Weather

• November 11: chilly N wind, sunny then overcast
• November 12: chilly N wind, light at Mattamuskeet, overcast

Some notes ...

• total species 97!
• most action-packed second -- Peregrine attacks sandpipers on North Pond
• grandest sight -- another Peregrine on the Osprey nesting platform
• hardest to identify -- 11 species of sandpipers (family Scolopacidae) -- more than usual for November -- including large flocks of Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Marbled Godwit
• most daring behavior -- swirling flock of Gannets diving for fish at Pea Island
• dirtiest birds -- 600 Snow Geese (from high arctic populations with no blue alleles) feeding beside the highway on Sunday -- getting enough to eat was a dirty business -- lots of squabbles and fights between families over the best mud holes
• most dissimilar members of one species -- 2 blue morphs that were noticeably smaller than the white morphs (hence presumably from low arctic populations around Hudson's Bay)
• cutest geese -- 5 Ross' Geese feeding beside the highway -- their method of feeding differed dramatically from that of the Snow Geese -- and kept their faces immaculately white!
• most grusome behavior -- Great Black-backed Gull murders a hapless Coot at Mattamuskeet
• just desserts -- immature Bald Eagle steals dead Coot from the murderous Black-back!
• mosquito repellent used -- 0!

In the lists below . . .

• M = Mattamuskeet NWR
• P = Pea Island NWR
• C = Coquina Beach (lunch Saturday)
• B = Bodie Island Pond
• K = Kill Devils Hills (Anchorage Inn on beach)
• O = Oregon Inlet

Please send additions/corrections to Haven Wiley

Reptilia

	Yellow-bellied Slider (Chrysemys scripta)	P -- enjoying the sun while it lasted
	Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)	P -- enjoying the sun while it lasted
	Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)	P -- autotomized tail only!

Birds

	Red-throated Loon	3 (K)
	Pied-billed Grebe	20 (P), others (M)
	Northern Gannet	many flying south -- one flock of hundreds hurtling themselves into the waves like spears (P)
	Brown Pelican
	Double-crested Cormorant
	Great Blue Heron
	Great Egret
	Snowy Egret
	Little Blue Heron	30 or more at Bodie Island Pond
	Tricolored Heron
	Cattle Egret	1 (K)
	White Ibis	few
	Tundra Swan	lots (P, M)
	Mute Swan	1 young bird in a borrow pit with Canada Geese near Tarrboro -- the vanguard of a population slowly spreading southward from the Chesapeake -- an introduced European species
	Snow Goose	600, including 2 "blue" morphs (P), 20 (M)
	Ross' Goose	4 adults, 1 immature with the 600 Snow Geese -- not paired
	Brant	2 landed briefly in North Pond with Canada Geese
	Canada Goose	large flocks (P, M)
	Green-winged Teal	thousands (P, B)
	American Black Duck	scattered -- almost always pairs
	Mallard	scattered birds
	Northern Pintail	thousands (P, M)
	Blue-winged Teal	7 (B)
	Northern Shoveler	small groups
	Gadwall	100 in small groups
	American Wigeon	thousands (P, M) often near swans to feed on tidbits stirred up by them
	Ring-necked Duck	(M)
	Greater Scaup	3 with 2 Lessers (M)
	Lesser Scaup	3 (P, M)
	Black Scoter	60 -- scarce
	Ruddy Duck	hundreds (M)
	Turkey Vulture	many -- including 3 over Pea Island -- almost unheard of!
	Bald Eagle	7 (all young) (M) -- one stole the dead American Coot from the Great Black-backed Gull!
	Northern Harrier	14 (P, B, M)
	Sharp-shinned Hawk	3
	Cooper's Hawk	1
	Red-tailed Hawk	7
	American Kestrel	on power lines and exposed trees
	Peregrine	one attacked sandpipers (P), another perched in plain view (P)
	American Coot	dense flocks (P,M)
	Black-bellied Plover	7, scattered (K,P,O)
	Semipalmated Plover	10 (P)
	Killdeer
	American Avocet	3 (P)
	Greater Yellowlegs	40 (P)
	Lesser Yellowlegs	4 (P)
	Willet	15 (P)
	Marbled Godwit	60 (P)
	Red Knot	60 (P)
	Sanderling	small flocks on beaches (K,P)
	Western Sandpiper	1 (P)
	Pectoral Sandpiper	1 -- very late migrant (P)
	Dunlin	hundreds (O)
	Long-billed Dowitcher	possibly some Short-billed -- 100(B)
	Laughing Gull	migrating southward
	Ring-billed Gull	widespread, on beach and inland
	Herring Gull	small numbers with GBBG (K,P,M)
	Great Black-backed Gull	scattered -- one murderous bird killed a Coot (K,P,M)
	Royal Tern	2 (K,P)
	Sandwich Tern	3 (K) -- late
	Common Tern	4 (K)
	Forster's Tern	hundreds (K,M)
	Rock Dove	feral pigeons around highway bridges
	Mourning Dove	scattered
	Belted Kingfisher	1
	Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
	Downy Woodpecker	1
	Northern Flicker	3 (P,M)
	Eastern Phoebe	1 (near M)
	Tree Swallow	100 (M)
	American Crow	lots (M)
	Fish Crow	lots (K,P)
	Carolina Chickadee	in a flock (M)
	Carolina Wren	3 (P,M)
	Sedge Wren	in short marsh (P)
	Marsh Wren	in tall marsh(P, B, M)
	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1 in a flock (M)
	Eastern Bluebird	on power lines
	American Robin	scatterd
	Northern Mockingbird	3
	Gray Catbird	1 near flock
	European Starling	everywhere!
	Blue-headed Vireo	1 with a flock (M) -- new name for Soliatry Vireo!
	Yellow-rumped Warbler	scattered
	Palm Warbler	30 including one bright yellow bird of the scarce eastern subspecies (P,M)
	Common Yellowthroat	2 (M)
	Savannah Sparrow	1 (K)
	Swamp Sparrow	scattered
	White-throated Sparrow	1 (M)
	Red-winged Blackbird	scattered flocks (P,M)
	Eastern Meadowlark	4 (B,M)
	Boat-tailed Grackle	numerous (K,P)
	Common Grackle	small flocks (P)
	House Finch	10 (K)
	TOTAL SPECIES	97

Mammals

	Unidentified	swimming in Mattamuskeet!