Our Patch

When Dan and I were on our Outer Banks and Chincoteague birding week, we met others in the field observing and photographing birds. Brief conversations and exchanges happened from time to time, and one question birders ask each other is "where is your patch?" As you may have guessed "your patch" is your hometown but more specifically where you most frequently bird.

"Your patch" can be large like that of the "legend" we met at the end of Jeanette's Pier in Nags Head, NC which is 30 miles of Atlantic Ocean off of the Outer Banks, an area he goes to very frequently in his pelagic excursions. Or a patch can be small like your backyard where you may feed birds and offer water on birdbaths. Our patch is the small park at the end of our street: Luria Park.

We bird Luria at least once a week if not more. Watching the seasons slowly change is a big part of the experience as is noting differences that naturally occur in a forest. We know if a dead tree or large branch, snag, had fallen recently or when a living tree starts getting buds and new leaves.  The change of bird life and behavior in the park throughout the year is what intrigues us the most.

This time of year, mid-February, holds few obvious changes. Spring migration is still over a month and more away and winter birds, like White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos are still very much a part of the bird population.

Today I birded our patch for about an hour. I spent time at a thicket of vines and green brier where I've noticed that White-throated Sparrows like to hide. These are curious birds. One emerged from hiding when I "pished" (pursing my lips and making an angry bird sound) to investigate. These birds are winter birds, and one of the more easily recognized of the sparrows with white throat patch and yellow lores above the beak.

Another of the "usual suspects" of our patch is the Pileated Woodpecker. Today I saw both male and female of these large and vocal birds.

This is the male with his red "mustache" by the edge of the long strong bill. I usually hear their "Woody Woodpecker" like call before I see them.

Sometimes I find little surprises in the park like this American Robin taking a bath in a small puddle in the woods.

Today the woods were alive with the harsh "cackle" and "conk-a-ree" call of Red-winged Blackbirds passing through, some spending time by the various creeks in the park.

This young male was one of a dozen or so Red-wing Balckbirds I saw today.

We love our patch and feel grateful to have such a nice place to bird with a mix of forest, wet forest, creek, and open ground. It's only a three minute walk away!

Going Where The Sun is Shining and The Birds Are Plentiful

Wednesday was quite gloomy on the Outer Banks. Our thoughts frequently turned to our beloved kitty and our heroic son who was now in a house for the first time in his twenty-five years without a pet. He was bouncing back with take out food and lots of movies. One of his good friends even sent him an edible arrangement and two of our wonderful neighbors brought him food and kind words. He was well taken care of emotionally and gastronomically.

We visited Roanoke Island and Manteo finding a raised boardwalk path that wound on the edge of the marsh. The clouds were so thick and dark so for us photography was impossible but we enjoyed this out of the way path in the marsh and saw a few birds despite the harsh wind and cold that had set in overnight.

After lunch we drove west over the bridge at Roanoke Island to mainland North Carolina and Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Its a mix of flooded agricultural fields and forest. A huge population of Black Bear live there, one of the largest concentrations in the entire country. Dawn is the best time to see them. We did see birds of the duck variety in the flooded fields but it wasn't easy with the dense overcast. A Northern Harrier flew low over the fields searching for mince and voles, its white rump patch and distinguishing field marking for this raptor.

The Outer Banks weather prediction for Thursday and Friday, our last two days of this birding adventure was dismal. Lots of dense clouds and gale force winds for Friday ahead of snow Thursday night. We made the somewhat drastic decision to find the sun. That was going to be north, over 180 miles north, in Chincoteague, VA on the Eastern Shore. Their Friday weather prediction was windy and cold but sunny all day! We packed up and drove 3-1/2 hours north in anticipation of what birds we would discover in Chincoteague arriving mid-day Thursday.

This island is famous for its wild ponies which are rounded up and auctioned to raise funds for the volunteer fire department. What interests us the most. naturally, is the abundance of wintering waterfowl and other birds found in profusion in the marshes, ponds, watery impoundments, and Atlantic shore. Thursday, as we knew, was cloudy. We headed straight to the beach which is actually called Assateague National Seashore at Tom's Cove which is east of and attached to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
Among the scores of Ring-billed Gulls  looking for a handout from the few other humans braving teh brisk gloomy weather were saw ten Willet runnig along the foamy surf probing the sand with their long slender bills for tiny crustaceans revealed by the outgoing surf.

