Spring has arrived!

This is my first spring in North Carolina since 2003 (long before I started birding) and boy am I excited!

Spring!

It is, of course, the time of year for finding singing spring migrants sporting their best breeding plumage, but also the time of semester when school work piles up at an alarming rate.  I have been lucky to be able to steal myself from the office for a few mornings to get outside and see what's around.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Last weekend I went out to Butner Game Lands with Robert Meehan and Mark Kosiewski.  Along Brickhouse Road trails we found all sorts of spring migrants.  The place was littered with Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.

The best bird was probably a Northern Waterthrush, one of nine warblers we found. 

More surprising than the new arrivals were the amount of singing winter species that still lingered.  We heard two Hermit Thrushes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets singing away and watched a Sharp-shinned Hawk just miss nabbing a Morning Dove.

We ended our morning at Flat River where we found a couple Green Herons and a Palm Warbler to make it an round 10-warbler day for a total of 67 species.

Six species turned out to be birds I had not previously reported seeing in Durham County.  This was partly due to sloppy reporting in the past.  All this birding with Matt Daw and Robert Meehan has made me focus more on county lists.  My 136 Durham species puts me at 6th on the ebirder rankings; more birders really need to get on the ebirding boat! 

Kentucky Warbler

Yesterday I went out birding, again with Robert Meehan and Mark Kosiewski, but this time on a longer trip to Howell Woods in Johnston County.  We were hoping to find a Swainson's Warbler, which Norm Budnitz had reported seeing at this spot a few days ago.  Unfortunately by the time Robert and I were able to talk to Norm about more specific instructions we were already on our way home.  Mark, who had gotten a later start and stuck around for a bit more afternoon birding, was able to see the bird where Norm had indicated. 


Dang!  Another missed opportunity to see a life bird.  Robert is still cutting himself over the miss, but it really shouldn't take anything away from what was a phenomenal morning for birds.  We found 14 warblers, best of which was a Kentucky Warbler that sang in the open for great views.

Loggerhead Shrike

In fact by the time we sat down for lunch there were very few boxes left on our checklist to tick and we had one write-in species, a Common Raven that we saw being chased by a couple American Crows.  We also found several Loggerhead Shrikes (NC bird #248!) perched on power lines along the road coming in.  Shrikes have been declining over recent decades to the point of relative scarcity and this species had eluded me all winter. 

Me and Robert ended the day stuck on 79 species; one Swainson's Warbler away from essentially what would have been perfect day (15 warblers; 80 species; a life tick).  Instead we had to settle for merely an excellent day.

Meanwhile every serious birder in the state has been flocking to the South Carolina border to see the state's first record of a Cassin's Sparrow.  It's hard for me though to justify the time and gas consumption (it's a 3.5 hour round trip from Durham) required to go see what is such a classic example of a Little Brown Job (LBJ).  And as far as I know there wouldn't be much else to do or see nearby, so it would be a full "chase" with a miss representing a total failure and waste.  That said if anybody from Durham is going and wants to carpool, let me know!

Prothonotary Warbler

My next scheduled birding activity is a bird count I'm organizing for the Duke Wetland Center's SWAMP this coming Wednesday.  In scouting the area a few days ago I found a couple singing Prothonotary Warblers, a new species for the SWAMP list!  I also saw a pair of Eastern Kingbirds and a House Wren, two species I had not personally found at this site in the past.  Hopefully more bird milestones will come for SWAMP this wednesday.