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

November 7-9, 2008

Weather

  • November 8: sunny with steady S wind 10-15 mph
  • November 9: sunny, light wind
  • Drivers: Emily Bidgood, Minna Wiley, David Kikuski, Megan Feaslan

Some highlights and notes ...

  • We started with a great upper (2 American Black Bears at dusk in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge) and a great downer (2 bear cubs killed on the highway at night not long before we passed).

  • Wintering waterfowl make the national wildlife refuges in northeastern NC famous.   We found 15 species altogether -- 2 species of swan, 2 species of geese, and 11 species of ducks.   Diving ducks were unusually scarce this weekend.

  • This trip was perhaps the most unusual of all the trips in the past 20 years by Vertebrate Field Zoology to the coast in November.   Usually we have lots of close-up looks at ducks and few chances to see shorebirds (sandpipers and relatives), but this time it was just the opposite -- lots of shorebirds to see up close, but few ducks!

  • Furthermore, the warm south wind on Saturday completely shut down southward migration along the coast.

  • The large numbers of shorebirds resulted primarily from exceptionally large numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlins, and dowitchers (either Long-billed or Short-billed).   The Greater Yellowlegs, Marbled Godwits, and American Avocets were present in normal numbers.

  • The many Lesser Yellowlegs were lingering migrants, soon to leave for South America.   The lone Hudsonian Godwit was also on its way to southern South America (we can hope its injured foot will have healed by the time it arrives :).   Most Hudsonian Godwits presumably migrate non-stop from Arctic Canada to southern Argentina!   The Marbled Godwits are pedestrian in comparison, moving from the Great Plains to the nearest coast for the winter.

  • The swans also illustrate closely related species with contrasting patterns of migration.   Tundra Swans migrate thousands of miles from the Arctic to NC; Mute Swans (an invasive species in North America) hardly migrate at all.

  • The Mute Swan is a newcomer to NC, slowly but surely invading coastal North Carolina from the Chesapeake Bay (they were brought from Europe to New York less than a century ago).   This year we found two pairs south of North Pond.   They fulfilled our prediction last year that pairs would soon become permanent residents of North Carolina.   I expect to see some young next year!

  • There were 24 Bald Eagles near the catfish ponds east of Roper and 9 more at Lake Mattamuskeet (the total of 33 is a new record for these trips!.

  • Among the species that were out of place in NC were the Lesser Black-backed Gull on the beach on Sunday.   It should have been in northern Africa by now, after migrating southward from its nesting areas in northern Europe.

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

Amphibia

Unidentified chorus frogPseudacris specieslarge choruses in wet fields on a warm night (A)
Green TreefrogHyla cinereaone (M)

Reptilia

Yellow-bellied Slider Trachemys scriptamany (P, M)