These shorebirds actually breed over a thousand miles to the west in the prairies. They like to spend their winter vacations at the beach, apparently, where the crustaceans that they crave are in abundance. You can tell this is a Western Willet by the dark tail feathers and the drab almost monochrome non-breeding plumage.

Overnight it snowed about two inches. We awoke on Friday morning to intense 17 mph winds but very sunny and bright skies, oh, and snow! After breakfast we hurried out to the wildlife refuge to see birds and more more in the snowy morning. The Chincoteague lighthouse looked so great poking out from the snowy treetops. We walked up the little hill through the woods to see it with a snowy carpet around it.

Soon we found our way back down Beach Road heading for the ocean shore. The watery ditches on either side of the road gave us unique views of birds in the winter landscape. Snow at Chincoteague was new to us as we've seen all seasons here except for summer (too crowded) and being here with a rare snowfall was incredible.
This Great Blue Heron stood sentinel by the waters edge as the wind dusted the air with snow from the pine boughs above.

A Great Egret fished nearby.

And speaking of fishing we finally got a decent photo of a Belted Kingfisher hunting from a branch over the water. These birds fly back and forth over the water hoping to scoop a small fish into their large spear-like bills. They are easily spooked by humans and are quite camera shy. We spotted this one on the other side of the wide ditch and remained in the truck to get these shots.

The edge of the open truck window makes a great tripod!

At the end of Beach Road to the north of the road is Swan Pond. Hundreds of Northern Shovelers dabbled in the shallow water, occasionally flying up in unison when a Bald Eagle would flyover. These ducks with the unique wide bill spend winter here before migrating either to southern Canada or to the north western U.S. and as far north as Alaska.

 We left the refuge and drive into town stopping at a restaurant parking lot to view a Snowy Egret crouching down in the grasses.

This heron is identified by its dark bill with bright yellow around the eye and base of bill.

We spent some time after lunch walking the Marsh Trail, one and a half miles through pine woods and open marsh. We were the only ones on the trail and got nice and distant views of American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, and even five Eastern Meadowlarks feeding on the muddy waters edge.

A Red Fox warily observed us before bounding through the snow and into the brown marsh reeds out of sight.

Yellow-rumped Warblers, wearing duller winter plumage, darted through the snowy tree branches looking for tiny seeds or a wayward insect. The wind blew a bit strongly on this one, fluffing up his pale yellow feathers.

At the beach shore a lady was trying to photograph Ring-billed Gulls. A juvenile Ring-billed Gull stood like the joker he was on top of her SUV.

On that jovial note our vacation week of birding the Atlantic coast ends. Being outside is just bliss and perfect for the soul. Feather questing is never ending and always, always full of surprises!

North Carolina's Outer Banks: Pea Island NWR, Jeanette's Pier and Bodie Lighthouse

(Note: this wonderful day of birding happened on February 18th.)

Well before sunrise we left our slumbering hosts on Knott's Island and headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In a little over two hours we made it to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) south of Nags Head on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The weather was bliss! Sunny and almost summery warm. We walked the wildlife trail along the  large ponds which were full of waterfowl.

 Among the scores of wintering waterfowl we saw a cute Pied-billed Grebe:

And a male American Wigeon:

After spending two hours at this wintering waterfowl hot spot, we drove a mile north to a viewing blind where we got a closer view of wading birds and waterfowl, most of which were resting in the afternoon sun.

Most of the American Avocets we observed were resting, but this one was probing the mud for an afternoon snack. The upturned bill is a very distinctive marking.
There were others in the blind and we waited our turn at the viewing ports. They were searching for a Eurasian Teal, a very rare bird from Asia and Europe. It had been spotted a couple of days before with a group of Green-winged Teal. One of the party found it, but it was so incredibly far away that it was barely distinguishable from the other teals. And way too far to photograph.
We continued northward along the Hatteras National Seashore stopping at the now unused coast guard life saving station before crossing the bridge.

