Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
(also Nags Head, Bodie Island Pond, and en route)
November 12-14, 2004
Weather
- November 13: overcast, strong wind (25-30 knot NNW), wild surf
- November 14: sunny between clouds, windy (15-20 knot NNE), less wind
at Mattamuskeet
- Drivers: Lisa Mangiamele, Justin McAlister
Some highlights and notes ...
- Wild weather on Saturday turned the sea into chaos, blew sand over the
roads, and pinned birds down in the ponds near the road. "Drive-by
birding" gave us clear views of lots of ducks at close range.
- Special birds included a Piping Plover, an
endangered species, and two adult Lesser Black-backed
Gulls, rare visitors from Europe.
- At Mattamuskeet wave after wave of Snow Geese (about
6000 total) flew overhead against a blue sky -- "white" and "blue" morphs
and heterozygotes and their young were easy to distinguish.
- A male Eurasian Wigeon with American
Wigeons near the causeway at Lake Mattamuskeet showed off his colors.
- Bald Eagles included a pair of adults over the highway near Lake
Mattamuskeet and an adult that persistently attempted
to steal a fish from a young Osprey, but failed!
- The high winds at Pea Island made it difficult to locate many
common
small birds (Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Northern Cardinal, American
Goldfinch, Eastern Towhee, sparrows, wrens). For some unknown
reason, American Robins, although usually abundant in winter in coastal
NC, could not be found.
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
Reptilia
| | |
|---|
| Yellow-bellied Slider (Chrysemys
scripta) | just a few out in the chilly temperatures (P, M) |
| | |
Birds
| | |
| Red-throated Loon | one on North Pond (P) |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 40 (M) |
| Northern Gannet | about 150 moving
southward over the ocean (N) |
| American White
Pelican | 23 on North Pond in the distance (P) |
| Brown Pelican | along the beach
and in ponds (P, N) |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 500, small
groups and singles on the ocean, in ponds, and in canals (N, P,
M) |
| Great Blue Heron | 15, along ditches and
in ponds (P, M) |
| Great Egret | 70, around edges of ponds,
along canals (P, M) |
| Snowy Egret | 2 (P) |
| Little Blue Heron | one white immature
(P) |
| Tricolored Heron | one (M) |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | one
as we crossed the Scuppernong River at dusk in a drizzle |
| White Ibis | 200 (P) |
| Tundra Swan | 500 (P), about
4000 (M) |
| Snow Goose | 250 white morphs
(P), about 6000 white and blue morphs and heterozygotes (M) |
| Ross'
Goose | one with a large flock of Snows (M) |
| Brant | one loosely associated with
wigeon on North Pond (P) |
| Canada Goose | 500, in scattered flocks
(P, M) |
| Green-winged Teal | 50 (P, M) |
| American Black Duck | 150 mostly in
pairs -- also two male Black Duck X Mallard hybrids (P, M) |
| Mallard | 4 (P), 10 (M) |
| Northern Pintail | perhaps 6000 (P,
M) |
| Northern Shoveler | 25 (P,
M) |
| Gadwall | 100, often scattered
among wigeon |
| Eurasian
Wigeon | one male in sunshine near the causeway (M), off
course from Europe |
| American Wigeon | 10000 in large flocks
everywhere (P, M) |
| Canvasback | 4 (M) |
| Redhead | 2 (P) |
| Ring-necked Duck | 20 (P, M) |
| Greater Scaup | one male with Lessers
(P) |
| Lesser Scaup | 60 in small groups
often with wigeon (P, M) |
| Black Scoter | 100 flying southward over
the ocean in wild wether (P) |
| Bufflehead | 3 females flying closeby
(M) |
| Hooded Merganser | 8 including only one
male (P) |
| Red-breasted Merganser | one female-like
plumage (P) |
| Ruddy Duck | 2000 (P, M) |
| Black Vulture | 2 (M) |
| Turkey Vulture | scattered on
the mainland but not flying in the rain of Friday |
| Osprey | 4 (P, M) including
both adults and young |
| Bald Eagle | 7 including 4 adults, one
of which attempted to rob an Osprey of its fish
(M) |
| Northern Harrier | 5 including 2 adult
and 1 immature male (usually males are scarce in NC) (P, M) |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 9 (M and en route)
|
| American Kestrel | 10 (M and
en route) |
| Merlin | one female in our scopes!
(M) |
| Northern Bob-white | 12 (one covey)
(M) |
| Common Moorhen | 4 adults and young in
the open (M) |
| American Coot | 200 in dense flocks
far out on the lake (M) |
| Black-bellied Plover | 2 (P) |
| Semipalmated Plover | 10 (P) |
| Piping
Plover | one on the shore of North Pond, no doubt taking
refuge from the wild conditions on the beach, its usual habitat
(P) |
| Killdeer | 6 (N, P) |
| American Avocet | 130 (P) |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 20 (P) |
| Marbled Godwit | 6 (P) |
| Sanderling | 10 on North Pond, another
refugee from the beaches (P) |
| Western Sandpiper | one with Dunlins
(P) |
| Least Sandpiper | 10 on muddy edges of
North Pond (P) |
| Dunlin | 200 (P) |
| Wilson's (Common) Snipe | 4 including
one that fed beside a puddle in plain view (P) |
| Laughing Gull | 200, many moving
southward (N, P, M) |
| Ring-billed Gull | many on the beach and
inland |
| Herring Gull | scattered, all ages (N,
P) |
| Lesser Black-backed
Gull | 2 adults beside the road with GBBGs and HEGUs
(P) |
| Great Black-backed Gull | scattered, all
ages, including two killing blue crabs on North Pond (N, P, M) |
| Forster's Tern | 30 (P, N,
M) |
| Rock Dove | feral pigeons around highway
bridges |
| Mourning Dove | scattered on
the coast and inland |
| Belted Kingfisher | 10, scattered
|
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | one
(M) |
| Downy Woodpecker | one (M) |
| Northern Flicker | 2 (M), none
seen in high winds (P) |
| Pileated Woodpecker | one (M) |
| Eastern Phoebe | one (M) |
| Tree Swallow | 50 (M) |
| Blue Jay | one (M) |
| American Crow | scattered
inland |
| Fish Crow | lots (N) |
| Carolina Chickadee | one at NC
Aquarium in Manteo |
| Carolina Wren | one (M), none
in high winds (P) |
| House Wren | one called
on the causeway, same place as last week! (M) |
| Eastern Bluebird | 20 in sunshine on
power lines en route |
| Northern Mockingbird | 10 (M) |
| European Starling | flocks everywhere!
|
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 15
(P, M) |
| Common Yellowthroat | one
inquisitive male in reeds along a canal (M) |
| Song Sparrow | one (M) |
| Swamp Sparrow | 8 (P,M) |
| Red-winged Blackbird | scattered
flocks (P), 10000 in a huge synchronized flock of both sexes under the
scrutiny of a Merlin (M) |
| Eastern Meadowlark | 4 en
route |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | many
(N, P) |
| Common Grackle | several flocks
inland but just a few with the large flock of Red-winged
Blackbirds |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | about 1000 with
Red-winged Blackbirds (M) |
| House Sparrow | 6 in Engelhard
(a first for BIOL 72L in that town!) |
| | |
| TOTAL SPECIES | 94
|
| | |
Mammals
|