Birds

Pied-billed Grebe7 (F, M)
Northern Gannet100 or more moving southward over the ocean -- also circling flocks diving for fish (N, P)
American White Pelican20 including 13 soaring in a blue sky over Lake Mattamuskeet (P, M)
Brown Pelican30 or so along the beach (P, N)
Double-crested Cormorant500 flying to sandbars in the inlet -- many scattered elsewhere (N, P, M)
Great Blue Heron15 (F, P, M)
Great Egret40 around edges of ponds (P, M)
Snowy Egret4 (P)
Little Blue Heron4 including one adult (B)
Tricolored Heron8 (P, B)
White Ibis80 (P, B, M)
Glossy Ibis70 (B, M)
Tundra Swan40 (P), 4000 (M), with few young
Mute Swan4 in two pairs (P)
Snow Goose600 white morphs with 12 blues/heterozygotes (P), 600 of all morphs (about one third white) (M)
Canada Goose350 in scattered groups (F, P, M)
Green-winged Teal300 (M)
American Black Duck80 -- many in pairs (P, M)
Mallard15 (P, M)
Northern Pintail1000 (P), 60000 (M)
Northern Shoveler45 (P, B, M)
Gadwall70 in small groups scattered among flocks of other species
American Wigeon150 (P, M)
Ring-necked Duck30 (P, M)
Bufflehead80 including several males (P)
Hooded Merganser2 males (B)
Ruddy Duck40 (P), 300 (M)
Black Vulture2 (F)
Turkey Vulture40 or more scattered on the mainland
Bald Eagle33 -- a new record including 24 near the catfish ponds south of Roper (F) and 9 (M)
Northern Harrier10 -- all immature (P, M)
Red-tailed Hawk4 (F, M)
American Kestrel5 (M)
Wild Turkey4 females (M)
American Coot4000 in dense flocks (M)
Black-bellied Plover16 (P, N)
Semipalmated Plover10 (P)
Killdeer10 (F, P, M)
American Avocet140 feeding in dense array in South Pond (P)
Greater Yellowlegs70 (P, M)
Lesser Yellowlegs160 (P, M)
Willet25 on the beach (N, P)
Hudsonian Godwit1 with an injured foot but feeding in preparation for a long migration to Argentina (M)
Marbled Godwit45 (P) where they will spend the winter
Red Knot2 on beach on their way to Argentina (N, P)
Sanderling150 on beaches (N, P)
Least Sandpiper1 (M)
Western Sandpiper10 (or Semipalmated Sandpiper) (M)
Dunlin200 (P), 2000 (M) on muddy shorelines where some will spend the winter
Short-billed Dowitcher5 (O) identified by their calls and juvenal tertials, 100 (P, M) either this species of Long-billed Dowitcher which spends the winter along the southeastern coast
Laughing Gull600 (N, P) including many migrating southward over the ocean
Common Black-headed Gull1 flying past the point, a stray from Europe, did not stop for us to look at it (M)
Bonaparte's Gull4 (M)
Ring-billed Gull200 scattered (N, P, M) -- most have yet to arrive for the winter
Herring Gull70 scattered (N, P)
Great Black-backed Gull50 scattered (N, P, M)
Lesser Black-backed Gull1 adult off course from Europe (N)
Caspian Tern2 lingering before heading southward (M)
Royal Tern2 also lingering (P)
Forster's Tern100 (N, P, M)
Rock Pigeonsferal pigeons around highway bridges and piers
Mourning Dovescattered on the coast and inland
Belted Kingfisher5 (M)
Red-bellied Woodpecker2 (F, M)
Hairy Woodpecker1 (M)
Northern Flicker10 scattered (F, P, M)
Pileated Woodpecker1 (M)
Eastern Phoebe6 (M)
Tree Swallow6000 mostly in one big flock near Stumpy Point but also over the lake (M)
Cave Swallow4 wanderers from the Caribbean (P)
Barn Swallow2 late migrants (all others are already in South America!) (P)
American Crowscattered inland
Fish Crow50 (N, M)
Carolina Chickadee4 (M)
Carolina Wren5 (N, P, M)
House Wren2 (M)
Sedge Wrenabout 20 called in short marsh (P)
Marsh Wren2 called in cattail marsh (P)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet2 (M)
Eastern Bluebird1 (B)
American Robin60 (M)
Gray Catbird2 (P)
Northern Mockingbird5 (N, P, M)
European Starlingflocks everywhere!
Blue-headed Vireo1 (M)
Cape May Warbler1 (M)
Yellow-rumped Warbler300 (P, M)
Common Yellowthroat2 (M)
Northern Cardinal2 (M)
Eastern Towhee1 (P)
Song Sparrow4 (N, M)
Swamp Sparrow4 in marshes and beside canals (M)
Red-winged Blackbird20,000, including huge flocks streaming overhead (P, M)
Eastern Meadowlark8 (F, P, M)
Boat-tailed Grackle70 including both males and females (N, P, M)
Common Grackle2000 in streaming flocks
House Finch2 (N)
House Sparrow12 (N)
TOTAL SPECIES98

Mammals

Gray Squirrel1 (M)
Nutria1 (M, where it is an invasive species)
American Black Bear2 females (A)
River Otter1 in the Lake Landing canal remarkably close (M)
White-tailed Deer1 (M)
Bottlenose Dolphin60 or more migrating southward (N)