We drove to Nags Head to check in to our hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express with an oceanfront view. I love low off-season rates which go hand in hand with winter shore birding!
We took advantage of the warmish weather but the sun was fading. It was time to take a long walk on a long pier: Jeanette's Pier. It sticks 1000 feet over the ocean. We saw dolphins and seabirds that like to be in the ocean and closer to the shore.

This female Red-breasted Mergaser looks like she's having a bad hair day as she paddles by the pier with her friend. The slight upward curve on the top of the thin bill which is low on a high "forehead" is a great field ID mark for the merganser family.

I watched this Common Eider swimming closer to the pier until he was right under it. This fellow is a first year male and will eventually find his way up to the Canadian Maritime provinces or farther northward to breed and spend the summer there.

Brown Pelican cruised off the end of the pier giving us great close views of these large birds in flight.

On the end of the pier the only other person there was a man looking through an impressive Savorski optics spotting scope and holding a camera with enormous lens. He kindly let us look through his scope at distant razorbills and other seabirds. He was able to identify what was basically a dot on the ocean horizon, with seeing a few crucial details. We enjoyed a brief and informative chat with him. He revealed to us that he regularly runs pelagic boat tours about 30 or so miles out in the ocean where lots of seabirds can be found. Another man walked up with his huge scope and we recognized him from the blind on Pea Island earlier that afternoon. He immediately went all "fan boy" when he saw the seabird expert and started gushing and telling us that we were in the presence of a local birding legend.

We left fanboy and the legend on the pier and headed to Bodie Lighthouse before the sunset to see if the pond there had much waterfowl. Gadwall, American Black Duck and lots of Northern Pintail were settled in for the night, heads tucked under wings.

It was time to call it a day and look for a good seafood place.
Unfortunately our evening was punctuated with bad news from home. Our son, Owen, told us that our old and beloved cat, Gyro, was very sick. Not long after midnight Owen took Gryo to the vet and was with the kitty he picked out when he was a little boy when he crossed the rainbow bridge. He told us not to bother to come home as he had taken care of everything and there was no need to cut our birding vacation short.
Wednesday was cloudy and very cold, so unlike Tuesday, and we decided to visit a place where birds inspired two men to make the first working human-powered flying machine.

Kitty Hawk is the home of The Wright Brothers National Monument, where the first flight took place in 1903. This is a replica of their Wright Flyer which was inspired by how birds fly. A fitting place to visit on our Outer Banks birding adventure.

Winter Most Fowl: Knotts Island, Mackay NWR, and Back Bay NWR

Monday arrived with sun and slightly brisk breezes on Knotts Island, North Carolina. After breakfast we all headed over to Ashleigh and Cabes' neighbor Buzzy's property on Currituck Sound where we saw a lot of Tundra Swan and other waterbird activity farther down the bulkhead on the shore. White Ibis foraged in a patch of lawn near the water.

White Ibis are year round residents on the coast from North Carolina to Mexico down to Panama. They forage in shallow marshes, wetlands, and damp grass sticking their long curved bills into the soil or muck and using them pincer like to take up a tasty insect or small crustacean. They rest by roosting in trees. We saw some taking a little mid-morning siesta in trees high above the water.

In the same area of Buzzy's property we saw a pair of Eastern Bluebirds investigating a nesting box.
The male checked it out for a longer time than the female who preferred to observe from a nearby snag.

Buzzy's neighbor was pulling out of this driveway and gave us permission to access his property and dock. That was a good thing as Buzzy's dock was missing quite a few pieces of decking and had a wonderful group of terns and gulls on the end of it.

A Forester's Tern in non-breeding plumage takes command of a post surveying others of his kind and a few Ring-billed Gulls. Out on the water Tundra Swans cruised around joining other smaller groups forming a fleet of white. They spend winter along the mid-Atlantic coast before migrating north at winter's end to Arctic breeding grounds.

We jumped into our cars and headed for Mackey National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) a few miles away. The marsh along the gravel road had a few interesting waterbirds including a lone American Coot.

This fine fowl will find its way to northern Canada to breed in marshes, but is content to winter here where the water rarely freezes and the marsh muck yields tasty treats.

