Waterfowl surveys found ~198,000 ducks, geese and swans this year down from ~350,000 a year ago. Read my Bird in a Changing World blog to find out why: Water Quality Consequences for Mattamuskeet Mega-flocks
Showing posts with label Mattamuskeet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mattamuskeet. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks have been showing up all over the place recently, with brief appearances in each of North Carolina's three physiographic regions: mountains, piedmont and coastal plain, as well as northern outliers turning up Massachusetts and New Brunswick all in the last several weeks. So on the one hand, a record of this species at Mattamuskeet is probably long over due. Yet prior to 2013 there were only two formally confirmed North Carolina occurrences, so the pair I stumbled upon on Monday is certainly worth some excited documentation.
It all began innocently enough. With the recent discovery of White-faced Ibises hanging around the refuge (see this post and this post) I have been giving any Glossy Ibises I see a second look if I get the chance. The long days of late June meant that after 13 hours of field work there was still plenty of daylight and I somehow had the energy to scrutinize some distant ibises.
I picked out a couple young of the year glossies showing some odd white markings on the neck and crown, which I've never before seen in photos of field guides.
I stopped as I was driving out and hopped out of my car planning to scope some distant ibis when I noticed this cute pair of ducks right in front of me.
The provenance question always comes up with vagrant duck species. This pair shuffled away from me, but didn't take immediate flight, which gave me some decent photographic opportunities.
They dabbled among the marsh plants (looks like the invasive Alligator Weed) a bit.
They seemed to be quite at home among the other impoundment denizens.
They eventually began to preen.
I'm not sure what to make of this 'dance.'
After about 30 minutes the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks abruptly picked up. I followed them with binoculars and then switched to my scope until they became just wiggling dots against the sky that disappeared below the horizon to the south-southeast. I thought that perhaps they might have resettled in one of the refuge impoundments in that direction, but a half-hearted search the following day failed to turn any up. It seems like these ducks do not frequently linger after being found.
In between shots of the Whistling-Ducks, I noticed a male Northern Pintail that had foregone the standard northern migration. He was keeping company with what appears to be a female Mottled Duck, another southern duck species with a complicated local history of anthropogenic introduction and showing a trend of northward expansion.
All at once I've got two species of duck that could possibly be considered first records for Hyde County if the authorities can stomach provenance concerns.
What will turn up at Mattamuskeet next? Perhaps a Purple Gallinule? There have been plenty of those turning up in NC lately, but it would take a good bit of luck to discover one among the sprawl of habitat available on the refuge.
Until next time...
It all began innocently enough. With the recent discovery of White-faced Ibises hanging around the refuge (see this post and this post) I have been giving any Glossy Ibises I see a second look if I get the chance. The long days of late June meant that after 13 hours of field work there was still plenty of daylight and I somehow had the energy to scrutinize some distant ibises.
I picked out a couple young of the year glossies showing some odd white markings on the neck and crown, which I've never before seen in photos of field guides.
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| freshly fledged Glossy Ibis, Mattamuskeet NWR |
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| Glossy Ibis, Mattamuskeet NWR |
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge |
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| Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Mattamuskeet NWR |
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks Mattamuskeet, NWR |
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Mattamuskeet NWR |
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks with Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis |
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mattamuskeet NWR |
After about 30 minutes the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks abruptly picked up. I followed them with binoculars and then switched to my scope until they became just wiggling dots against the sky that disappeared below the horizon to the south-southeast. I thought that perhaps they might have resettled in one of the refuge impoundments in that direction, but a half-hearted search the following day failed to turn any up. It seems like these ducks do not frequently linger after being found.
In between shots of the Whistling-Ducks, I noticed a male Northern Pintail that had foregone the standard northern migration. He was keeping company with what appears to be a female Mottled Duck, another southern duck species with a complicated local history of anthropogenic introduction and showing a trend of northward expansion.
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| female Mottled Duck (right) with Northern Pintail, Mattamuskeet NWR |
What will turn up at Mattamuskeet next? Perhaps a Purple Gallinule? There have been plenty of those turning up in NC lately, but it would take a good bit of luck to discover one among the sprawl of habitat available on the refuge.
Until next time...
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
More White-faced Ibises at Mattamuskeet NWR
Last winter when I stumbled upon an immature White-faced Ibis at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge it represented what would become just the third accepted record for this species in North Carolina.
