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December 1, 2002 was a beautiful sunny day
with moderate temperatures but strong winds
as we drove north on Route 264 around the
eastern edge of Alligator River National
Wildlife Refuge on our way to the Outer Banks,
North Carolina. Stumpy Point is about half
way up the eastern side and is worth a drive
out SR1100 to the end of the road where you
can scan Stumpy Point Bay for shorebirds
and sea ducks. The wind was so strong when
we were there the first time that we only
saw white caps!
Northern Gannets |
We set up at a comfortable condo in Kitty
Hawk with room for my brother Winger from
Maryland and friends Walt and Nancy Childs
from Virginia and used this as a base for
daily field trips along the coast and to
Mattamuskeet NWR.
By December 2, the weather had turned colder
but the winds still allowed birding. From
the window of the condo we scoped a Merlin
on a neighboring antenna. We saw several
more as we birded the coast. We birded south
to Bodie Island (pronounced BAH-dee) the
first day with a stop at Nags Head Fishing
Pier, the only one open at this time of year.
With the cold and strong winds, we had a
hard time identifying the few flocks of sea
ducks moving south far out to sea. We did
find Horned Grebe nearer shore and flocks
of Black Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers
flying by with many Brown Pelicans and Northern
Gannets. We spent some time watching ducks
at the Bodie Island Light where there is
an observation platform. Here we saw our
first of many Tundra Swans, American Wigeon,
Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, American
Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler,
Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Tricolored, Little
Blue, and Great Blue Heron, Snowy and Great
Egret, White and Glossy Ibis, Pied-billed
Grebe, American Coot, Greater Yellowlegs,
Long-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, Killdeer,
Great Black-backed, Ring-billed, and Bonaparte’s
Gull, Forster’s Tern, Tree Swallow, Yellow-rumped
and Palm Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, and
Eastern Meadowlark. Twice we saw a small
wren dart across the board walk but could
not tell if it was a Sedge or Marsh Wren.
Boat-tailed and Common Grackles were everywhere
we went.
Before leaving Green Valley, I had contacted
Susan Campbell, North Carolina hummingbird
bander, and asked if we could spend some
time with her as she banded overwintering
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds on the Outer Banks.
Having banded about 5,000 hummingbirds in
Arizona and never seeing or handling a single
Ruby-throat, I wanted to see some in the
hand. With over 400 Black-chinned Hummingbirds
banded per year in our two sites, I am always
suspicious that one of these will turn out
to be a Ruby-throat as they are in the same
genus (Archilochus) and have similar characteristics. We met
Susan on Monday morning
and she gave us a
run-down of her challenge
to document the
movement and especially
the strong site fidelity
of the wintering population
of these birds.
This must be the farthest
north regular overwintering
site for hummingbirds in
North America.
Susan operates by receiving reports from
local folks that they have a bird at their
feeder and encourage her to come and check
it out. Armed with a cage drop-door trap,
she goes from house to house throughout the
islands of the Outer Banks catching, banding,
and processing hummingbirds. We went with
her to a house in Kitty Hawk, set up one
of my Hall traps, and waited in the bitter
cold and wind for about one hour before a
bird came in, inspected the situation, and
left. After another 10 minutes, it returned
and we made the capture. This was a bird
she had banded the year before at the same
place. We then went to another house nearby
and repeated the process with her cage trap.
She caught a young male here. This whole
process is so different than what we experience
in southeastern Arizona where we have literally
thousands of hummingbirds in an area and
we only are able to trap and mark a small
fraction of them – and we usually are working
in our shirt-sleeves instead of wrapped up
in a parka with a wool hat and gloves! We
admired Susan’s dedication and perseverance
and look forward to seeing the results of
her hard work.
Over the next four days we birded the islands
of the Outer Banks and made a trip to Lake
Mattamuskeet NWR, only 60 miles southwest
of Nags Head. We drove south on Route 264
and then west along the southern edge of
the refuge to the visitor center. The best
birding was along a short stretch of dirt
road running from the visitor center northwest
to the causeway that runs north across the
middle of Lake Mattamuskeet. Along this route,
in addition to the swans, ducks, geese, and
other water-related birds, we found Turkey
and Black Vulture, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier,
Cooper’s and Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove,
Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied, Downy, and
Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay,
American Crow, American Robin, Gray Catbird,
Northern Mockingbird, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned
and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Carolina Chickadee,
Tufted Titmouse, Orange-crowned, Nashville,
Yellow-rumped, Pine, and Palm Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat, Song, Swamp, White-throated,
and Savannah Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Eastern
Towhee, Northern Cardinal, and Eastern Meadowlark.
As we drove on the causeway north across
the lake, we estimated that we could see
about 20,000 Tundra Swans – and this was
confirmed by biologists at the visitor center.
Also on the shallow lake were Pied-billed
Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Ruddy Duck,
Snow Goose, Canada Goose, American Wigeon,
Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, American
Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged
Teal, Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked
Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Hooded and
Red-breasted Merganser, Tricolored and Great
Blue Heron, Snowy and Great Egret, White
Ibis, American Coot, Least Sandpiper, Ring-billed,
Great Black-backed, Herring, and Laughing
Gull.
