North Carolina Trip Report - Major League Rarity (very long)

[Cccta@aol.com]

All,
 
I recently returned from the annual Jennex family trip to the Outer Banks  of 
North Carolina, which as you might guess has experienced a slight change of  
focus for me in the fifteen years I've been going. Yes, yes it's all true - I 
do  spend more time birding than hanging out on the beach now. The birding was 
 spectacular and I will try to describe it in a way that does it justice. I 
found  many of my target birds in North Carolina and scored a few cool state 
birds  on the way down as well. I continue to crawl toward the 50% threshold in 
NC but  it is very difficult when you only bird in mid-July!
 
I picked up a total of 9 new Ohio birds on the way through, the best was a  
flyover CHUCK-WILLS WIDOW. The others were all in the Marietta area and were  
mostly species with a more southerly range.
 
West Virginia gave up both SWAINSON'S WARBLER and a juvie  MISSISSIPPI KITE 
in the Kanawha State Forest (just off I-77). The SWWA had been  previously 
reported but the MIKI was a nice surprise. I got twentysome new WV  birds to more 
than double my list - obviously not a place that has been a  birding 
destination yet.
 
Virginia was a bit of a disappointment but it was late morning by the time  I 
drove through. Thirteen new birds only puts me at 95 there but it is a  
beautiful drive and I love seeing Black Vultures overhead.
 
Friday afternoon put me in Monroe, NC in time to get distant scope looks at  
a male SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER, one of two nesting pairs in the state this  
year - only the third year they have nested there. Six new NC birds that  day.
 
Saturday the 15th began with BARN OWL, WHIP-POOR WILL &  YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 
before sunrise and an outstanding start to the day at  (ironically) Sunset 
Beach, the very southern part of the state at the coast. I  picked up ANHINGA, 
ROSEATE SPOONBILL, WOOD STORK, LEAST BITTERN and REDDISH  EGRET while seeing my 
first couple of American Alligators in NC. Saw a couple of  Clapper Rails at 
low tide as well. I headed up to Fort Fisher and picked up  American 
Oystercatcher, Wilson's Plover and Painted Bunting for the year but  there were people 
everywhere and it was really hot so I headed inland to "Lock  and Dam # 1" 
near Riegelwood on the Cape Fear River. As advertised I found 4  MISSISSIPPI 
KITES and a single, distant SWALLOW-TAILED KITE after about an hour  and a half of 
waiting and a lot of sweating. Also picked up Bachman's Sparrow  for the year 
there. The long trip up 17 and across 64 to Kill Devil Hills  yielded a 
PEREGRINE FALCON and later a huge surprise of a juvenile MAGNIFICENT  FRIGATEBIRD 
perched next to the sound on the way over to Roanoke Island. 14 new  state 
birds for the day and finally at the beach with the family.
 
Sunday's alarm clock was set for 3:35 am and I didn't like it. 7-11 for  
breakfast on the long, slow drive down to Hatteras for a Pelagic trip with Brian  
Patteson aboard his new boat, the Stormy Petrel. Our third pelagic species of  
the day was a very cooperative MANX SHEARWATER and I was satisfied. I'd hoped 
 for any Tropicbird but none were to be found. Having been on a trip the same 
 week three years ago, the other 9 species we saw through the morning were 
all  familiar but it was fun to see and photograph some of them & work on being  
locked in with their ID's in case something different showed up - and did it  
ever! About 1:30 pm Kate, one of the spotters started yelling BLACK-BELLIED  
STORM PETREL and running aft to get Brian to stop the boat. We all eventually  
got great looks at this gorgeous bird as we bobbed around and tried to get  
documenting pictures. This is only the second North American record of this  
Southern Hemisphere bird. The first was a couple of years ago on a May trip  
during which Brian (and Macklin) were on the OTHER boat and did not see the  
bird. I'm not sure which is more of a shock to me, being there when Brian  
Patteson gets a new North Carolina Pelagic Species or getting a bird in the ABA  that 
Macklin Smith doesn't have!! I'm not sure who else may have been down there  
that weekend in 2004 but I know that Don "The Man" Chalfant was on the RIGHT  
boat so I'm not even the first Michigan birder to get the BBSP! The day also  
included my lifer Sperm Whales. a mother and calf. We also trolled most of the 
 time we were out in the gulf stream and I caught a couple of fish I never 
have  before; Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) and a beautiful Yellowfin Tuna which,  
although the biggest fish I think I've ever caught, was not a keeper  :(   Also, in 
case you're feeling like I'm really lucky and in the  right place way too much, 
one of the other birders there was a guy from  Pennsylvania who just so 
happened to be at the SMRR hawkwatch the day the  Anhinga flew over - a day I 
happened to be in stinking Bad Axe.
 
Monday was just a beach day but Tuesday I was back down at Cape Hatteras at  
daybreak to see the nesting PIPING PLOVERS and vagrant SNOWY PLOVER. Also saw  
298 Least Terns at the colony there and at least three River Otters playing 
in  the same pond that a Nutria was feeding in. COOT and SANDERLING were new 
state  birds that day too along with a WILSON'S PHALAROPE at Pea Island NWR on 
the way  back north and a very rare, summering drake REDHEAD up at Currituck. 
 
Wednesday was mostly family with a quick trip to Manteo netting HAIRY  
WOODPECKER and OVENBIRD which are both hard to get on the Outer Banks.
 