Well now it appears if this bird may be (or have recently become?) an annual visitor to the refuge as I came across four White-faced in a flock of more than 100 Glossies last week.
I first picked out a couple immature birds among a dense flock of glossies, but then after they took flight briefly I noticed a couple adults settle down apart from the group...perhaps a pair bond?
This begs the question: for how long have White-faced Ibises been visiting Mattamuskeet without being detected?
The refuge is relatively isolated and receives few birders outside of its world-famous winter waterfowl season. Because it is so vast, when birders do make the pilgrimage they rarely have the chance to check every every corner of each impoundment (not to mention the many areas that are inaccessible). It also takes a good close look at the face to tell Glossy and White-faced Ibises apart; I've been lucky with cooperative flocks in that regard.
Who knows how long they'll stick around, but I will say that with or without rare ibises, spring is a fun and underrated time to bird Mattamuskeet.
By late April most of the waterfowl have departed except a few transient dabbler flocks, the most abundant being the handsome Blue-winged Teal, which are probably stopping en route from South America.
Spring at the refuge also provides the rare opportunity to see some shorebirds in breeding plumage. I had to stop and try some quick digiscoping when I saw a flock of 140 dowitchers, but just when I was getting my first few captures, they took flight.
The cause for alarm turned out to be a prowling Peregrine Falcon, which I watched take a couple unsuccessful stoops at a Forster's Tern.
Sadly my days of field work at Mattamuskeet will be coming to an end before too long and that will be goodbye to a lot of exciting bird life. I can only hope some other rarity will magically appear in the meantime--perhaps a Garganey or Fulvous Whistling-Duck--wouldn't that be nice!
Well now it appears if this bird may be (or have recently become?) an annual visitor to the refuge as I came across four White-faced in a flock of more than 100 Glossies last week.
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| White-faced Ibises, Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge |
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| Can you find the White-faced Ibis in this scrum? |
This begs the question: for how long have White-faced Ibises been visiting Mattamuskeet without being detected?
The refuge is relatively isolated and receives few birders outside of its world-famous winter waterfowl season. Because it is so vast, when birders do make the pilgrimage they rarely have the chance to check every every corner of each impoundment (not to mention the many areas that are inaccessible). It also takes a good close look at the face to tell Glossy and White-faced Ibises apart; I've been lucky with cooperative flocks in that regard.
Who knows how long they'll stick around, but I will say that with or without rare ibises, spring is a fun and underrated time to bird Mattamuskeet.
By late April most of the waterfowl have departed except a few transient dabbler flocks, the most abundant being the handsome Blue-winged Teal, which are probably stopping en route from South America.
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| Blue-winged Teal, Mattamuskeet NWR |
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| Long-billed Dowitchers, Mattamuskeet NWR |
Sadly my days of field work at Mattamuskeet will be coming to an end before too long and that will be goodbye to a lot of exciting bird life. I can only hope some other rarity will magically appear in the meantime--perhaps a Garganey or Fulvous Whistling-Duck--wouldn't that be nice!
Monday, February 25, 2013
North Carolina's third record of White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)
Prudence dictates that I should put a question mark at the end of this post title, especially with a tough ID call like this...
...but tell me this isn't a White-faced Ibis.
The red eye and pink facial skin is glaring.
The suspect was hanging out in a flooded field at the east end of Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde Co., NC in the company of about a dozen Glossy Ibises. While superficially very similar (and apparently there is integradation between these species), in a scope from ~50 yards this bird stood out.
Put the head away for a second and look at the leg color for example... pinkish-red on the White-faced and a cold gray on the Glossies.
Also the White-faced Ibis seemed to have slightly lighter-colored plumage and I noticed more tones of fuschia than in the darker Glossies.
This was pronounced enough so that even with the heads hidden you can tell which is the odd bird out (and which is the Boat-tailed Grackle).
So I think I'll have to fill out some paperwork on this one for the NC Bird Records Committee. Luckily the area where it was found opens up to the public for the season starting the Friday, so maybe some others will be able to see it.
...but tell me this isn't a White-faced Ibis.
The red eye and pink facial skin is glaring.
Also the White-faced Ibis seemed to have slightly lighter-colored plumage and I noticed more tones of fuschia than in the darker Glossies.