We decided to head up to Back Bay NWR and see what the ocean may have for us to view as well as the marshes on the other side of the dunes. Back Bay is south of Virginia Beach and Sanderling and we drive though a beach neighborhood crowded with summer homes some looking as if they were competing for height and ocean views. I felt sorry for the owners of smaller older properties which at one time had an ocean view until a new house over thirty feet tall was built blocking the view. At the end of the packed residential area was the entrance to Back Bay.

We walked to the raised path over the dunes to the ocean. The brisk breeze was not too bad and the sun was very welcome.

The ocean gave us a great show way off shore of hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers riding the swells before all diving under in unison and coming up at the same time. It was great to see such feathery synchronization!

Big Woods, Dismal Swamp, Knotts Island and An End of Day Surprise

On day one of our week of birding, we left our house at 5 a.m. and arrived at Big Woods National Forest just south of Wakefield, VA at 8 a.m. Big Woods is home to the protected Red-cockaded Woodpecker and it is the northernmost range of this little bird. Recently, a trail was made to a nesting site put in by the VA Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). To get to the trail head we drove several miles on a dirt road with some impressive ruts and potholes. Then we walked a half mile through loblolly pine forest with little to no under story. This is the perfect habitat of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. The DGIF had marked the trail with wonderful symbols to follow on a pine needle and sometimes wet forested floor.

The DGIF does controlled burns to keep the forest under story from getting too tall.

We were all alone feeling a little like Hansel and Gretel as we walked through the forest. Then we arrived at the protected nesting site, which to be honest is really protected because it's a pain in the neck to get to and they don't advertise it on the main (dirt) road. You have to walk 1/4 mile down the path just to find the trail to the nesting site. It's not advertised much if at all.

We found the tree with the nesting cavity. It was put there by the DGIF as illustrated on the info. plaque at the end of the trail.

If you click on and enlarge the above photo you can see a tree with a white painted ring near the base. This is where the nesting cavity is located. Here is a close up of the nesting cavity:

We spent about 45 minutes there scanning and listening for the birds but only heard Brown-headed Nuthatches which have a similar squeaky mouse sound. That happens with birding sometimes that you don't see what you went to see. We had seen the birds in another part of the forest two years ago. It was nice to see a nesting cavity with it's sap dried on the trunk. In warm weather the sap gets sticky and discourages snakes from going after the chicks in the cavity. The birds will drill holes around the opening to let the sap flow, but in this instance a DGIF worker made cuts in the trunk to help the birds out.
Here is a photo of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker we saw high in the trees two years ago:

Continuing south-east we arrived here:

The Great Dismal Swamp NWR is over 100,000 acres with a 3100 acre Lake Drummond in the center. The road to the lake is 6 miles long, gravel and narrow cutting through swamp with cypress, magnolia, pine, sweet gum and other soft woods. Mistletoe grows in great profusion from the tree tops, usually planted by birds. While we kiss under mistletoe at Christmas the berries are beautiful but poisonous.

We saw a huge flock of over 400 Tundra Swans on the other side of Lake Drummond. Too far to photograph but great to see them here in winter.

We headed south-east to Knott's Island, NC to my niece Ashleigh's house with her husband Cabe and our great-nephew Noah. The day was getting away from us and the clouds getting thicker. Winding country roads took us into North Carolina, then Virginia, and back into North Carolina. On the way we stopped at Blackwater Trading Post on the Blackwater River.

They cook up locally caught catfish. While waiting for our order, we saw a display of dozens of rattles collected from Canebreak Rattlesnakes years ago.

The folks who work there told us that they regularly see venomous snakes like Water Moccasins and Copperheads and the occasional Canebreak Rattlesnake. The place has an outdoor eating area. We ate indoors.

We arrived at Knotts Island late in the day. The clouds had set in and the breeze coming off the Currituck Sound was a little brisk. Little did we know that the best bird we would see all day was in the camellia bush outside of Ashleigh's kitchen window. Cabe asked "What is that bird with bright yellow?" Dan looked outside and said, "Whoa! That's a Yellow-throated Warbler." I blurted out a laugh and so arrogantly said, "I don't think so. Not at this time of year." I was so happy to be dead wrong.

This bird really shouldn't be here but he was pecking away at the camellia flowers searching for any insects. It is rare to see them this far north in mid-February. What a total thrill and great way to begin our week of birding!