Thursday I went with my 10 year old nephew Sam to see and incredible  
spectacle. Over 100,000 PURPLE MARTINS coming in to roost on the old 64 bridge  from 
Roanoke Island to Mann's Harbor. Yeah, that's not a typo. It was a  phenomenal 
experience and it's hard to try and describe what a hundred thousand  birds 
look like in the fading light as they circle and kettle and pile in to the  
side of the bridge, each trying to get a spot on the ledge and hopefully not  
getting killed by the traffic.
 
Friday I went early to the marshes on the sound side of Kitty Hawk for KING  
RAIL but the rest of the day was a beach day. Saturday started as a birding 
day  in the Alligator River NWR. YELLOW-THROATED VIREO was the only new bird I 
could  find so I continued on to the Palmetto Peartree Preserve near Columbia. 
I found  about 6 Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and struggled to get decent pics of 
them. Also  picked up NORTHERN PARULA, WORM EATING and KENTUCKY WARBLERS 
there. Got EURASIAN  COLLARED DOVE going through Columbia and headed west, planning 
to bird in the  mountains in the evening and next morning. I ran out of steam 
in the early  afternoon and realized that I was only 600 miles from home and 
did not have a  real plan for birding the mountain area so I bolted. Only got 
one new state bird  on the drive home, a LITTLE BLUE HERON in southern Ohio. 
 
I wound up with 36 new North Carolina birds for a total of 189. Not bad for  
mid-July only. For the trip I totaled 170 species and the two Lifers. It was  
outstanding and if you haven't been out with Brian Patteson you're missing 
out.  It's nice to be home and get a chance to relax for a while. There are those 
 Aztec Thrushes in Arizona right now . . . 
 
Good Birding,
 
Scott Jennex
Ferndale
 
trip list:
SPECIES SEEN
>From 7/13/2006 to 7/22/2006 ~ All Places ~ 170  seen
GREBES
Pied-billed Grebe
SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS
Black-capped  Petrel
Cory's Shearwater
Greater Shearwater
Manx Shearwater -  lifer
Audubon's Shearwater
STORM-PETRELS
Wilson's  Storm-Petrel
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel - lifer
Band-rumped  Storm-Petrel
Leach's Storm-Petrel
PELICANS
Brown  Pelican
ANHINGAS
Anhinga
FRIGATEBIRDS
Magnificent  Frigatebird
HERONS, EGRETS AND BITTERNS
Great Blue Heron
Great  Egret
Reddish Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy  Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned  Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Least Bittern
STORKS
Wood  Stork
IBIS AND SPOONBILLS
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate  Spoonbill
DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS
Canada Goose
Wood  Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
Redhead
NEW WORLD  VULTURES
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
OSPREY
Osprey
HAWKS, EAGLES  AND KITES
Swallow-tailed Kite
Mississippi Kite
Cooper's  Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
FALCONS AND  CARACARAS
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
TURKEYS
Wild  Turkey
NEW WORLD QUAIL
Northern Bobwhite
RAILS, GALLINULES AND  COOTS
Clapper Rail
King Rail
Virginia Rail
American  Coot
OYSTERCATCHERS
American Oystercatcher
AVOCETS AND  STILTS
Black-necked Stilt
PLOVERS AND LAPWINGS
Black-bellied  Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Wilson's Plover
Killdeer
Piping  Plover
Snowy Plover
SANDPIPERS
Short-billed Dowitcher
Marbled  Godwit
Whimbrel
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted  Sandpiper
Willet
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least  Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
GULLS
Ring-billed Gull
Great  Black-backed Gull
American Herring Gull
Laughing  Gull
TERNS
Gull-billed Tern
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
Common  Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Bridled Tern
Sooty Tern
Black  Tern
SKIMMERS
Black Skimmer
PIGEONS AND DOVES
Rock  Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
CUCKOOS
Yellow-billed  Cuckoo
BARN-OWLS
Barn Owl
OWLS
Eastern Screech-Owl
Barred  Owl
NIGHTJARS
Chuck-will's-widow
Whip-poor-will
SWIFTS
Chimney  Swift
HUMMINGBIRDS
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
WOODPECKERS
Red-headed  Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy  Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated  Woodpecker
TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian  Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern  Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
SWALLOWS
Purple Martin
Tree  Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff  Swallow
Barn Swallow
WAXWINGS
Cedar Waxwing
WRENS
Carolina  Wren
MOCKINGBIRDS AND THRASHERS
Gray Catbird
Northern  Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
THRUSHES
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Wood  Thrush
American Robin
CHICKADEES AND TITS
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted  Titmouse
NUTHATCHES
Brown-headed Nuthatch
SHRIKES
Loggerhead  Shrike
CROWS AND JAYS
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Common  Raven
STARLINGS
European Starling
VIREOS AND ALLIES
White-eyed  Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
WOOD WARBLERS
Northern  Parula
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie  Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary  Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Ovenbird
Louisiana  Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded  Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
TANAGERS AND ALLIES
Scarlet  Tanager
Summer Tanager
SPARROWS, TOWHEES, JUNCOS
Eastern  Towhee
Bachman's Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Seaside  Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
SALTATORS, CARDINALS AND  ALLIES
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted  Bunting
BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, GRACKLES, ETC.
Red-winged  Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common  Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
FINCHES, SISKINS, CROSSBILLS
House  Finch
American Goldfinch
OLD WORLD SPARROWS
House Sparrow
////----  STATISTICS ----/////
Species seen - 170
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