This was pronounced enough so that even with the heads hidden you can tell which is the odd bird out (and which is the Boat-tailed Grackle).
So I think I'll have to fill out some paperwork on this one for the NC Bird Records Committee. Luckily the area where it was found opens up to the public for the season starting the Friday, so maybe some others will be able to see it.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Leadin' field trips down east
North Carolina's Albemarle Peninsula and Outer Banks make up a world-class birding destination in mid-winter, with waterfowl galore, and a healthy diversity of waders, shorebirds and sparrows.
I had the honor of leading field trips 'Down East' (as it's called) in back-to-back weekends.
Trip 1: Duke Conservation Society / Nicholas School Naturalists / Student Association of Wetland Scientists trip to Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge
A couple weeks ago Jeff Pippen and I took a group of 21 master's students from the Nicholas School down to Lake Mattamuskeetfor an unseasonably warm and sunny day of birding.
Bird highlights were a Eurasian Wigeon (thanks to Thierry Besancon, who we bumped into with a group from New Hope Audubon), a brief, but diagnostic glimpse of an Ashe-throated Flycatcher (the second one I have found in NC in as many months) and a very photogenic Anhinga.
I used this opportunity to swap SD cards and batteries for the cameras at my research site...
Trip 2: Carolina Bird Club Winter Meeting at Nags Head, NC
This past weekend the Carolina Bird Club held its winter meeting at Nags Head, a launching point for a heap of the state's top birding hotspots. I led 3 half-day trips around Bodie Island over Friday and Saturday.
The Bodie Lighthouse pond is the best place I know to get close enough to photograph (or in this case digiscope) ducks...
Oregon Inlet always has something interesting going on bird-wise. This weekend the highlight for many of the birders on my trips were a pair of Purple Sandpipers at the end of the jetty.
On the way back west I dropped by the 'sparrow fields' by Lake Phelps. The hotspot lived up to its name and the adjacent shrub line was loaded with oddball sparrows that are usually pretty hard to come by in North Carolina...
I had the honor of leading field trips 'Down East' (as it's called) in back-to-back weekends.
Trip 1: Duke Conservation Society / Nicholas School Naturalists / Student Association of Wetland Scientists trip to Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge
A couple weeks ago Jeff Pippen and I took a group of 21 master's students from the Nicholas School down to Lake Mattamuskeetfor an unseasonably warm and sunny day of birding.
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| Lots of happy students |
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| Anhinga |
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| photo by Emma Hedman |
Trip 2: Carolina Bird Club Winter Meeting at Nags Head, NC
This past weekend the Carolina Bird Club held its winter meeting at Nags Head, a launching point for a heap of the state's top birding hotspots. I led 3 half-day trips around Bodie Island over Friday and Saturday.
The Bodie Lighthouse pond is the best place I know to get close enough to photograph (or in this case digiscope) ducks...
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| Northern Pintail and Northern Shoveler |
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| sleepy Gadwall pair |
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| American Avocets, Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail |
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| Purple Sandpipers |
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| Vesper Sparrow |
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| Vesper Sparrows |
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| Vesper Sparrow and Clay-colored Sparrow |
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Rare birds for Christmas
When I was trying to come up with a Christmas wish list I jokingly included a couple birds I wanted to see: Evening Grosbeak and Golden Eagle.
No luck yet on the grosbeak, but I've crossed paths with a Golden Eagle twice since making the list!
Both were in the Lake Mattamuskeet area, but this distant one I found and photographed down in the Gull Rock Game Land territory on the Mattamuskeet Christmas Bird Count.
And the previous day Ed Corey, Kyle Kittelberger and I were able to chase down this Lapland Longspur that Jeff Lewis found on the beach during the Bodie/Pea Christmas Bird Count.
And then during the Alligator River Count, we dipped over to Wanchese to see this Eared Grebe that Edmund LeGrande had found sitting right in the harbor.
Horned and Pied-billed Grebes were in the same area for nice comparisons.
Together over the course of 4 days and 4 Christmas Bird Counts we saw about 158 species. Not a bad haul!
My best bird, however, was a Black Rail that I flushed in the marshes in the Gull Rock Game Land. It was one of those lightning-strike birding moments, when you're just at the right place at the right time. I wasn't expecting to cross paths with a Black Rail here (and this was the first I've ever seen), but fortunately in my brief view I was able to see white on the bird's back. That field mark plus it's behavior, like a mouse with feathers and wings, left me without a doubt about its identity.
