Weather

• November 5:   partly cloudy, light wind, 50's
• November 6:   brief drizzle and rain early and late, partly cloudy, wind N 10 knots
• November 7:   sunny, wind NW 15 knots
• Drivers and helpers: Rob Aldredge, Allen Hurlbert, Karl Fetter, Minna Wiley

Some highlights and notes ...

• Beyond Plymouth we found 18 Bald Eagles hanging around pisciculture ponds.   Some 1500 Tree Swallows had congregated there also.   Many perched at equal intervals along power lines, a demonstration of the predictable "individual distance" characteristic of many species.

• Becasue DST did not end this year until Saturday night, we arrived at Alligator River NWR with an extra hour of light!   The impoundments were mostly dry, but we had great looks at two American Kestrels.   Then about 6:15 at the corner of Grouse Road, we saw a juvenile Black Bear scamper down the road and soon after spotted a female with two small cubs in the dusk.   Woodcocks and a Short-eared Owl also appeared at dusk.

• Wintering waterfowl (Anseriformes) make the national wildlife refuges in northeastern NC famous.   We found 17 species altogether -- 2 species of geese, 1 species of swan, and 14 species of ducks (8 up-enders, 6 divers).

• The unusually warm weather during the preceding month perhaps explained the presence of two sandpiper relatives that migrate to southern South America, the scarce Hudsonian Godwit) and the Pectoral Sandpiper.   The Marbled Godwit, in contrast, stays here for the winter.   The two big gull relatives, the Royal Tern and the Caspian Tern, migrate to the Caribbean and northern South America, but we found several of each lingering before departure.

• We also had opportunities to study the coloration of the plumages of different ages of each of four species of gulls that spend the winter on the NC coast.

• Other highlights at Pea Island included a hunting Peregrine and later a hunting Merlin, good looks at American White Pelicans, over 120 American Avocets (all asleep or preening so we had little chance to study their unusual bills or how they used them), flocks of Snow Geese (all "snow" morphs), and many species of both up-ending and diving ducks.

• Another special treat was the steady stream of Northern Gannets migrating southward on Saturday morning past the Sea Foam Motel at Nags Head.   The gulls on the beach included a Lesser Black-backed Gull (a scarce visitor off-course from Europe) on Saturday and three of this species on Sunday.   On the other hand, very few sea ducks and no loons were migrating this weekend.

• Near Lake Mattamuskeet, we discovered a huge flock of Tree Swallows apparently just enjoying the breeze above the town of Engelhard.   Soon after, we encountered enormous flocks of Snow Geese flying overhead on their way back to the lake after early-morning feeding in fields to the southeast.   These flocks (unlike smaller groups at Pea Island on Saturday) consisted of mostly "blue" morphs with scattered "snow" morphs and "heterozygotes".

• Although stymied by the road closed for replacement of a small bridge, this interruption gave us a chance to study a flock of wintering warblers and woodpeckers.   Among the numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers, we found some scarce wintering birds: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, House Wren.   We also had great looks at Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and two Pileated Woodpeckers feasting on wild grapes high in the trees.

• Finally we had great looks at adult (and nearly adult) Bald Eagles and Ospreys along the canal near the closed road.   Altogether we saw 26 Bald Eagles, almost a record for a November field trip.

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 or over the ocean)
• B = Bodie Island Pond
• O = Oregon Inlet (jetty and nearby beach and dunes)
• M = Mattamuskeet NWR

