Weather

• November 18: chilly N wind, sunny with scattered clouds
• November 19: chilly N wind, light rain turning to snow on the way home!

Some notes ...

• total species 98!
• an advantage of sunshine -- irridescence on ducks
• cutest sandpiper -- Least Sandpipers dwarfed by nearby Dunlins
• most absurd structure -- beaks of female Marbled Godwits
• closest view -- Osprey circling around the lodge at Mattamuskeet
• wildest sight -- Bald Eagles flying in the rain
• toughest identification -- Savannah Sparrows with spots on their breasts just like Song Sparrows!
• biggest mistake -- not looking more closely at those two "Buffleheads" which were definitely not Buffleheads! -- what other dark duck (slightly bigger than a Ruddy Duck) has a white spot (or possibly two) on the side of the head?
• 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 -- only 2 willing to stick their noses out
	Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)	M

Birds

	Pied-billed Grebe	20 (P), others (M)
	Northern Gannet	many soaring high in the sky in the light northerly wind
	Brown Pelican	small groups (K,P)
	Double-crested Cormorant	perhaps 1000 in the inlet, scattered elsewhere (K,P,M)
	Great Blue Heron	scattered (P,M)
	Great Egret	but not a single Snowy Egret!
	Little Blue Heron	3
	Tricolored Heron	10
	White Ibis	20 in small flocks (P)
	Glossy Ibis	9 in a tight flock (M) -- becoming scarce in NC
	Tundra Swan	thousands (P, M)
	Mute Swan	1 young bird in the same place as last week -- but this time with 3 Tundra Swans
	Snow Goose	200, including 1 "blue" morph (P), just one "blue"morph at M
	Brant	1 immature (P, afternoon)
	Canada Goose	large flocks (P, M)
	Green-winged Teal	thousands (P, M)
	American Black Duck	scattered pairs (P, M)
	Mallard	scattered pairs (P, M)
	Northern Pintail	thousands (P, M)
	Blue-winged Teal	2 (P)
	Northern Shoveler	small groups
	Gadwall	small groups
	American Wigeon	hundreds (P, M)
	Canvasback	50 with Tundra Swans on the main lake (M)
	Redhead	8 (P) with American Wigeon and Pintails
	Ring-necked Duck	1 (P)
	Lesser Scaup	10 (P)
	Black Scoter	11 -- even fewer than last week!
	Surf Scoter	2 (K)
	Hooded Merganser	10 (P, afternoon)
	Red-breasted Merganser	20 (K,P)
	Ruddy Duck	40 often with their tails cocked up (P,M)
	Turkey Vulture	only a few -- not good soaring weather!
	Osprey	1 circling low over the lodge (M) -- should have been in South America long ago!
	Bald Eagle	5 in the rain (including 2 adults) (M)
	Northern Harrier	13 (P,M)
	Cooper's Hawk	2 (near Raleigh, M)
	Red-tailed Hawk	5
	American Kestrel	on power lines and exposed trees
	American Coot	dense flocks (P,M)
	Black-bellied Plover	10, scattered (K,P)
	Semipalmated Plover	2 (P)
	American Avocet	310 -- unprecedented! (P, afternoon)
	Greater Yellowlegs	30 (P)
	Lesser Yellowlegs	20 including some nice side-by-side comparisons with Greaters (P)
	Willet	4 (P)
	Marbled Godwit	65 including some females with absurdly long bills (P)
	Red Knot	30 (P)
	Sanderling	small flocks on beach (K)
	Western Sandpiper	4 (P)
	Least Sandpiper	2 (P) -- great views beside Dunlin
	Dunlin	hundreds (P)
	Long-billed Dowitcher	20 (P)
	Common Snipe	4 (P)
	Laughing Gull	scattered (P), hundreds arriving in straggling flock (M) -- getting ready to follow the rest of their species southward
	Ring-billed Gull	widespread, on beach and inland -- here for the winter
	Herring Gull	small numbers with GBBG (K,P,M)
	Great Black-backed Gull	scattered or in small flocks (K,P,M) -- an adult and an immature harrassed flocks of American Coots (P) but made no kills
	Royal Tern	youngster following its parent (P)
	Forster's Tern	60 (K), 6 (M)
	Rock Dove	feral pigeons around highway bridges
	Mourning Dove	scattered
	Belted Kingfisher	10
	Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
	Northern Flicker	1 (P)
	Eastern Phoebe	1 (near M)
	American Crow	lots (M)
	Fish Crow	lots (K,P)
	Carolina Wren	2 (P,M)
	Sedge Wren	in low marsh (P)
	Marsh Wren	in tall marsh (P)
	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1 (M)
	Eastern Bluebird	on power lines
	American Robin	few
	Northern Mockingbird	2
	European Starling	everywhere!
	Yellow-rumped Warbler	very scarce except one small flock at M
	Common Yellowthroat	1 (P)
	Vesper Sparrow	1 (P, afternoon)
	Savannah Sparrow	6 in clear view near Visitor's Cneter (P)
	Song Sparrow	8 near Visitor's Center (P)
	Swamp Sparrow	heard frequently in marshes, in clear view near Visitor's Center (P)
	White-throated Sparrow	1 (M)
	Red-winged Blackbird	snall groups (P), big flocks (M)
	Eastern Meadowlark	15 including several in clear view (B)
	Rusty Blackbird	20 (M)
	Boat-tailed Grackle	numerous (K,P)
	Common Grackle	big flocks with other blackbirds (M)
	Brown-headed Cowbird	40 (K, on highway shoulder)
	House Finch	6 (K)
	American Goldfinch	1 (P)
	House Sparrow	20 in small groups in towns
	TOTAL SPECIES	98

Mammals

	Muskrat	swimming in an impoundment (M)
	Nutria	swimming in an impoundment (M) -- much bigger than a Muskrat!
	White-tailed Deer	3 including a buck beside the highway near Tarrboro
	Common Raccoon	scrawny immature (P)