It was in a narrow strip of marsh bordered by the sound on one side and a channel on the other, so I gathered up the others in my party (6 people total) hoping that if we walked in a line through this area we might be able to flush it into the open. But these attempts failed. And we got no response to tapes when we returned at dusk hoping to hear it call.
I found out later at the Mattamuskeet countdown dinner that John Fussell had surveyed this marsh for Black Rails for years and never found a one.
This is one of those rare birds that birders hate to report. There's no hard evidence and, in this case, not even any fellow witnesses. Reviewing parties will be skeptical (as they should be) and it may not make it into the Christmas Bird Count records even though I submitted a detailed report (it would be a new species for the Mattamskeet CBC, I think). Frequent reports like this, especially if they aren't accepted and made into "records," are liable to earn one a reputation as a "loose canon."
That's why digital cameras have become almost obligatory for birders and why so many people avoid reporting rare birds altogether.
Now if I can just find an Evening Grosbeak this winter...is it too much to ask for one that will pose for a photo?
No luck yet on the grosbeak, but I've crossed paths with a Golden Eagle twice since making the list!
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| Golden Eagle, Hyde County, NC |
And the previous day Ed Corey, Kyle Kittelberger and I were able to chase down this Lapland Longspur that Jeff Lewis found on the beach during the Bodie/Pea Christmas Bird Count.
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| Lapland Longspur, Dare County, NC |
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| Lapland Longspur |
And then during the Alligator River Count, we dipped over to Wanchese to see this Eared Grebe that Edmund LeGrande had found sitting right in the harbor.
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| Eared Grebe, Wanchese, NC |
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| Eared Grebe |
Horned and Pied-billed Grebes were in the same area for nice comparisons.
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| Eared Grebe and Pied-billed Grebe |
My best bird, however, was a Black Rail that I flushed in the marshes in the Gull Rock Game Land. It was one of those lightning-strike birding moments, when you're just at the right place at the right time. I wasn't expecting to cross paths with a Black Rail here (and this was the first I've ever seen), but fortunately in my brief view I was able to see white on the bird's back. That field mark plus it's behavior, like a mouse with feathers and wings, left me without a doubt about its identity.
It was in a narrow strip of marsh bordered by the sound on one side and a channel on the other, so I gathered up the others in my party (6 people total) hoping that if we walked in a line through this area we might be able to flush it into the open. But these attempts failed. And we got no response to tapes when we returned at dusk hoping to hear it call.
I found out later at the Mattamuskeet countdown dinner that John Fussell had surveyed this marsh for Black Rails for years and never found a one.
This is one of those rare birds that birders hate to report. There's no hard evidence and, in this case, not even any fellow witnesses. Reviewing parties will be skeptical (as they should be) and it may not make it into the Christmas Bird Count records even though I submitted a detailed report (it would be a new species for the Mattamskeet CBC, I think). Frequent reports like this, especially if they aren't accepted and made into "records," are liable to earn one a reputation as a "loose canon."
That's why digital cameras have become almost obligatory for birders and why so many people avoid reporting rare birds altogether.
Now if I can just find an Evening Grosbeak this winter...is it too much to ask for one that will pose for a photo?
Sunday, October 21, 2012
More Mattamuskeet Birds: Egret Casting Call
Last weekend after a few days of field work at Lake Mattamuskeet, I squeezed in a bit of birding. My partner in crime was a master's student from Duke, Holly Davis, who is working on a film about the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Since she plans to cover the history of the millinery (aka. hat-making) trade, which lead to huge declines in populations of wading birds, we were especially after a Great Egret willing to play a starring role.
Luckily egrets are migrating through this time of year and were rather plentiful around the lake. After scaring off a good few stage-shy birds, we finally found a real ham with the potential to make it big.
While Holly was filming, I figured I may as well try out some digiscoping...
Not bad!
There were other egrets around as well including a rather brave Little Blue Heron that landed in front of me.
These photos are taken with a point-and-shoot (not digiscoped). The direct light made the white birds blow out, so I cranked down the exposure to try to compensate and ended up with these weird dark shots. It looks like these were taken at night with a flash, but this was a bright early morning (I'm no photographer, but always open to suggestions!).
