Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
(also Kill Devil Hills, Bodie Island Pond, Alligator River NWR,
and en route)
November 7-9, 2003
Weather
- November 8: overcast, wind NNE, force 5-6, chilly
- November 10: overcast, wind NE, force 5-6, chilly
Some highlights and notes ...
- about 2500 Snow Geese and perhaps 10,000 Tundra Swans on Lake
Mattamuskeet -- with close-range
views of the geese -- which seemed to be arriving from the arctic
as we watched! -- they would have left James Bay on Friday with a tail
wind behind the cold front sweeping southward out of Canada
- an adult Barnacle Goose with the big flock
of Snow Geese -- the Barnacle Goose nests on cliffs in eastern Greenland
and winters in Ireland -- none has not been reported in North Carolina for
50 years -- because this bird was in the middle of a large flock of newly
arrived Snow Geese, it seems unlikely that it was an escaped captive (but
it is impossible to be sure)
- four Ross's Geese (a family of three and a
single adult) also in the large flock of Snow Geese -- Ross's Geese
nest in the Canadian arctic often near Snow Geese but usually spend
the winter in California
- ten White Pelicans feeding in coordinated
groups on South Pond at Pea Island NWR -- these pelicans nest on the
northern Plains and usually spend the winter in Mexico and on the Gulf
coast -- they showed us their specialized coordinated feeding
- great displays of coordinated flying by tight flocks of American
Avocets
- and some spectacular sights for just a few of us -- Lesser
Black-backed Gulls on the beach Saturday morning but should have been in
Africa -- Northern Gannets flying like albatrosses (dynamic soaring) in
the wild wind over the ocean on Sunday morning -- and two Black Bears at
Alligator River NWR late Saturday afternoon
- but in general many ducks, geese, and swans seemed not yet to have
arrived
In the lists below . . .
- A = Alligator River NWR
- K = Kill Devils Hills (Anchorage Inn on beach)
- P = Pea Island NWR
- B = Bodie Island Pond
- O = Oregon Inlet (jetty and nearby beach and dunes)
- M = Mattamuskeet NWR
Please send additions/corrections to
Haven Wiley
Reptilia
| | |
|---|
| Yellow-bellied Slider (Chrysemys
scripta) | just one (M) |
| | |
Birds
| | |
| Common Loon | one flying southward (K) |
| Pied-billed Grebe | scattered (P, M) |
| Northern Gannet | hundreds each morning
-- also feeding flocks (K) |
| Brown Pelican | small flocks (P, K) |
| American White
Pelican | 10 on South Pond and 1 on North Pond (P) |
| Double-crested Cormorant | small flocks
(P, K, M) |
| Great Blue Heron | many along ditches
and in ponds (A, P, M) |
| Great Egret | many around edges of ponds
(P, M) |
| Snowy Egret | 4 (P), 3 (M) |
| Tricolored Heron | 3 (P, B) |
| White Ibis | 30 (P) |
| Tundra Swan | 500 (P), about
10,000 but mostly in the distance (M) |
| Snow Goose | 2500 (M) -- about
half dark morphs -- perhaps 5% heterozygotes -- apparently just
arrived from James Bay |
| Ross's
Goose | 4 (a family of three and one lone adult)
(M) |
| Canada Goose | scattered flocks (P,
M) |
| Barnacle Goose
| one adult with the Snow Geese (M) |
| Green-winged Teal | 300 in flocks on
ponds and flying southward over the ocean (K, P< M) |
| American Black Duck | 60 mostly in pairs
-- also one Mallard X Black Duck hybrid (B) |
| Mallard | 6 (P), 50 (M) |
| Northern Pintail | thousands (P,
M) |
| Northern Shoveler | small groups (P,
M) |
| Gadwall | many scattered birds
with flocks of wigeon |
| American Wigeon | thousands (P, M) |
| Ring-necked Duck | 3 (M) |
| Greater Scaup | 80 in flocks headed
southward sometimes with Black Scoters (K) |
| Black Scoter | 1000 in strung-out
flocks flying southward (K, P) |
