a small passerine shot out from a tree and landed right above me. It was a non-descript Empidonax Flycatcher, a genus of flycatchers that look about the same and are best distinguished by call. I took the most likely guess of what species occurs in this area, the Acadian Flycatcher. I was reassured when it responded back to my recording with a sudden sharp, petsah! I made my way down the trail and meandered through the brush where I got a better view of the creek. A drab thrush flushed and momentarily paused on a branch. A wash of buff on the face, a complete buffy eye-ring, and no rufous tail meant this Catharus thrush had to be a Swainson's Thrush. Suddenly, I was greeted by a Northern Waterthrush teetering it's tail up and down, and a good look of it's streaked throat confirmed the species from another very similar species, the Louisiana Waterthrush. Over the course of regular visits, I ended up seeing the Swainson's Thush four times and the Northern Waterthrush three! I eventually saw an American Restart with it's few spots of bright orange, Summer Tanager, Common Yellowthroat, female Hooded Warbler and Black-and-White Warbler. The best was another Veery!

Veery, took this on phone through my binocs. Can't you tell?

American Redstart

Female Black-and-White Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

I was able to get my 200th species of bird this year, a Wood thrush singing, at Schenck Forest. I really don't even know how to describe it's song besides the word beautiful. The forest that morning was so alive with Ovenbirds and other birds waking up. Earlier, I was at Schenck Forest with Lucas and Sam and we came upon a buzzy warbler song that turned out to be a Black-throated GreenWarbler. We got great views of it, a lifer for me!

Ovenbird, got real close and the lighting condition gave me a real blurry photo.

Male Orchard Oriole

The best experience so far was doing some banding at Prairie Ridge Ecostation with the NC Museum's Ornithology Director. The goal was to band the Orchard Orioles like the one above; however, this proved to be a little difficult. We would play the call on a recording to draw them in towards a mist net and set up models of orioles. The orioles just would never come low enough to the net, but we were able to fool another specie, a beautiful male Blue Grosbeak.

We even got a White-eyed Vireo as well.

But after a long morning of repetitive playbacks, we finally got an oriole to get low enough to the net.

Recently, I participated on the annual Spring Bird Count with the Wake Audubon Society. I was paired with another local birde, Clyde, and we covered the Lake Benson area. We started the day out with howling call from a Common Loon, something I've never heard before. Starting from the boat ramp, we got a Lesser Yellowlegs with numerous Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows. We got great looks at a nesting pair of Bald Eagles tending to their chicks.

The group checking out the Bald Eagle nest.

As we birded more on the trails, we heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (FOY) and walked out to the large field to find a Cliff Swallow (FOY) mixed in with the Barn Swallows. We ended our count at 63 species total after a last stop yielding Yellow-throated Warbler, Northern Parula, Summer Tanagers, more Acadian Flycatchers, and even a Swamp Sparrow.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Ordinary migrants, but today was a little quite because of the heat and most of them have already passed through. Clyde and I ended our day with a quick trip down a dirt road off Lake Wheeler Road that someone had said they saw Bobolinks earlier called Chi Road. A Grasshopper Sparrow landed on the wire and we could hear their high pitched song coming from the fields. Then a female Bobolink flushed out of the grass, two new species for the day and year!



Spring migration is starting to wind down as the birds reach their breeding grounds all over North America. I am looking forward to finding some new birds this summer especially when I go down to DeBordieu, SC in Georgetown County during Memorial Day. Keep reading!

Spring Break: From Purple to Yellow

From the end of OBX birding trip until the beginning of Spring Break, I had 27 days of zero year birds. March is slow because you've seen all you can see in your area and spring migration has not arrived with neotropical migrants. I spent most of this time birding around my area looking for some county birds. The best part during those 27 days was adding Red-necked Grebe to my county list at Lake Crabtree. There was a huge fallout of Red-necked Grebes over the eastern US due to some nasty winter weather. Lake Crabtree was even flooded!

