Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
(also Kill Devil Hills, Bodie Island Pond, and en route)
November 9-11, 2001
Weather
- November 10: sunny, cool, light SW breeze, calm ocean
- November 11: similar except light NW wind
Some highlights ...
- total species . . . 104
- about 9000 Snow Geese and 10000 Tundra
Swans put on a show at Lake Mattamuskeet -- most of the geese flew
directly over our heads at Lake Landing -- swans dappled large parts of
the lake where we lunched
- dry weather resulted in low water levels at
all lakes and ponds -- all of the impoundments at Mattamuskeet NWR were
bone dry -- Lake Mattamuskeet was about a foot low -- Bodie Island pond
was likewise low -- mud flats spread over the edges of Lake Mattamuskeet
and most of Bodie Island Pond
- exceptionally large numbers of shorebirds
(sandpipers, plovers, and related birds) fed on the exposed mud
flats in the impoundments -- we had chances to compare beak and leg
lengths of some 15 different species
- Bald Eagles at Lake Mattamuskeet swooped
repeatedly over the Snow Geese -- eventually the nervous geese rose into
the air in a great piebald flock
- biggest excitement -- two big Humpback
Whales no more than 200-400 yards from the beach at Kill Devil
Hills -- lots of good looks as they blew, rolled, and charged
(partially breached)
- most amazingly lost bird -- Tropical
Kingbird permitted good looks (spectacular in-your-face looks late
in the afternoon) -- a confused visitor from Mexico or perhaps even South
America -- I always say, birds can fly, so theoretically any species of
bird can turn up at any place in the world -- nevertheless only some 450
species have so far turned up in NC (of perhaps 10000 in the world) --
this was just the second Tropical Kingbird ever reported in NC
- surprising misses -- not a single loon, no Bonaparte's Gull, only one
Bufflehead, just a handful of scoters -- these species have usually
arrived for the winter by now -- and no Marbled Godwits -- almost always
with the American Avocets
In the lists below . . .
- M = Mattamuskeet NWR
- P = Pea Island NWR
- 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, M -- scores along the edges of ditches that still
held water |
| | |
Birds
| | |
| Pied-billed Grebe | scattered |
| Northern Gannet | about 10/min flying
south (K) also big feeding flocks (K, P) |
| Brown Pelican | |
| Great
Cormorant | one young bird atop the wreck (P) -- a wanderer from the
north -- scarce in NC in winter |
| Double-crested Cormorant | hundreds,
often drying wings |
| Great Blue Heron | |
| Great Egret | |
| Snowy Egret | 2 |
| Tricolored Heron | 4 (P, B) |
| Cattle Egret | 2 flying with the big
flocks of Snow Geese! |
| White Ibis | 60 (B) |
| Tundra Swan | 1000 (P), 10000 (M), only about 10% young |
| Mute Swan | one in a
borrow pit near Tarrboro -- a pioneer from the Chesapeake |
| Snow Goose | 100 (P), 9000 (about 25% blue and heterozygote morphs)
(M) |
| Canada Goose | small flocks (P,
M) |
| Green-winged Teal | big flocks
everywhere |
| American Black Duck | lots but scattered
-- some males had bright coral legs |
| Mallard | scattered |
| Northern Pintail | thousands (P,
M) |
| Blue-winged Teal | 2 (B, late
afternoon) |
| Northern Shoveler | small groups (P, M),
except one flock of 60 (M) |
| Gadwall | small groups except perhaps
200 (B, late afternoon) |
| American Wigeon | thousands, many
feeding near swans and geese (P, M) |
| Canvasback | only 10 far out on the lake
(M) |
| Redhead | 2 (P) plus 1 (M) |
| Ring-necked Duck | flocks in borrow pits
near Tarrboro and near the causeway (M) |
| Lesser Scaup | 4 with Ring-necks
(Tarrboro, M) |
| Black Scoter | just 4 (K) |
| Bufflehead | 1 female (P) -- usually
there are hundreds or thousands |
| Hooded Merganser | small groups
(P) |
| Red-breasted Merganser | small flocks
headed south (K) |
| Ruddy Duck | with Ring-necks
(M) |
| Black Vulture | 4 near I40 west of
Raleigh |
| Turkey Vulture | scattered |
| Osprey | 2(M) -- most have already
migrated south |
| Bald Eagle | 8 (including 3 adults) (M) |
