Date: Friday-Saturday, April 11-12, 2003

Time: left Chapel Hill 1:00 PM, returned 11:00 PM the following day

Route: Friday evening -- North River salt marshes beside US70 north of Beaufort (5:30-7:30 PM);   Saturday morning -- Fort Macon State Park (beach, jetty, and maritime forest, 8:30-11:30 AM);   Saturday afternoon -- Bird Shoals near Beaufort (old dredge spoil, vast intertidal mud flat, 12:15-3:30 PM), Croatan National Forest (Millis Road longleaf pine savanna, 5:00-7:30 PM)

Habitats: salt marsh at high tide following an east wind (Scirpus beds, Spartina patens flats);   beach and jetty at Oregon Inlet; maritime forest in Fort Macon State Park;   sand and pebble dredge spoil mounds; intertidal mud flats;   longleaf pine--wiregrass savanna

Weather: cold drizzle with W wind after hard rains on Friday;   overcast then sunny with a gentle W wind on Saturday;   low tide on April 12 at 10:22 AM (Duke Marine Lab)

GAVIIFORMES
Red-throated Loon	1	in winter-plumage inside Beaufort Inlet
Common Loon	6	inside Beaufort Inlet and in North River, in various plumages from full alternate to full basic
PELICANIFORMES
Northern Gannet	4	adults and one second-year bird inside Beaufort Inlet
Brown Pelican	10	along beach
Double-crested Cormorant	30	scattered at sea and inside the inlet, including one adult at close range with its double crest visible (in preparation for breeding)
CICONIIFORMES
Turkey Vulture	8	scattered
Great Blue Heron	15	including small groups roosting in marshes at Atlantic City
Great Egret	20	scattered
Snowy Egret	4	Atlantic Beach, Carrot Island
Little Blue Heron	1	on Bird Shoal
Tricolored Heron	40	scattered but frequent
Cattle Egret	1	over the North River
Black-crowned Night-Heron	4	flushed from trees beside the parking lot at Fort Macon
White Ibis	20	east of Beaufort with deep scarlet facial skin in preparation for breeding
Glossy Ibis	80	fed in Spartina flats beside the North River and performed spectacular maneuvers in flight as they landed steeply
ANSERIFORMES
Canada Goose	1	in marsh at Atantic City
Mallard	6	North River, Atlantic City
Red-breasted Merganser	1	in Taylor Cut, Beaufort
FALCONIFORMES
Osprey	1	flying over Millis Road in Croatan National Forest (none on the coast!)
Red-tailed Hawk	5	along highways, over Beaufort
American Kestrel	1	between Kinston and New Bern
GRUIFORMES
Clapper Rail	16	about 6 heard (2 flushed) beside the North River, about 8 heard early in Atlantic City
Sora	1	flushed North River
CHARADRIIFORMES
Black-bellied Plover	50	mostly on Bird Shoals but also on the beach -- with up-slurred call
Wilson's Plover	18	including about 8 defending territories (10-20 m diameter) in short Spartina patens on Bird Shoal -- also a nest with two surprisingly large gray-brown eggs dotted with blackish on a sandy spoil mound -- the attending female had a narrower breast aband than the birds defending territories (mostly males?) -- others in very worn basic plumage without signs of molt
Semipalmated Plover	60
Piping Plover	6	or possibly 8 usually on dry sand
American Oystercatcher	18	North River, Fort Macon, Taylor Cut, Bird Shoal -- loud piping calls
Greater Yellowlegs	20	3+ notes per call
Willet	250	including some on territories in salt marshes (calling will-willet) and others in flocks with as many as 40 birds
Whimbrel	25
Marbled Godwit	80	often feeding up to their bellies on Bird Shoal
Ruddy Turnstone	40	including a few in nearly full alternate plumage and lots of molting birds
Sanderling	50	on beach and Bird Shoals -- none showed any signs of alternate plumage
Semipalmated Sandpiper	3	in alternate plumage with rich brown edgings on the back but without a trace of rufous and with shortish bills
Western Sandpiper	30	on mud flats in complete or nearly complete alternate plumage with rufous shading on lateral crown stripes and auriculars, bright rufous scapulars (and sometimes parts of back), and delicate arrow-shaped spots on the breast -- a long way from breeding grounds in Alaska!
Least Sandpiper	100	or more, in wet grassy edges of Bird Shoals
Purple Sandpiper	1	flew past Fort Macon and cut toward the groins at the coast guard station
Dunlin	8,000	or more, mostly on Bird Shoals but also on beaches
Short-billed Dowitcher	100	including many molting into alternate plumage, a few with extensive pinkish-orange below and spotted breasts like subspecies hendersoni from western Canada -- no Long-billed Dowitcher calls heard
Common Snipe	8	flushed from North River marshes
Laughing Gull	500	everywhere -- in full alternate plumage with black heads
Bonaparte's Gull	200	mostly near the jetty at Fort Macon -- including one or two in complete alternate plumage with black heads and a few others molting with partially blackish heads
Ring-billed Gull	100	scattered, often with Laughing Gulls, all in first-winter plumage
Herring Gull	50	scattered, including one first-year bird that joined a prolonged chase after a Laughing Gull carrying an eel (in addition a first-winter Ring-billed Gull and 2-10 other Laughing Gulls joined the chase)
Gull-billed Tern	2	along North River
Royal Tern	200	especially at Fort Macon, all in full breeding plumage with completely black caps
Sandwich Tern	12	including several displaying pairs and many with peach-colored tint on neck and breast in preparation for breeding
Common Tern	20	along North River and at Fort Macon
Forster's Tern	500	in all plumages -- adult breeding, adult winter, first-winter -- but the adults preparing to breed had spectacularly long tails and shining white primaries
Least Tern	2	at Fort Macon jetty
COLUMBIFORMES
Rock Dove	100	scattered in towns and near highway overpasses
Eurasian Collared-Dove	1	Fort Macon -- now spreading in North Carolina after populations of escaped birds spread northward from Florida
Mourning Dove	100	scattered
CORACIIFORMES
Belted Kingfisher	3	scattered
PICIFORMES
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1	crossed the highway
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	in Fort Macon maritime forest
Red-cockaded Woodpecker	-	cavity trees in longleaf pine savannas -- birds gave us the slip!
Northern Flicker	6	Fort Macon, Croatan NF
Pileated Woodpecker	1	calling along Millis Road
PASSERIFORMES
JAY AND CROW FAMILY
Blue Jay	10	scattered -- one with nest material
American Crow	10	inland
Fish Crow	10	near coast
SWALLOW FAMILY
Barn Swallow	10	including two feeding in the rain in North River marshes
Tree Swallow	1	feeding in the rain in North River marshes
TITMOUSE FAMILY
Carolina Chickadee	2	Fort Macon maritime forest
Tufted Titmouse	1	crossed the highway
NUTHATCH FAMILY
Brown-headed Nuthatch	4	small group in longleaf pine savanna
WREN FAMILY
Carolina Wren	10	singing songs that often sounded different from those in Chapel Hill!
THRUSH FAMILY
American Robin	02	scattered everywhere
Eastern Bluebird	20	scattered
MIMIC FAMILY
Northern Mockingbird	10	scattered everywhere
STARLING FAMILY
European Starling	200	scattered, often in small flocks
NEW WORLD NINE-PRIMARIED FAMILIES (WARBLERS THROUGH BLACKBIRDS)
WOOD WARBLER FAMILY
Yellow-rumped Warbler	10	in small groups in tops of longleaf pines -- also beside rest stop in Kinston -- including males in bright plumage
Pine Warbler	8	singing in longleaf pines
Prairie Warbler	2	singing from thickets in Croatan NF
Ovenbird	1	singing from dense understory in Croatan NF
Common Yellowthroat	1	in thickets along a drain in Croatan NF
NEW WORLD SPARROW FAMILY
Eastern Towhee	30	scattered in Fort Macon and Croatan NF -- calls not like those in Chapel Hill
Bachman's Sparrow	4	including three males singing their haunting trills in the longleaf pines and one female that allowed clear views in the scope -- males needed a little prompting with a tape-recording before they would start to sing!
Savannah Sparrow	15	in North River marshes in low Spartina patens flats
sharp-tailed sparrow	1	flushed from isolated Scirpus clumps -- small, short-tailed, somewhat sandy-colored sparrow -- which of the two species could not be determined
Seaside Sparrow	10	in North River marshes in dense Scirpus beds
CARDINAL FAMILY
Northern Cardinal	10	scattered
Painted Bunting	-	neither sight nor sound at several places in Fort Macon State Park
BLACKBIRD AND ORIOLE FAMILY
Red-winged Blackbird	30	scattered, mostly males
Eastern Meadowlark	1	over North River marshes
Boat-tailed Grackle	200	everywhere near the coast, including many singing males
Common Grackle	100	in pairs and small groups, mostly inland
Brown-headed Cowbird	2	a female and displaying male at Fort Macon
FINCH FAMILY
House Finch	40	in towns, singing everywhere
OLD WORLD SPARROW FAMILY
House Sparrow	100	in towns

