Vertebrates at Pea Island NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR
(also Nags Head, Bodie Island Pond, Alligator River NWR,
and en route)
November 16-18, 2007
Weather
- November 17: partly cloudy, cool, light W wind
- November 18: sunny, cool, light W wind, at times almost calm
- Drivers: David Luther, Danielle Racke, Nick Adams, Jeff Mette, Liz Bergen
Some highlights and notes ...
- Wintering waterfowl make the national wildlife
refuges in northeastern NC famous. We found 24 species
altogether -- 2 species of swans, 2 species of geese, and 20 species of
ducks.
- Much larger numbers of Tundra Swans, Snow Geese, and many ducks were
present this weekend than last -- presumably because large numbers arrived
from the north during the week. Lake Mattamuskeet was speckled with
Tundra Swans as far as the eye could see, and their
bugling voices rippled through the air continuously. A sight and sound
hard to match anywhere!
- More Bald Eagles seem to have arrived from the north also -- the total of
51 Bald Eagles broke last week's all-time record!
- The Mute Swans on Pea Island seemed to be paired
up, each pair with a slightly larger male and a smaller female. The
pairs displayed aggressively toward each other -- often adopting the
"swan-boat" posture.
- The Snow Geese beside the road at Pea Island also showed us how aggressive they could be when families competed for the
best spots to let their young feed. One big family with 5 young was
particularly aggressive. We also noticed that one adult in each family
usually stayed "on guard" with its head up, while the others fed on grass and
roots.
- Once again we had super views of male Eurasian
Wigeons, off course from their usual wintering areas in Europe!
- Another species far from its normal range (in Texas or the Caribbean) were
the 2 Cave Swallows with Tree Swallows swooping over
the reeds at Mattamuskeet.
- This week the group of American White Pelicans that
seem to have started spending the winter at Pea Island had arrived.
Some Brown Pelicans obliging stood next to them, so we could see how much
bigger the white ones were.
- Several people found one Piping Plover on the vast
beach at Oregon Inlet on Saturday afternoon -- not only one of NC's endangered
species but also the world's cutest bird!
- On the other hand, many fall migrants that were still lingering on the
coast last week had left by this weekend. For instance, we could not
find a Peregrine this weekend. Nor did we see so many different kinds
of sandpipers and their relatives.
- A Black Bear that crossed the road on the run right
in front of the first vehice was the mammalian highlight. But we also
had good looks at Nutria, the invasive rodent from Argentina. And an
unidentified rabbit on the causeway near the observation platform at
Mattamuskeet seemed to be neither an Eastern Cottontail nor a Marsh Rabbit,
the two native rabbits on the coast. Had somebody released a pet
here?
In the lists below . . .
- F = borrow ponds along US 64 from Tarrboro to Roper (Friday)
- 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 Trachemys
scripta | many (P, M) |
| | |
Birds
| | |
| Common Loon | 2 (N) |
| Red-throated Loon | 1
(N) |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 35 (P,
M) |
| Northern Gannet | 2000 on 11/17 (N,
P) |
| American White
Pelican | 18 including 11 feeding in shallow water -- a flock
that seems to have begun spending the winter at Pea Island in recent years --
normally they winter on the Gulf Coast (P) |
| Brown Pelican | 300 including a bunch
standing next to the much larger American White Pelicans (P, N) |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 300 scattered in
small groups (N, P, M) |
| Great Blue Heron | 40 both adults and young
(F, A, P, M) |
| Great Egret | 12 around edges of ponds (P,
M) |
| Snowy Egret | 2 (P) |
| Little Blue Heron | 4 including an adult and
white immatures (P) |
| Tricolored Heron | 6 (P) |
| White Ibis | 20 (P) |
| Tundra Swan | 200 (P), 16000 (M), perhaps
with more young than last week |
| Mute Swan | 6,
clearly paired up, often in "swan-boat" posture, an invading species (P)
|
| Snow Goose | 350 white morphs (P), 1100 with
some blue morphs and heterozygotes, in flight then side-slipping to land on
the lake (M) |
| Canada Goose | 300 in scattered groups (F,
P, M) |
| Wood Duck | 2 in ditches (A) |
| Green-winged Teal | 300 (P, B, M) |
| American Black Duck | 200 -- many in
pairs |
| Mallard | 15 (P, M) |
| Northern Pintail | 5000 (P, B), 2000 (M), or
more! |
| Northern Shoveler | 40 (P) |
| Gadwall | 150 in small groups scattered
among flocks of wigeon (P, M) |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 3 males (P, M) |
| American Wigeon | 3000 (P), 4000 (M), or
more! |
| Canvasback | 50 including one male near
shore nearby (M) |
| Ring-necked Duck | 200 (P), 150
(M) |
| Greater Scaup | 70 flying south over the
ocean (N) |
| Lesser Scaup | 20 (P), 25 (M), with
Ring-necked Ducks |
| Black Scoter | 80 flying southward over the