The best surprise I had was an unexpected Baltimore Oriole show up in my yard along with the first ever yard sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker. They're huge woodpeckers with a crisp red crest and a call that echoes dramatically. A woodpecker that is always a nice treat, especially from your backyard.

I spent the first half of my spring break on NC's crystal coast, this time farther south at Atlantic Beach. The band of slow March days was broken finally with a group of five Purple Martins(#158) tending to their summer home in the front yard of my friends beach house. 

 I managed to use my Mom's car for the afternoon and drove farther east to Fort Macon State Park, an old civil war fort based beside the Beaufort inlet. When I stepped out of the car, my face was pelted with rain and the sky was slate-gray. I trudged out in the wet sand onto the beach. I was met by numerous Laughing Gulls(#159) telling the same old joke, a Great Cormorant (lifer!) swimming close to shore and Royal Terns(#161) huddled in a group. Oh what a relief! 

Since I am the only one in my family who finds being on the beach when its wet and windy fun, I spent the last three days at the coast leisurely birding. However, I was able to pick up three more year birds incidentally. The next day I had just finished a delicious lunch with a fried oyster burger, and I decided to step out onto the beach for a moment. Suddenly my friend shouted, "Hey Edward, what are those?" and I turned around to the silhouette shape of a White Ibis. However these were not white, but a glossy black. That means a Glossy Ibis(#162)!  The following day before I spent the afternoon fishing, my whole family, along with our friends who’s beach house we stayed, went over to Fort Macon together. As I joined my brother, Fin, and our friends rock climbing on Fort Macon's Jetty, a group of Horned Grebes in an eclipsed plumage were swimming off shore. I lifted my binoculars and an Eared Grebe(lifer!), still in winter plumage, popped out of the water. It's head was more sloped than a Horned and had dusky cheeks. After my Eared Grebe encounter, I turned my attention to fish. Just like birding so far, I had a lot of great results. I went out on my friends boat and caught three Sand Sharks. 

They were no Great White obviously, but I'm pretty sure thats the first time I've caught a shark! As we came inland, I got great views of common Loons flying overhead, some even molting into their breeding plumage, which is beautiful sight. Suddenly, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow(#163)  flew over the water. After a successful weekend at the beach, I had a nice lunch at a great restaurant with an appropriate name. "Ruddy Duck Tavern".

Back to Wake County

I returned home last Tuesday still anxious to find some more year birds. I was stumped at first when I never saw the American Bittern or Purple Martins at Prairie Ridge. I did a little scouting on my local greenway and found no birds, but a Snapping Turtle instead!

 However, a trip to Yate Mill made up for it. As I walked across the first board walk, I saw Barn Swallows(#164) chasing insects below the bridge. Before I even stepped foot on the next board walk, I heard a White-eyed Vireo(#165) giving its sharp and rapid chirps. I eventually managed to get a great look, but a poor photo.

White-eyed Vireo with its eye blocked by a branch.

I instantly heard another call that sounded different from the rest of the resident birds. After playing the sound on my phone, I became confident this was a Common Yellowthroat(#167). As I made my way back I got a great view of a Palm Warbler and picked up the buzzy call of a Northern Parula(#168). Later that afternoon as I let my dog out, a cigar-shaped bird with long curved wings fluttered over my house. Then another. Chimney Swifts(#169)! 

I ended my Spring Break with a trip to Lake Crabtree. I started from the greenway scoping for any Blue-winged Teal; however, the lake had only a pair of Redheads in sight. The lake was covered in Northern Rough-winged and Barn swallows chasing insects. I eventually ran into a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher(#170), a passerine that looks like a dull, blue kinglet with a long tail. Next, headed to the other side of Lake Crabtree, Southport. I was met by an exposed mudflat with a Bald Eagle standing on it, and Ring-billed Gulls staying far away on the other side.

As I stood  watching the mudflat, a warbler let out a song from the reeds beside me. It sounded just like a Common Yellow-throat, similar to the one I heard at Yates Mill. I inched back to trail and closer to the call. After I started phishing, the Yellow-throat popped its head out of the reeds in curiosity. It stared at me for a moment with its black mask and let out its chorus again. I managed to grab my camera a snap a quick photo.