| Northern Harrier | 5 (P, M) |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 (M) |
| American Kestrel | about 14 on power
lines and exposed trees |
| Merlin | one male almost caught the Tropical Kingbird! (P, late
afternoon) |
| Peregrine | 2 including a male that allowed careful study in a tree beside Lake
Mattamuskeet (P, M) |
| Virginia Rail | 2 ran around at dusk
beside the observation platform, 3 others called (B) |
| American Coot | dense flocks
(P,M) |
| Black-bellied Plover | 50 (P, B,
M) |
| Semipalmated Plover | 10 (P) |
| American Oystercatcher | 2 (O) |
| American Avocet | 300 -- a large number (180 in North Pond, 130 in
South Pond, P) -- the only regular wintering population on the Atlantic
coast! |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 150 (P, B,
M) |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 20 (P) |
| Willet | 15 (P) |
| Sanderling | small flocks on beaches (K,
P) |
| Western Sandpiper | 50 possibly
including some Semipalmated Sandpipers -- in very shallow water
(P) |
| Least Sandpiper | 100 on exposed mud
(P) |
| White-rumped
Sandpiper | one -- with very long wings -- should have left for
Argentina a month ago |
| Dunlin | hundreds (P, B, M) |
| Short-billed Dowitcher | at least two
dowitchers gave this species' call in flight (P) |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 200 -- this is
the usual dowitcher in winter in NC -- several birds gave this species'
calls in flight (P, B, M) |
| Common Snipe | 2 (P, late
afternoon) |
| Parasitic
Jaeger | one fly-by -- most are at sea in the southern hemisphere by
now |
| Laughing Gull | thousands migrated
southward (K, P) or loafed on mud flats (M) |
| Ring-billed Gull | widespread, on beach
and inland |
| Herring Gull | small numbers with GBBG
(K, P, M) |
| Great Black-backed Gull | scattered (K,
P), flock of 100 (M) |
| Royal Tern | 8 (K, P) |
| Forster's Tern | 12 (P, K, M) |
| Rock Dove | feral pigeons around highway
bridges |
| Mourning Dove | scattered |
| Great Horned Owl | one hooted at dusk
(B) |
| Belted Kingfisher | 15 |
| Northern Flicker | scattered (P,
M) |
| Eastern Phoebe | 2 (M) |
| Tropical
Kingbird | one allowed clear views -- a straggler from Mexico or
South America (P) |
| Tree Swallow | two swirling flocks
(M) |
| American Crow | lots en route |
| Fish Crow | lots (K, P, M) |
| Carolina Chickadee | 2 formed the
nucleus of a flock (M) |
| Carolina Wren | |
| Sedge Wren | in short marsh
(P) |
| Marsh Wren | in tall marsh(P, B,
M) |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | one in a
chickadee flock (M) |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 2 in a chickadee
flock (M) |
| Eastern Bluebird | on power
lines |
| American Robin | en route |
| Northern Mockingbird | few (P,
M) |
| European Starling | flocks everywhere!
-- one swirling flock of 1000 at dusk (B) |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | about 15 --
including a few in a chickadee flock |
| Palm Warbler | 8 including 6 in a
chickadee flock (P, M) |
| Common Yellowthroat | one (M) |
| Northern Cardinal | 2 |
| Rufous-sided Towhee | 2 |
| Savannah Sparrow | one (P) |
| Song Sparrow | |
| Swamp Sparrow | |
| White-throated Sparrow | |
| Dark-eyed Junco | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | scattered flocks
(P, M) |
| Eastern Meadowlark | 10 (P, M) |
| Rusty Blackbird | several with Common
Grackles |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | lots -- both
glossy males and brown females (K, P) |
| Common Grackle | several flocks
inland |
| House Finch | 10 (K, P) |
| House Sparrow | at feeder near visitor's
center (P) |
| | |
| TOTAL SPECIES | 104 |
| | |
Mammals
| | |
| bat | one, in afternoon,
perhaps a Hoary Bat (B) |
| Humpback Whale | two big animals just 200-400 yards from the
beach -- if they had stood on their heads they would have been half
out of water! (K) |
| Bottlenose Dolphin | small
pod hanging with the whales (K) |
| Nutria | grizzled animal in a
ditch (M) -- large rodent introduced by humans from Argentina for its fur
(now useless) |
|