Tundra Swans and Great Black-backed Gulls |
On our way back, we stopped at the northern
section of Alligator NWR. Alligator River
NWR is a complex of farm fields and forests,
gamelands, and a bombing range, mostly accessible
by well-maintained dirt roads. The northern
section of fields and woods south of Route
64 is probably the most productive at this
time of year for raptors that search for
rodents in the grain fields planted by USF&W.
We saw mostly American Kestrels, Red-tailed
Hawks, and Northern Harriers here along with
occasional Red-shouldered Hawks – and a beautiful
Black Bear!
Back on the Outer Banks we birded from Corolla
(pronounced ca-RAH-la)
south to Cape Hatteras
with rain and strong north
winds and cold
temperatures daily. The
storm that hit western
North Carolina and took
out power to many
people in the first week
of December narrowly
missed the Outer Banks
as it moved north
and east above us. However,
birding along
the beaches and sand dunes
reminded me of
birding in winter on the
Homer Spit, Alaska
– huddled in a parka and
rain gear, gloves
and warm hat, struggling
to get decent views
of distant birds through
the shaking spotting
scope.
Cape Hatteras Light |
We stopped at each of the fishing piers along
the way but as all were closed except Nags
Head, only could bird from the beach or side
of the base of the pier. There are public
accesses to the beach every mile or so along
the frontage roads and we checked for birds
at many of these. Shorebirds on the beach
were relatively few – mostly Sanderlings
with Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover,
Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, and a few Red Knots.
We found a nice winter adult Lesser Black-backed
Gull that allowed detailed views – and hundreds
of Great Black-backed Gulls with the common
Ring-bills and Laughing Gulls. We had hoped
to find Little Gull among the Bonaparte’s
but there were few of the latter and none
of the former.
Great Black-backed Gull |
With the wind at our backs, we were able
to bird the North Pond of Pea Island NWR
and then after the wind subsided, New Field
and South Pond from the causeway. In addition
to all of the above, we found an unusual
10 American White Pelicans, Black-crowned
Night-Heron, Long-tailed Duck, large flocks
of American Avocets, two Short-eared Owls,
Fish Crow, and Lincoln’s Sparrow. Birding
along the shore and around the Bodie and
Hatteras Lighthouses added Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Red-throated Loon, Eastern Bluebird,
Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, and Field Sparrow.
We birded Currituck Beach Lighthouse area
with its nice board walk and the Nature Conservancy
Tract just north of the lighthouse, also
with a long boardwalk. We added Wood Duck,
Winter Wren, and American Goldfinch. At Buxton
Woods in Cape Hatteras we found Blue-headed
Vireo and Ovenbird. Altogether our list was
119 species which we did not consider bad
considering the cold, wind, rain, and time
of year.
Currituck Beach Lighthouse - Corolla, NC |
LOGISTICS
Before heading to the Outer Banks, get a
copy of John Fussell’s book, A Birder’s Guide to Coastal North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
This guide provides detailed
accounts of
all of the best birding
spots all along the
coast of North Carolina,
an annotated list
of species, a chart of
seasonal occurrence,
and many maps. The only
criticisms I can
offer relates to the maps
and length of the
text. There seems to be
no map of the overall
area covered with a quick
way to locate major
birding areas in the text
from an area-wide
map. Also the detailed
maps are not adjacent
to the text describing
the birding areas.
If Mr. Fussell were to
do an update of this
book, I would suggest he
contact the American
Birding Association and
have their map-makers
and editors offer guidance
and their expertise
on producing bird-finding
guides.
The local birders on the Outer Banks are
very personable and helpful. Stop in to the
Outer Banks Birdwatchers, Inc. store at milepost 15.5 of the main highway
through Nags Head and talk to Skip and Linda
Morgan. They maintain a list of recent sightings
and can direct you to others who lead trips
in the area. You can e-mail them at: tlmorgan@inteliport.com.
Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, and the whole Outer
Banks road system is clogged with tourists
and summer residents in the warmer parts
of the year. Winter may be the best time
to visit here – most of the stores and restaurants
are open and the roads are not overly crowded.
There is a new visitor center opening at
the Wright Brothers Memorial well worth a
visit and there are visitor centers at the
Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras Lights as
well. You will certainly find more bird species
from spring through fall, but more people
on the beach and on the road.
For a guide to take you around the Matamuskeet
Lake NWR, contact: Mattamuskeet Wildlife
Tours in Swanquarter, NC., e-mail: keldavis@beachlink.com.
Kelly Davis has a 15 passenger van that comfortably
seats 10 birders with gear and offers customized
tours and tour lengths. She can access refuge
areas normally closed to vehicles. The most
spectacular viewing at Mattamuskeet is from
mid November until mid February.
On the internet, sign on to: http://www.outerbanks.com/birding/ for more information and links to specific
sites.
Birding the Dunes on Pea Island |
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