From Purple Martins to Common Yellowthroats, Spring is coming bird by bird!

Winter Birding on the OBX

The first time I ever went "real" birding was with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. I spent a weekend at Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina's largest natural lake, gazing over the horizon to watch the myriad of Snow Geese and Tundra Swans that winter there. I was enthralled when we saw an American Bittern immersed in cord grass, and I was amazed at how the museum educators could tell apart species of ducks through the eyepiece of a scope. By the end of the trip, I had caught a bad case of the birding bug and the only treatment was birding itself. After a full year of birding, I returned with the museum this time farther East to North Carolina's crystal coast, the Outer Banks. The museum group I go with is a teen volunteer program I am apart of called the Junior Curators.

Day 1

"Thank goodness" is what I thought as I stepped out of the van, a Saturday morning birding on the coast had finally arrived after a long week. We had birds to see and places to be! That first place was a stroll at Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve. We took a stroll down gravel roads beside the preserves shrubby, maritime forest and ponds under mixed species flocks of common eastern passerines. Towards the end, we took one last loop around a pond and encountered a mixed species flock with endless quantities of the prosaic Yellow-rumped Warbler that winter here. Then Brian, our trip leader, pointed out a warbler with a drab color wearing an inexpressive plumage, an Orange-crowned Warbler!  The whole group had amazing views from a close distance for a few minutes. It felt great to start the trip out with a view of an uncommon year bird I was not expecting to see.

Next, the whole group piled into the vans, and we headed over to Jockey's ridge State Park. Jockey's Ridge is home to the largest sand dunes on the East coast that appear like a small mountain range on the beach, an interesting site that I always forget NC has. Our Target specie were Snow Buntings, a brave songbird that breeds in the high arctic, and its southernmost range in winter is the OBX . However, we did not see any Snow Buntings, but getting to explore the largest sand dunes on the East coast made up for it!

 I did spot some wild Junior Curators, a very gregarious species.

Hmmm, where are those Snow Buntings?

After Jockey's Ridge, the whole group took a midday break from birding. The weather held crisp blue skies without a foreboding cloud on the horizon so far today. We eagerly returned back to birding in unexplored territory farther south. Our first stop was at the Bodie Island Lighthouse & Pond that is a reliable spot for waterfowl. As we walked up to the observation platform, we quickly spotted a noticeable shorebird, the American Avocet.

American Avocet

The American Avocet is a unique shorebird because it has an upturned bill it skims across the surface of the water to feed. They are a personal favorite of mine and never get tiring to encounter! The pond was most numerous in Tundra Swan along with the gorgeous Green-winged Teal, Pintail, Gadwall, and Widgeon.

Northern Pintail

Me holding a scope at Bodie Island.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Another interesting sighting was a Great-horned Owl. The owl had taken over an old Osprey nest at a Marina nearby and would roost there for the day offering great views to the whole group.

You can just barely see his ear tufts sticking out.

 The next stop was one we had all been waiting for, Oregon Inlet. This spot has been very productive all winter long: Harlequin Ducks, Red-necked Grebes, Scoters, and even a Snowy Owl found by my friend Lucas last December. I had been itching to get a scope on out there all day. The conditions were perfect: a setting sun shedding light to the east with mild winds from the NE and a crisp, blue sky. Harlequin ducks would be a lifer for me, and their elaborate plumage that made them one of North America's beautiful birds was a sighting I didn't want to miss. They are unusual this far south to North Carolina and winter commonly along the rocky shores like those of the Northeast states. Luckily, the group of six Harlequins had chosen the rocky jetty at Oregon Inlet to spend their winter.

The moment I walked onto the catwalk my friend Sam shouted and pointed across the water. I pressed my eye up to the scope. Six ducks that seemed to have applied to much makeup is what identified them as Harlequins. One-by-one they dove under the surface and popped back up again. Finally, a lifer for the day! After the ducks, a Red-necked Grebe emerged from the water. This was my second sighting of this species and by far better when I barely saw it fly over the Oregon Inlet Bridge last fall; it felt like lifer. White-winged Scoters emerged, a first for the year in NC.

