10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2011

If the state of North Carolina is known for one thing in the greater birding world, it’s what goes on off of its central coast. But to the species that inhabit this place, well, let’s just say the old adage to “look beneath the surface&# has a very literal meaning. On land, that is.

North Carolina 160

North Carolina North America Fish America 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Now, this is a bird species that is declining, and the eight we saw made up twice the total number of Red-headed Woodpeckers I have ever seen before my day on the Backcountry Trail. I missed many of them during spring migration when I lived in North Carolina, and didn’t see too many when I visited Maine at the beginning of June.

Alabama 150

Alabama Bald Eagle North Carolina Woodpeckers 150

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2015

(I checked Scissor-tailed Flycatcher as well and the same held, although that species did have a handful of summer records that the kingbirds lacked.). You do, however, see them in January in places like Florida and North Carolina. Images courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Obviously, one year cannot tell us.

New York 182

New York North Carolina Florida Fish 182

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Every part of the world has it’s suite of parking lot staples, those urbanish species that seem to prefer to linger about humanity subsisting in no small amount to the magnanimity, or more likely the laziness, of humankind. Here in the non-Floridian Southeast we have sparrows and starlings and pigeons.

North Carolina 184

North Carolina Fast Food Sparrows Birds 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2012

My route is full of this I, of course, cannot be made to take the blame for either of these unfortunate “incidences” For the first, I blame the North Carolina Department of Transportation. 49 species in 9.5 Hardwood forest, some openings. I mean, really. That and the moral reprehensiveness of slavery.

North Carolina 156

North Carolina Transported Morals Science 156

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2012

One of the more exciting birds this summer in this little corner of North Carolina is undoubtedly the King Rail s that have been regularly reported in a still-water back-arm of Jordan Lake in Chatham County, just south of where I live. The two species I’ve heard but never seen.

Jordan 167

Jordan North Carolina Broker Woodpeckers 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2014

The Anchorage area hosts a number of far norther species I could never hope to see in North Carolina, and I quickly pulled together a list of targets and my friends made a plan. I’m not sure what I expected when I finally got a look at Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska.

Alaska 167

Alaska Bears Grizzly Bear North Carolina 167

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

I’m used to Willow Flycatchers along the coast in New York, and I had been led to believe that Acadian Flycatchers are common at Henlopen but I never heard nor saw either species all weekend long. The marsh birds more than made up for the puzzling lack of Empidonax though!

Delaware 173

Delaware New York Birds North Carolina 173

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2011

Off the coast of North Carolina, and indeed anywhere in the southeastern United States, the surface is broken up with vast expanses of sargassum and gulfweed, species of brown algae that floats on the water in great aggregations looking like nothing so much as a perfectly manicured lawn.

United States 157

United States North Carolina Fish North America 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2011

Many winter in Florida, admittedly something of a freak state when it comes to overwintering passerines, but a few Orioles can be found up the coast as far north as North Carolina, and the odd bird finds its way into the Piedmont, the part of the state, well inland mind you, where I live. But how does the apply to Orioles?

North Carolina 140

North Carolina 2011 St. Louis Baltimore 140

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

The road was lined with scrub and short trees, and I spotted not one but two new sparrow species. White-crowned Sparrows are possible winter sightings where I live in North Carolina, but not at all common, while Savannah Sparrows has been one of my nemesis birds for quite some time. A line of Surf Scoters near the beach.

Seals 184

Seals Elephants Whales Whaling 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2013

Over the past two weeks, an incursion of Snowy Owls ( Bubo scandiacus ) has spread rapidly across the Great Lakes region and down the Atlantic Coast, as far south as North Carolina. This new analysis again suggested that Snowy Owls (and the fascinating fish-owls ) are embedded within the eagle-owl complex. Banks et al.

Owls 169

Owls Indonesia 2002 North Carolina 169

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

The chapter “Horseshoe Crabs” illustrates why this is THE keystone species of the Delaware Bay. One bird, the authors discovered, flew 5,000 miles nonstop from southern Brazil to North Carolina. Most articles on the Delaware Bay focus on horseshoe crabs and Red Knots.

Delaware 179

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 179

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

There were ten students in total that had signed up for the spring break “Seabirds” course in Dry Tortugas National Park, and after long drives down from North Carolina we had all made it right on time. Though we were a month early for the true migration period, the chances of me seeing life birds on this trip were very high.

Birds 177

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 177

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2015

My friend Paul Taillie and I had to meet an intrepid bunch of birders for the inaugural Outer Banks Big Day field trip at the Wings Over Water festival in eastern North Carolina. We were setting the bar for what someone hitting all the good spots on North Carolina’s famous barrier islands could reasonably accomplish.

North Carolina 150

North Carolina Rattlesnake Sparrows Owls 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2013

Recently a baby was born in North Carolina with Trisomy 13, a chromosomal abnormality so severe most carriers die at birth. No buying invasive fish from the pet store and tossing them into a pond, where they will grow into behemoths and devour the native species. It just needn’t be at the cost of another’s life.

Wildlife 253

Wildlife Agenda North Carolina Raised 253

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

I realize this beat of mine is supposed to have a southeastern bent, and the Ruddy Turnstone is a fairly common seaside dweller on both sides of the North American continent. In fact, it’s one of the few species of birds that’s found on the six major, not ice-covered, continents.

Agenda 158

Agenda North Carolina Ducks Groups 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2018

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has published a list of NWRs that have been created or expanded with Duck Stamp funds. as to number of species). Aransas NWR (368 species and 42.7% Pea Island NWR (North Carolina): 99.2%. How important are 10,000 or 100,000 or even 1,000,000 acres and where are those acres anyhow?

Ducks 203

Ducks Wildlife Texas Hawaii 203