Please send additions/corrections to Haven Wiley

Birds

	Snow Goose	100 "snow" morphs with only 7 young (P), 5000 mixed morphs overhead (M)
	Canada Goose	500 in scattered groups (F, A, M)
	Tundra Swan	5 (A), 100 (P), 500 (M), with very few young
	Wood Duck	1 male on the way to Mattamuskeet
	Gadwall	300 in small groups scattered among flocks of other species (B, A, M
	American Wigeon	2000 (P, B, M)
	American Black Duck	200 including many in pairs (P, B, M)
	Mallard	8 (P, B)
	Northern Shoveler	20 -- no males in full alternate plumage (P, B)
	Northern Pintail	1000 (P, B), 4000 (M)
	Green-winged Teal	200 (P, B)
	Redhead	2 -- male and female (P)
	Lesser Scaup	3 females (P)
	Black Scoter	60 in flocks flying southward over the ovean (N)
	Bufflehead	10 including 2 adult males (P)
	Hooded Merganser	4 including one adult male (P)
	Ruddy Duck	200 (F, P, M)
	Pied-billed Grebe	75 (P, B, M)
	Northern Gannet	800 migrating southward over the ocean (N, P)
	American White Pelican	12 including one feeding (P)
	Brown Pelican	120 or so along the beach and on ponds (N, P)
	Double-crested Cormorant	200 scattered (N, P, M)
	American Bittern	1 flushed from a marshy spot near the inlet (P)
	Great Blue Heron	16 (F, P, M)
	Great Egret	200 (F, P, B, M)
	Snowy Egret	2 (P)
	Tricolored Heron	5 (P, B)
	Cattle Egret	3 late migrants) (B, M) -- an invasive species common in summer
	White Ibis	60 (A, P, B)
	Glossy Ibis	1 (P)
	Black Vulture	6 allowed close study at a road kill (M)
	Turkey Vulture	80 scattered on the mainland
	Osprey	7 late migrants (F, P, M)
	Bald Eagle	26 including 18 (F) and 8 (M)
	Northern Harrier	10, all immature except one adult female (P, M)
	Sharp-shinned Hawk	2 soaring overhead (M)
	Cooper's Hawk	1 (M)
	Red-shouldered Hawk	2 crossing the highway (M)
	Red-tailed Hawk	12 (F, A, M)
	American Kestrel	12 including two in the scopes (A, M)
	Merlin	2 hunting along dunes and beside pond (N, P)
	Peregrine	1 hunting over marsh and pond (P)
	Common Moorhen	1 in a weedy ditch (M)
	American Coot	3000 in dense flocks, harrassed by Great Black-backed Gulls (P, M)
	Black-bellied Plover	8 (N)
	Semipalmated Plover	1 on the beach (P)
	Killdeer	35 (B, M)
	American Avocet	150 mostly asleep (P)
	Greater Yellowlegs	20 (P)
	Willet	25 on the beach (N, P)
	Hudsonian Godwit	1 near but not with the Marbled Godwits -- scarce migrant (P)
	Marbled Godwit	3 (P)
	Sanderling	20 on beaches (N, B)
	Pectoral Sandpiper	1 in a wet grassy area at Oregon Inlest Fishing Center -- late migrant (B)
	Dunlin	100 (N, P)
	dowitcher species	10 probably the Long-billed Dowitcher which occurs during winter (B)
	Wilson's Snipe	2 -- great looks at a normally secretive species (B)
	American Woodcock	2 flying from the woods at dusk (A)
	Bonaparte's Gull	2 (M)
	Laughing Gull	250 on the beach and migrating southward (N, P)
	Ring-billed Gull	150 mostly along the beach (N, P, B, M)
	Herring Gull	100 scattered and roosting near Oregon Inlet (N, P, B)
	Lesser Black-backed Gull	3 -- 2 adult, 1 first-winter, strays from Europe (N)
	Great Black-backed Gull	150 -- scattered and roosting near Oregon Inlet (N, B, P, M)
	Caspian Tern	3 lingering before migrating south (M)
	Forster's Tern	40 (F, N, P, M)
	Royal Tern	10 lingering on the coast before migrating south (N, P)
	Rock Pigeon	100 or more feral pigeons around highway bridges and piers
	Mourning Dove	30 scattered on the coast and inland
	Great Horned Owl	1 (A)
	Short-eared Owl	1 at dusk (A)
	Belted Kingfisher	4 (F, P, M)
	Red-headed Woodpecker	1 on dead trees in a beaver pond east of Raleigh on our return trip
	Red-bellied Woodpecker	5 (F, M)
	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	2, also several trees girdled by their holes (M)
	Downy Woodpecker	2 (M)
	Northern Flicker	25 including 8 in one flock at Mattamuskeet (A, P, M)
	Pileated Woodpecker	4 including two feeding on wild grapes (A, M)
	Eastern Phoebe	2 (F, M)
	Blue Jay	1 (F)
	American Crow	30 scattered inland (F, M)
	Fish Crow	100 (N, M)
	Tree Swallow	12000 including large flocks at a fish pond near Creswell and in Engelhard (F, A, P, M)
	Carolina Chickadee	4 (M)
	Tufted Titmouse	3 (M)
	Carolina Wren	2 (M)
	House Wren	5 -- scarce in winter on the outer coastal plain (M)
	Marsh Wren	2 in cattails (B)
	Golden-crowned Kinglet	2 (M)
	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	6 (M)
	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	2 -- another scarce species on the outer coastal plain in winter (M)
	Eastern Bluebird	25 on power lines (F, M)
	American Robin	200 -- common in pocosins in winter (A, M)
	Gray Catbird	1 (A)
	Northern Mockingbird	5 (P, M)
	European Starling	400 in small flocks everywhere! -- an invasive species originally from Europe
	Orange-crowned Warbler	1 with a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers (M) -- scarce in NC
	Yellow-rumped Warbler	350 including a big flock in trees near Lake Mattamuskeet (A, B, M)
	Palm Warbler	3 (B, M)
	Common Yellowthroat	1 in thickets beside a canal (A)
	Savannah Sparrow	1 on grassy dunes beside the road (P)
	Song Sparrow	10 (A, M)
	Swamp Sparrow	8 in thickets beside canals (A, M)
	White-throated Sparrow	6 including one that sang once! (A, M)
	Dark-eyed Junco	3 (A)
	Northern Cardinal	10 (M)
	Red-winged Blackbird	300 in several large flocks (F, P, M)
	Eastern Meadowlark	15 (A, P)
	Common Grackle	100 mostly in one flock (A, M)
	Boat-tailed Grackle	300 on the beach and around ponds, both males and females (N, P)
	Brown-headed Cowbird	20 (F)
	House Finch	3 (N)
	House Sparrow	10 (F, N)
	TOTAL SPECIES	113

Amphibia

Reptilia

Mammals