As we were wrapping up scoping from the bridge, Brian and I noticed three little shorebirds with dark rumps fly and disappear into the rocks of the jetty. No doubt that these had to be Purple Sandpipers. The whole group shifted out onto the jetty and scoped out into the choppy waters of the inlet. I got one last glimpse of a Red-necked Grebe flash its white secondaries and land behind the choppy waves. As we made our way back to the vans, we stopped to clarify the Purple Sandpipers. Soon enough, we found them foraging on the rocks. An NC lifer at last!

The not so Purple Sandpiper.

The group checking out out the PUSAs

Lucas photographing the PUSAs.

Purple Sandpipers winter along rocky shores of the east coast. Hence their name, they don't ever appear purple. However, it is difficult to see this bird appear because its slate gray color blends into the rocks. I saw this sandpiper about a year ago hiding in a jetty in South Carolina. After the inlet and an unproductive trip to Pea Island, we treated ourselves to pizza and pasta at a go to restaurant called Gidget's that has fed us many meals after previous birding at the OBX. We ended our day with a night walk around Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. You really notice the powerful lights of a lighthouse at night!

Day 2

Sunday Morning brought another new day and new birds. As we drove the van in Cape Hatteras, Sam and I noticed a chicken-like bird scurry across the road and into the marsh grass. The only small, chicken-like marsh bird I could think of was the secretive, Virginia Rail. We walked down the gravel road and soon the rail flushed out of the grass and everyone got a quick look, another NC lifer to begin the morning! My second sighting this year. Our target location was the salt pond that lay behind the coat on Hatteras. The short path to the salt pond was covered in 3-inch deep puddles as usual, thank goodness I brought my boots. As our feet sloshed through the saturated ground, we flushed an American Bittern. A secretive species of wader related to the more common Great Blue Heron, the bittern was another new year bird. Once the salt pond came into sight, it was filled with Double-crested Cormorants, gulls, and waterfowl. By the end of our morning there, we had tallied nearly 10,000 Double-crested Cormorants. There seemed to be an endless amount from the horizon East to West.

Swamp Sparrow by the salt pond.

However, the trip was not over yet! We still had to see the 3rd state record Band-tailed Pigeon roosting in a front yard in Manteo, NC; another lifer I didn't want to miss! This is a notable pigeon that is a denizen of coniferous forests of the mountains in the West. The Band-tailed Pigeon is native unlike its closely resembled cousin, the Rock Pigeon. We arrived to the home where the Pigeon has been reported. A large oak tree that towered over the yard is where it had been previously reported. We strained our necks trying to see through the thick branches. As we walked into the yard, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flushed from the tree put the thought in my head the Band-tailed Pigeon had been the hawks last meal. Luckily, the pigeon was soon located by Lucas obscured in gnarly branches.

The very well hidden Band-tailed Pigeon in Manteo, NC. My second lifer of the trip.

While we were in the yard, we got a call from an employee at the aquarium who knows one of the trip leaders saying there was a deceased dolphin that washed up on the beach back on the OBX. So, we took another break from birding to observe a local species of marine mammal, the Common Dolphin.

The Common Dolphin, a close relative of the Bottle-nosed Dolphin.

Apparently, dolphins have been suffering from a virus that might be the cause of this ones death. However, I don't think I'd ever realized the beautiful pattern on a dolphin, so it was worth driving back. Now, we were home bound. We made a quick trip to Alligator River National Park on the way. It's a great spot for Short-eared Owls in the morning and an Ash-throated Flycatcher was here earlier in the year. We were not there early enough for Short-eareds, but I did see one more a Gray Catbird putting me at 157 species for the year. 11 birds to add to my year list, 3 NC lifers, and 2 lifers. That itself spells satisfaction to me. Now, I'm ready for spring to arrive through the colorful plumage of a warbler.