Adventures of a Big Day

Last Sunday, 27 March, I took place in my second ever "official" Big Day, with Matt Daw and Ali Iyoob. Originally, we had planned to do a route covering areas from Lake Mattamuskeet and Lake Phelps all the way to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, but upon seeing multiple weather forecasts of 26mph sustained winds in this part of the state, we decided to duplicate our route from February instead. This was not going to be a big loss, because passerines, including some early neotropical migrants, would be easier to come by in the southern part of North Carolina instead of towards the "Banks". The tradeoff would be the ducks, however, especially this late in the season.
     We had planned to begin our day with owling and some early morning birding in the bottomlands and Longleaf Pine forests of Holly Shelter Gamelands (Pender County, NC) to pick up such species as Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman's Sparrow, and Louisiana Waterthrush that we probably wouldn't get later in the day.  You can imagine our disappointment when arrived to a closed and locked entrance gate. Bombing entirely on our first stop, we still managed to pick up Eastern Screech-Owl and Barred Owl at a couple roadside stops around the Pender/New Hanover county line.
     It was approaching dawn, and we were still undecided about where to listen to the "dawn chorus". Greenfield Lake, which we had originally planned for our next stop after Holly Shelter, took the winning vote. The lake itself can be good for a variety of freshwater ducks as well as Anhingas, and there were even a couple Wood Storks seen here recently. The paths around the lake pass through a variety of brushy edges, landscaped azalea gardens, and mature pines and oaks. We figured that this would be one of our best bets for landbirds throughout the day, including some newly-arrived migrants such as Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, and Yellow-throated Warbler, along with a variety of resident species. We ticked off a number of landbirds quickly enough, including Northern Parula and Yellow-throated Warbler. A bonus was a dawn-calling American Wigeon. Spending about two hours at the lake, we racked up other species such as Brown Creeper, Dark-eyed Junco, Hermit Thrush, and Little Blue Heron, which was incidentally a year bird for me, along with Northern Parula.
     We left the lake with around 60 species so far, and were in route to Fort Fisher (with a couple of quick stops on the way), just south of Carolina Beach, NC. A fantastic birding area with a tendency to attract rarities, we knew that we would have to do well here in order to end up with a respectable total for the day. The overcast skies occasionally dropped a light rain on us, and the wind was quite unpredictable once we reached Fort Fisher. The ocean was fairly calm, and held a good number of birds, including multiple Red-breasted Mergansers, Red-throated Loons, Buffleheads, Horned Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, and several gull species. We were surprised to see a number of Blue-winged Teal zipping North over the ocean. Our hopes were high regarding a Pacific Loon and Red-necked Grebe that were reported here just two days before (and evidently, the day after), but we struck out on both. A Common Loon and two Horned Grebes were somewhat of a consolation prize, because we were not to see either of those species again during the day. Several Black Scoters and a Surf Scoter were also good additions here. Across the road in several stands of Live Oak is usually a good place to find mixed landbird flocks that sometimes contain Black-and-white Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, all of which we were still missing at this point. Turns out that the wind was keeping most birds here more or less stationary and quiet in the trees. We even struck out on Palm Warblers on the surrounding edges, which is usually close to a "gimme species" here. Returning to the car at the ocean overlook, we were greeting by our first Herring Gull flyover of the day, as well as a bonus Gull-billed Tern which flew over us at extremely close range.
     We then proceeded to Federal Point, which is where Highway 421 ends at the south tip of Fort Fisher. Clapper Rail, Bald Eagle, Royal Tern, and a handful of other species were quickly added to our list here, along with an unexpected Spotted Sandpiper that Matt stumbled upon at the rock jetty. Next up was the aquarium and Recreation Area, just North on the highway about a mile, right before the ocean overlook which we stopped at previously. Hopes were high for Orange-crowned Warbler, Sedge Wren, Marsh Wren, and a variety of shorebirds and waders. The aquarium produced nil, it is usually a good spot for Orange-crowned Warbler in winter and early spring and Painted Bunting all year, although they are much more numerous in the summer. Walking several trails through the marsh at the Recreation Area produced most of our targets for here, including Sedge, Marsh, and an added House Wren, White Ibis, and finally, our first harrier of the day. We ticked off a few more species of shorebirds here as well, along with Tricolored Heron. Some Green-winged Teal in the marsh and two flyover American Black Ducks added a couple more much-needed waterfowl species.
     Leaving Fort Fisher with about 105 species, we headed south for Sunset Beach. Twin Lakes off Highway 179 are well known for harboring Wood Storks, Common Moorhen, and occasionally Roseate Spoonbill in late summer and Mottled Ducks. A variety of waterfowl is usually in the ponds in winter months as well. On the drive down, Ali spotted a bonus Wild Turkey in a small agricultural plot beside the road. Arriving here, we quickly checked off some of the expected species such as Common Moorhen, as well as four species of swallows. Across the road is a nice patch of thicket and marsh, where we finally got our first Gray Catbird of the day (finally!). A bit of very productive marsh stomping at high tide flushed 2 Clapper Rails, 2 Sora, 4 Seaside Sparrows, and a Nelson's Sparrow. A quick stop in the neighboring golf course subdivision added a distant heard-only White-breasted Nuthatch. Unfortunately, I was the only one who picked up on it, and the bird didn't sound off again. A quick jaunt to the Sunset Beach pier turned up a huge flock of shorebirds, mainly Dunlin, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plovers, and a few Western Sandpipers and Willets. We were hopeful about finding either a Piping Plover or Wilson's Plover here, but time was getting short, and we needed to get to Ocean Isle well before dark.
     The Ocean Isle Wastewater Reclamation Facility really boosted our total on our February run, and gave us a couple of new birds today as well- Red-breasted Nuthatch and Greater Scaup. One or two Red-breasted Nuthatches have apparently been in the same group of pine trees here since November. The two ponds were mostly empty of birds, save for a large four-species swallow flock and a couple of ducks. A single American Coot, two Ruddy Ducks, three Blue-winged Teal, and a side-by-side comparison of male Lesser and Greater Scaup pretty much rounded out this stop. Gadwall and Ring-necked Ducks were both notably absent, and were here in numbers a month ago. We then proceeded to Ferry Landing Park in Ocean Isle Beach which is usually a good spot for roosting shorebirds and larids at low tide. Unfortunately for us, the tide was still quite high we we got here. The only new species we found at Ocean Isle were three flyover Glossy Ibis, a great bird for the day and a year bird for all of us. With a little bit of light left and Ocean Isle not producing much, we decided to return to Twin Lakes in Sunset Beach in hopes of a dusk flyover Black-crowned Night-heron, which we were still missing. After about a half hour of waiting, our wish was granted. A stop at a nearby brushy field for American Woodcock instead turned up a flyover Wilson's Snipe. Our final stop for the day was at the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington where we had both King and Virginia Rails last month. We arrived about 9PM, and lucky for us, both species sounded off relatively quickly to our tapes. Virginia Rail was our 128th and final species for the day. Of the 128 species, 126 were seen or heard by all three of us. Considering our restraints during the day, namely somewhat windy and rainy weather and our first main stop being closed, we did pretty decent. Big misses today included Black Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, accipiters, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Just not raptor weather. Nevertheless, great birds seen and great times had by all.