OTHER THAN BIRDS . . .

Bottlenose Dolphin (Fort Macon), Eastern Cottontail (Fort Macon), Little Grass Frog (insect-like calls in Croatan NF), pufferfish ... cyanobacterial mats, periwinkles, oysters ... also butterworts, dwarf cherries, unidentified Vaccinium, dwarf iris ...

HIGHLIGHTS

Many summer residents and spring migrants had not yet arrived.   Nevertheless, we found an impressive array of shorebirds (sandpipers, plovers, and relatives) migrating early in the season.

In the sunshine with a rising tide, Bird Shoals had thousands of shorebirds from the biggest (Marbled Godwits) to the smallest (Least Sandpiper), from the palest (Piping Plovers) to the brightest (Ruddy Turnstones).   The numbers above indicate only the numbers of birds we got decent looks at -- not thousands more small sandpipers farther down the flat.

In addition, most of the summer gulls and terns cooperated nicely with close looks and even some courtship behavior.

Despite the cold rain, we managed to get glimpses of some of the specialties of salt marshes -- rails, Seaside Sparrows, and Glossy Ibises.

We also saw one endangered species, Piping Plover, and two others that are threatened because of human disturbance to their habitats, Wilson's Plover and Bachman's Sparrow.

We even found, by accident, a Wilson's Plover's nest with the egg-laying half completed.   After a quick look, we left it alone with our best wishes.

In the long-leaf pine savannas along Millis Road in Croatan National Forest, we missed seeing the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, but we saw their active cavity trees.

After just a little prompting with a tape-recording, the Bachman's Sparrows serenaded us during dinner.   One female patiently allowed us to inspect all of her (rather unimpressive) field marks!