| Surf Scoter | several with Black Scoters
(K) |
| Ruddy Duck | 3 (P, M) -- unusually
scarce! |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 10 (K) |
| Black Vulture | 1 east of Lake
Mattamuskeet |
| Turkey Vulture | scattered on
the mainland |
| Osprey | 7 (P, M) including one that was
successful in catching a fish |
| Bald Eagle | 2 young birds (M) |
| Northern Harrier | scattered (
A, P, M) |
| Cooper's Hawk | 2 (P, M) |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 10 along
roads (surprisingly not a one at Lake Mattamuskeet) |
| American Kestrel | 8 |
| Merlin | 2 (A, M) |
| Peregrine | 2 high in the
air above North Pond (P) |
| Northern Bob-white | 50 in
two coveys (A) |
| American Coot | dense flocks
(M) |
| Semipalmated Plover | 4 (P) |
| Killdeer | 20 (K, M) |
| American Avocet | 200 (P) and
3 (M) that allowed us to study the sex differences in their
bills |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 25 (P, B,
M) |
| Marbled Godwit | 2 (P) |
| Sanderling | only 4 (K) |
| Western Sandpiper | 4 on exposed mud
(P) |
| Dunlin | 20 (P) |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 2 -- this is the
usual dowitcher in winter in NC -- but Short-billed Dowitcher
not ruled out (M) |
| Common Snipe | one (P) |
| American Woodcock | 1 -- flying to
fields just as it turned dark (A) |
| Laughing Gull | scattered on the Outer
Banks (K, P), few (M) |
| Ring-billed Gull | the most numerous
gull, on the beach and inland |
| Herring Gull | few (K, P,
M) |
| Lesser Black-backed
Gull | 2 adults on the beach (K) allowed close study -- just
like last year -- they should have been in Africa! |
| Great Black-backed Gull | numerous
everywhere (K, P, M) |
| Caspian Tern | 7 (P) including
a young bird still being fed by a parent |
| Royal Tern | 30 (K, P) incluidng at
least 2 young following parents |
| Forster's Tern | hundreds (P, K, M) |
| Rock Dove | feral pigeons around highway
bridges |
| Mourning Dove | few, scattered |
| Belted Kingfisher | 5, scattered
|
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | one en route |
| Downy Woodpecker | 2 (M) with
a flock of warblers |
| Northern Flicker | 3 (M) |
| Pileated Woodpecker | one
glimpsed in flight (M) |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 (M) |
| Tree Swallow | hundreds in swirling flocks (M) |
| Blue Jay | one en route |
| American Crow | 20 (M and en route) |
| Fish Crow | 40 (K) -- numbers of both
species of crow seemed low again this year -- West Nile virus is
believed to affect crows more than other birds |
| Carolina Chickadee | 4 (M)
with warblers |
| Tufted Titmouse | one en
route |
| Carolina Wren | 1 (M) |
| Sedge Wren | several called in short
marsh (P) |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | one (M) |
| Eastern Bluebird | many on power
lines |
| American Robin | few en route
-- none in coastal areas |
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 (M) |
| European Starling | flocks everywhere!
|
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | hundreds (P,
M) in flocks |
| Palm Warbler | 2 (B, M) |
| Northern Cardinal | few |
| Song Sparrow | scattered (P,M) |
| Swamp Sparrow | many (P,M) |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 20 (P,M) |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 500 in scattered
flocks (P, M) |
| Eastern Meadowlark | 12 (P, B,
M) |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | scattered (K,
P) |
| Common Grackle | several flocks
inland |
| House Sparrow | one in
Tarrboro on Friday |
| | |
| TOTAL SPECIES | 93
|
| | |
Mammals
| | |
| White-tailed Deer | one buck
(possibly injured) and a harem of two does with one buck allowed clear
views (M) |
|