There were loads of other birds around, of course. At one point I felt like I was trapped in a tornado of thousands of Tree Swallows, there were 6 early Tundra Swans and a Mute Swan of unknown provenance. Thousands of dabbling ducks were already back in town with all the Eastern species represented and despite rather high water there were some longer-legged shorebirds wading about at the east end.
The most comical was a Dunlin trying to hang with a flock of Long-billed Dowitchers in water that was just a bit too deep.
There was a cooperative Wilson's Snipe...
...and some curious Sedge Wrens...
I think Holly got some good footage and I'm looking forward to seeing her film!
Luckily egrets are migrating through this time of year and were rather plentiful around the lake. After scaring off a good few stage-shy birds, we finally found a real ham with the potential to make it big.
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| Holly shooting an egret |
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| Great Egret |
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| Great Egret |
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| Little Blue Heron (immature) |
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| Little Blue Heron (immature) |
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| American Avocets and a Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Long-billed Dowitchers with Dunlin (3rd from left) |
There was a cooperative Wilson's Snipe...
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| Wilson's Snipe |
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| Sedge Wren |
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Distracting Birds at Mattamuskeet
Some of you may be aware that I've begun a research project on "bird biogeochemistry" at Lake Mattamuskeet, a site that just happens to be a fantastic for birding.
I try to be disciplined, keep my head down, and focus on the task at hand as much as possible while out doing field work, but when I notice a Least Bittern clinging to a phragmites stalk not 50 feet away...
...well then it's time for a quick break!
In the same area I got several great looks at a King Rail (lifer #1603!) that was sharing the marsh with me for the day (though using it for much different purposes).
There were a few warblers around: Prothonotary, Yellow and some very friendly Prairies:
I was surprised to have a flock of 99 dabbling ducks (mostly Blacks with some Green-winged Teal and possibly others mixed in) assemble near my site one evening. But I suppose this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands that will arrive in November.
Toss in a flyby Sandhill Crane, a flock of 50 Boblinks and a couple early Sedge Wrens and I would say this lake has plenty of distracting birds!
I try to be disciplined, keep my head down, and focus on the task at hand as much as possible while out doing field work, but when I notice a Least Bittern clinging to a phragmites stalk not 50 feet away...
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| Least Bittern |
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| my first seen in NC |
There were a few warblers around: Prothonotary, Yellow and some very friendly Prairies:
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| Prairie Warbler |
Toss in a flyby Sandhill Crane, a flock of 50 Boblinks and a couple early Sedge Wrens and I would say this lake has plenty of distracting birds!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Recent winter birding in NC
Unfortunately this post is full of misses...
I went on a day trip down to the Pocosin Lakes region with NicNats and struck out on all my targets: we couldn’t find the Snow Goose flock to look for Ross’, I couldn’t convince Will to take us on a detour to Alligator River to look for a Swainson’s Hawk, and all the wigeon I saw were stubbornly domestic.
We found a flock of about 50 rather tame White Ibises in a random yard.
Interesting all here were adults. Later at Mattamuskeet all we found were immatures in the ditches. There seemed to be some interesting age segregation patterns occurring.
Consolation prizes were a Horned Lark 
and a Short-eared Owl (both new NC birds for me).
and a Short-eared Owl (both new NC birds for me).I continued my dipping streak on a trip last weekend down to Charlotte in search of Rough-legged Hawks at the airport with Mark Kosiewski, Robert Meehan and Matt Daw.
I don’t know what kind of plane that is but it certainly isn’t the hawk we were after.
We went after Ross’ Goose, but despite being at the perfect spot, came up empty.
Consolation prizes were Horned Lark and a Great Horned Owl (sound familiar?)
Added insult to injury (or illness to insult?) I began developing cold symptoms and was completely unconscious for most of the driving. Meanwhile Matt got himself about 300 county ticks by making us twitch house sparrows in Home Depot parking lots after crossing each county border.
To break my streak of missed lifers I ventured out and saw what was probably my easiest remaining in-state opportunity.
Life bird # 1554: White-crowned Sparrow. (1552 and 1553 came from taxonomic splits of Winter and Eurasian Wrens and a couple South American Trogons).
I should add a fair few species to my list this weekend on the Hatteras pelagic trip. I hope the weather cooperates!
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