Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
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| Red-throated Loon | 2 flying southward (K) | |
| Common Loon | 8 flying southward (K) | |
| Pied-billed Grebe | lots (P, M) | |
| Northern Gannet | fewer than usual no doubt because of light winds(K) | |
| American White Pelican | 3 resting on North Pond (P) | |
| Brown Pelican | many flocks (P, K) | |
| Double-crested Cormorant | many flocks and scattered singles (P, K, M) | |
| American Bittern | one flew past before sunset Saturday afternoon (A) | |
| Great Blue Heron | many along ditches and in ponds (A, P, M) | |
| Great Egret | many around edges of ponds (P, M) | |
| Snowy Egret | about 20 (P, M) | |
| Little Blue Heron | 6 (B), one (M) that showed the very narrow black tips of its wings | |
| Tricolored Heron | 12 (P, B, M) | |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | one immature (P) | |
| White Ibis | 50 (P) | |
| Mute Swan | 2 adults (probably a pair) (P) | |
| Tundra Swan | 2000 (P), 20,000 (M) | |
| Snow Goose | 4500 (M) -- about half dark morphs -- perhaps 5% heterozygotes -- large flocks flew overhead while arriving after feeding in fields to the east | |
| Ross's Goose | two with Snow Geese (M) | |
| Canada Goose | scattered flocks (P, M) | |
| Barnacle Goose | one adult with the Snow Geese (M) | |
| Green-winged Teal | in flocks on ponds and flying southward over the ocean (K, P, B, M) | |
| American Black Duck | 120 mostly in pairs -- also a male Mallard X Black Duck hybrid and one mixed pair (B) | |
| Mallard | scattered (P, M) | |
| Northern Pintail | thousands (P, B, M) | |
| Northern Shoveler | 10 including males that still had not acquired their bright winter plumage (P, M) | |
| Gadwall | many scattered groups with flocks of wigeon | |
| Eurasian Wigeon | one male with American Wigeon (B) | |
| American Wigeon | thousands (P, B, M) | |
| Canvasback | 6 (P) | |
| Redhead | 6 often in the same scope field with the Canvasbacks (P) | |
| Ring-necked Duck | 4 (P), 100 (M) | |
| Lesser Scaup | few (P, M) | |
| Long-tailed Duck | 3 flying southward with Black Scoters (K) | |
| Black Scoter | 100 in strung-out flocks flying southward (K, P) | |
| Bufflehead | 12 (P, M) | |
| Ruddy Duck | 8 (P, M) -- unusually scarce! | |
| Hooded Merganser | three pairs (P) | |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 70 flying southward (K) | |
| Turkey Vulture | numerous on the mainland -- also 10 on Bodie Island and Pea Island | |
| Osprey | 10 (P, M) including one immature that was NOT successful in catching a fish despite repeated tries! | |
| Bald Eagle | adult and immature flew past east of Plymouth, an adult (P), two courting adults and two immatures (M) | |
| Northern Harrier | scattered (P, M), numerous at A | |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | one in pocosin west of Stumpy Point | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 20 along roads, especially numerous at A | |
| American Kestrel | 14 | |
| Merlin | 4 (K, A, M) | |
| Northern Bob-white | 20 (A) | |
| Virginia Rail | one called from cattails (B) | |
| Common Moorhen | one at the edge of reeds in a canal (M) | |
| American Coot | dense flocks (M) | |
| Black-bellied Plover | 4 (K, P) | |
| Killdeer | 1 (K) | |
| American Oystercatcher | 2 on sand bars in Oregon Inlet (P), 6 flying southward (K) | |
| American Avocet | 180 (P) harrassed by a Ring-billed Gull for no clear reason | |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 20 (P, B, M) | |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | one (B) with a group of Greaters | |
| Willett | one (P) | |
| Marbled Godwit | one (P) | |
| Sanderling | 25 (K) | |
| Western Sandpiper | one with Dunlins (P) | |
| Dunlin | 300 (P) on mud flats beside South Pond | |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 20 -- the usual dowitcher in winter in NC -- but Short-billed Dowitcher not ruled out (M) | |
| American Woodcock | 2 including one at close range in our headlights Saturday evening (A) | |
| Parasitic Jaeger | one flew southward after a quick swipe at a Ring-billed Gull (K) | |
| Bonaparte's Gull | 10 hanging out with Pied-billed Grebes (M) | |
| Laughing Gull | many migrating southward (K, P, M) | |
| Ring-billed Gull | the most numerous gull, on the beach and inland | |
| Herring Gull | scattered (K, P) | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | one second-winter, one third-winter, and one adult together on the beach (K) allowed close study -- they should have been in Africa! | |
| Great Black-backed Gull | numerous everywhere (K, P, M) | |
| Royal Tern | 7 (K, P) including one young following its parent | |
| Forster's Tern | 100 (P, K, M) | |
| Rock Dove | feral pigeons around highway bridges | |
| Mourning Dove | scattered | |
| Great Horned Owl | 2 hooting at dusk (A) | |
| Short-eared Owl | 5 chasing Northern Harriers as the sun set on Saturday afternoon (A) | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 8 -- most at M | |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 2 (M) | |
| Hairy Woodpecker | one calling repeatedly in open woodland beside Waupoppin Canal (M) | |
| Northern Flicker | 8 (P, M) | |
| Eastern Phoebe | 2 (B, M) | |
| Tree Swallow | 10 (M) | |
| Blue Jay | one (M) | |
| American Crow | 10 (M and en route) | |
| Fish Crow | 20 (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 | 2 (A, M) with warblers | |
| Tufted Titmouse | one en route | |
| Carolina Wren | 3 (M) | |
| House Wren | one (P) in dense bushes with warblers | |
| Marsh Wren | several called in cattails (M) | |
| Sedge Wren | several called in short marsh (P) | |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | one (P) in dense bushes with warblers | |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | one (M) | |
| Eastern Bluebird | only a few on power lines | |
| American Robin | 25 especially beside highway through pocosins | |
| Gray Catbird | 2 (P, M) | |
| Northern Mockingbird | 12 (K, P, M) | |
| European Starling | flocks everywhere! | |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | hundreds (P, M) in flocks | |
| Palm Warbler | 10 (K, P, M) including both eastern and western subspecies | |
| Common Yellowthroat | 2 (P) | |
| Northern Cardinal | one | |
| Savannah Sparrow | one (A) | |
| Song Sparrow | scattered (P, M) | |
| Swamp Sparrow | many (P, M) frequently heard in bushy marshes and edges of canals | |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 2 (P) | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | many flocks (P, M) | |
| Eastern Meadowlark | 6 (P, M) | |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | scattered (K, P) | |
| Common Grackle | several flocks inland | |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | en route, also 2 with European Starlings (K) | |
| House Finch | one in a bush at the motel (K) | |
| House Sparrow | 6 in Tarrboro on Friday | |
| TOTAL SPECIES | 114 | |
| White-tailed Deer | several does (A, M) | |
| Raccoon | one (M) | |
| Nutria | one in plain view beside a canal (M) | |
| Bottlenose Dolphin | about 70 in several pods (K) -- also one that had died on the beach (P) | |
| Humpback Whale | one distant blow Saturday afternoon (K) |
| Yellow-bellied Slider Chrysemys scripta | only a few (P, M) |
| Mud sunfish (possibly) Acantharcus pomotis | one speared by a Great Blue Heron was longer than the heron's bill (M) |