Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
(also Nags Head, Bodie Island Pond, Alligator River NWR, and en route)

November 5-7, 2004

Weather

  • November 6: clear, wind NW, cool
  • November 7: clear, wind NW, cool
  • Drivers: Maureen McClung, Minna Wiley

Some highlights and notes ...

  • Beautiful sunny weather all weekend -- but very few mosquitos!

  • White Pelicans soaring overhead were the highlight of this trip.   Altogether we counted 23 birds of this species, an irregular visitor to NC.

  • Also impressive were about 8000 Double-crested Cormorants that aggregated in a dense flock just beyond the surf in front of the motel and soon began a feeding frenzy.

  • A Shiny Cowbird, a rare invader from the Caribbean, fed at the feeder at the Visitor's Center on Pea Island.   Entirely glossy black, this bird had lost its tail, so the birders of the Wings Over Water Festival had nicknamed it "Stubby".

  • A large pod of Bottlenose Dolphins that drifted southward past Pea Island included many individuals with a strange black substance along the rear edges of their dorsal fins, perhaps an infection.

  • Many ducks and geese had yet to arrive from the north, but shorebirds (sandpipers and relatives) were present in unusually large numbers.

In the lists below . . .

  • A = Alligator River NWR
  • N = Nags Head (near the Sea Foam Motel on the 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

Amphibia

Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysocelis)just one (M)
Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)just one (M)

Reptilia

Yellow-bellied Slider (Chrysemys scripta)many (P, M)
Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)just one (M)

Birds

Common Loonone flying southward (N)
Red-throated Loonone flying southward (N)
Pied-billed Grebe40 (M)
Northern Gannetabout 150 moving southward over the ocean (N, P)
American White Pelican23 on North Pond in several groups (P)
Brown Pelicanmany along the beach (P, N)
Double-crested Cormorant8000 or more including a massive aggregation near the beach (N), small groups elsewhere (P, M)
Great Blue Heronmany along ditches and in ponds (A, P, M)
Great Egretmany around edges of ponds (P, M)
Snowy Egret20 (P), one (M)
Tricolored Heron10 (P, M)
Green Heronone (M)
White Ibis80 (P)
Tundra Swan200 (P), about 500 on the lake plus others scattered (M)
Snow Goose350 -- all white morphs (P)
Canada Goosescattered flocks (P, M)
Green-winged Teal70 (P, M)
American Black Duck150 mostly in pairs -- also one Black Duck X Mallard hybrid
Mallard8 (P), 4 (M)
Northern Pintailthousands (P, M)
Northern Shovelersmall groups (P, M)
Gadwallmany scattered birds with flocks of wigeon
Eurasian Wigeonone male far out on the lake with other wigeon (M)
American Wigeon400 (P), 1000 (M)
Ring-necked Duck80 (M)
Black Scoter20 flying southward over the ocean (N)
Ruddy Duck3000 (M) especially in large flocks far out on the lake
Turkey Vulturescattered on the mainland
Osprey4 (P, M) including both adults and young
Northern Harrieronly 3 ( P, M)
Cooper's Hawkone crossed North Pond (P)
Red-tailed Hawkonly 2
American Kestrel8
Merlinone flushed beside the highway (M)
Northern Bob-whiteseveral calling (A)
American Cootdense flocks (M)
Black-bellied Plover10 (P, N)
Semipalmated Plover6 (P)
Killdeer3 (N)
American Avocet150 (P)
Greater Yellowlegs12 (P)
Lesser Yellowlegsone late migrant (P)
Willet25 (N, P)
Marbled Godwit20 (P)
Sanderling150 on beaches (N, P)
Western Sandpiper6 with Dunlins (P)
Least Sandpiper10 on mud (P)
Dunlin200 (P)
Wilson's (Common) Snipe3 (P, M)
American Woodcock4 -- flying to fields just as it turned dark (A)
Laughing Gullscattered (N, P, M)
Bonaparte's Gulljust one near the beach (N)
Ring-billed Gullthe most numerous gull, on the beach and inland
Herring Gullfew (N, P, M)
Great Black-backed Gullnumerous everywhere (N, P, M)
Caspian Tern8 (M)
Royal Ternan adult with a young bird from the Croatan Sound bridge
Forster's Tern80 (P, N, M) including several feeding closeby at M
Rock Doveferal pigeons around highway bridges
Mourning Dovescattered on the coast and inland
Belted Kingfisher5, scattered
Red-bellied Woodpeckerone en route
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckeronce crossed the highway en route
Northern Flicker20 scattered (P, M)
Pileated Woodpeckerone on our way to M
Eastern Phoebe2 (M)
Blue Jayone en route
American Crowscattered inland
Fish Crowlots (N)
Carolina Chickadeefew (P, M)
Carolina Wren6 (P, M)
House Wrenone called on the causeway (M)
Sedge Wrenseveral called in short marsh (P)
Golden-crowned Kingletone (M)
Eastern Bluebirdonly 4 on power lines
American Robinscattered en route
Gray Catbird3 (P)
Northern Mockingbird2 (M)
European Starlingflocks everywhere!
Yellow-rumped Warbler30 (P)
Common Yellowthroatone (M)
Northern Cardinalfew
Eastern Towheeone (M)
Savannah Sparrow2 (N, M)
Song Sparrowscattered (P,M)
Swamp Sparrow6 (P,M)
White-throated Sparrowfew (M)
Dark-eyed Junco4 on the way to M
Red-winged Blackbirdscattered flocks (P, M)
Eastern Meadowlarkone (P)
Boat-tailed Gracklemany (N, P)
Common Grackleseveral flocks inland
Shiny Cowbirdone with Red-winged Blackbirds at the Visitor Center's feeder (P)
House Finch2 (N, M)
American Goldfinchone (P)
House Sparrow2 in Tarrboro on Friday
TOTAL SPECIES97

Mammals

Bottlenose Dolphinseveral pods heading southward, many with black infections (?) on their dorsal fins
Red Foxone glimpsed beside the road near Raleigh