ocean (N) |
| Surf Scoter | 2 in a flock of Blacks
(N) |
| Common Goldeneye | 4 including one male
flying southward in a tight flock (P) |
| Bufflehead | 50 in flocks, including several
males (P), 20 including 2 males nearby (M) |
| Hooded Merganser | 4 (F), 4 (B) |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 7 flying southward
(N, P) |
| Ruddy Duck | 1 (P), 100 including males and
females (M) |
| Turkey Vulture | 30 or more scattered on the
mainland |
| Bald Eagle | 51 -- a new
record including 42 near the catfish ponds south of Roper (F) and 9
(M) |
| Northern Harrier | 16 -- all females both
first-years (with tawny underparts) and adults (P, M) |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 (M) |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 10 (F, M) |
| American Kestrel | 12 (F, M) |
| Merlin | 2 females, including one perched in
clear view on the beach (P, N) |
| American Coot | 300 (P), 5000 (M) |
| Black-bellied Plover | 10 (N, P) |
| Semipalmated Plover | 3 (P), 12
(M) |
| Piping Plover | 1
on the outer beach, near Sanderlings -- an endangered species (O) |
| Killdeer | 50 (F, P, M) |
| American Oystercatcher | 2 feeding in
shallow water (O) |
| American Avocet | 150 some asleep, others
distant (P) |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 20 (P, M) |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 1 (M) |
| Willet | 20 on beaches (N, P) |
| Marbled Godwit | 20 (P) near avocets in
distance |
| Sanderling | 150 on beaches (N, P) |
| Western Sandpiper | 3 on a muddy shoreline
(M) -- possibly Semipalmated Sandpipers but not Leasts |
| Dunlin | 6 on muddy shorelines (P) |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 3 (M) probably this
species which spends the winter along the southeastern coast |
| Wilson's Snipe | 6 (P) |
| Bonaparte's Gull | 3 resting on the sea (P)
-- most have yet to arrive for the winter |
| Laughing Gull | 150 (N, P) migrating
southward and scattered elsewhere |
| Ring-billed Gull | 50 scattered (N, P, M) --
most have yet to arrive for the winter |
| Herring Gull | 25 scattered (N, P, M)
|
| Lesser Black-backed
Gull | 1 stray from Europe (N) |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 100 (N, P, M)
|
| Caspian Tern | 1 (P) landing in the distance
on South Pond |
| Royal Tern | 3 (N) |
| Forster's Tern | 20 (N, P, M) |
| Rock Dove | feral pigeons around highway
bridges and piers |
| Mourning Dove | scattered on the coast and
inland |
| Great Horned Owl | 2 (A)
| | Belted Kingfisher | 12 scattered (F, P, M)
|
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 3 (F, M) |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 (M) |
| Downy Woodpecker | 3 including one at close
range near the Visitor Center (P,M) |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 2 heard (F, M) |
| Northern Flicker | 10 (P, M) |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 1 (M) plus another in
Plymouth on Sunday |
| Eastern Phoebe | 3 (M) |
| Tree Swallow | 5 (P), 200 (M) |
| Cave Swallow | 2
wanderers from Texas (M) |
| American Crow | scattered inland |
| Fish Crow | many (N, M) |
| Carolina Chickadee | 6 (B, M) |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 (B) |
| Carolina Wren | 2 (M) |
| House Wren | 2 (N, M) |
| Sedge Wren | 2 called in short marsh (P)
| | Marsh Wren | one called in cattails
(B) |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 (M) |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 (M) |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 (M) |
| Eastern Bluebird | 15 (F, M) |
| American Robin | 12 (N, M) |
| Gray Catbird | 2 (M) |
| Northern Mockingbird | 8 (F, N, B,
M) |
| European Starling | flocks everywhere!
|
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 200 (N, P, B,
M) |
| Palm Warbler | 4 (P, M) |
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 (M) |
| Northern Cardinal | 2 (N, M) |
| Eastern Towhee | 1 (P) |
| Savannah Sparrow | 10 (P, M) |
| Song Sparrow | 2 (M) |
| Swamp Sparrow | 15 in marshes and beside
canals (P, M) |
| White-throated Sparrow | 4 (M) |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1 (M) |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 20000 (F), 100 (P),
400 (M) including a huge flock in a field on Friday |
| Eastern Meadowlark | 15 (P, M) |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | 250 (N, P, M), noisy
at dawn |
| Common Grackle | 2000 in a large streaming
flock on Friday, a few elsewhere on mainland |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 50 (F) |
| American Goldfinch | 1 (M) |
| House Sparrow | 10 in Plymouth on
Sunday |
| | |
| TOTAL SPECIES | 115 |
| | |
Mammals
| | |
| Nutria | 8 swimming in ditches
(M) |
| Gray Squirrel | 2 (M) |
| unidentified rabbit | 1 too large
and tawny for an Eastern Cottontail or Marsh Rabbit (M) |
| Black Bear | 1 female or immature male loped across US64 east of Columbia
(F) |
| White-tailed Deer | 4 (F,
M) |
| Bottlenose Dolphin | 10 or more
moving slowly southward (N) |
|