Snowy Owl at Cape Hatteras

Daytime owling at a North Carolina beach is not an activity one can normally do. But once every blue moon (the last time was 12 years ago) it becomes just so phenomenal that not just birders, but nature enthusiasts and photographers of all stripes come flocking from hundreds of miles away to give it a shot.

Snowy Owl at Cape Point, NC (town of Frisco in the background)

No, that's not a giant Muppet that washed ashore, but a living breathing Snowy Owl some 1500 miles south of its breeding grounds.

Snowy Owl trying to blend in like a Potoo

When these birds "irrupt" southward as they periodically do in winter, it is always a spectacle for birders and photographers.  Here's a great read on this phenomenon: http://soaringandexploringscience.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/the-scientific-lives-and-irresistible-irruptions-of-snowy-owls/

Snowy Owl scope line

It's hard to predict what will happen with this bird.  It has been reliably seen in the same general area of dunes west of Cape Point since word of its presence got out on November 26, and there isn't much of anywhere for it to go.  Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and Pamlico Sound on the west, Cape Hatteras is a well-isolated patch of sand.

Snowy Owl - awake

Perhaps the bird doesn't want to go anywhere.  When I came upon it on Nov. 29, it had blood stains on its feet, so it has been eating something at least.  The Snowy Owl that appeared at Tybee Island, Georgia last winter survived for weeks by preying on gulls.

Snowy Owl - yawning

It may look a bit sanguine in these photos, but after we left, it was chased about a mile down the beach by over-exuberant observers. This daily stress of getting followed around by dozens of tripod-wielding apes probably isn't helping its chances of survival. A fact this owl cannot comprehend, which it is currently enduring, is that fame has its costs.

Snowy Owl asleep - note blood on the feet

Charlotte Chase!

Ed Corey, Nick Flanders, Natalia Ocampo-Penuela and I drove down to the Charlotte (pronounced this day with a hard ch-) area today to see a couple odd western species that had been showing up at feeders. 

The first target was a Bullock's Oriole.  After 20 or 30 minutes of waiting in a lovely yard he showed up to survey the buffet options that his hosts had left out for him.

Bullock's Oriole! (adult male)

He used several of the many feeding stations including the ant trap above the hummingbird feeder.  Was he taking advantage of the free insects or just getting a drink?

Eating ants or drinking water?

What a beautiful bird and a lifer for all of us except Ed!  That's 3 North American Orioles down and 5 to go. 

~

Our next stop was just up the road in Monroe, NC where a couple western hummingbird species have been spending the winter.

While we waited for them to show, we entertained ourselves by looking at a couple oddly white Carolina Chickadees that inhabit the yard.

Leucistic (?) Carolina Chickadee

I had never seen a chickadee like this before!  It must have some sort of pigment deficiency?

Eventually our first hummingbird showed up...

Calliope Hummingbird

This is a terrible, distant photograph, but the short tail (completely hidden behind the front wing) and the streaky throat make this bird a Calliope Hummingbird.

It wasn't a stunner like the oriole was and didn't give us such prolonged views, but it was a lifer for all of us except for Nick, so we didn't care. 

Rufous Hummingbird

The Calliope disappeared quickly because this larger, more aggressive Rufous Hummingbird arrived to have his turn at the feeder.

Bird chasing is always a risky business, but today we lucked out and swept our targets quickly!  A big thanks to the hosts, Noreen George and Cynthia Hinson, for sharing their rare birds.

Western Tanager!

Ali Iyoob and I made the trip down to Pinehurst this morning to check out the Western Tanager that has been visiting a feeder for weeks, but was only recently identified and reported.

We were welcomed into the home of the friendly and gracious Marjorie Ludwig who lavished us with coffee, cookies, banana bread and fruit.  Never have I enjoyed such luxury while chasing a bird!

The tanager made a few fleeting appearances at first.  It would appear magically at the feeder and then fly off before I could even raise my binoculars.

During the down time between glimpses we were entertained by a rather comical Fox Squirrel that kept futilely climbing the base of the baffled bird feeders before sliding back down the pole in fireman style.

Fox Squirrel

And of course Marjorie's yard swarms with common feeder birds. The bright Pine Warblers kept making me double-take.

Pine Warbler (Not a tanager) and Brown-headed Nuthatch

Ali finally discovered that the tanager was snagging a peanut and then eating it in the privacy of some nearby hedges by the base of the foundation.  Here we were able to view it well through binoculars fairly well, but photos were next to impossible.

Finally, it landed on top of the feeder and then sat on the tray, giving us a nice 15-second view and an opportunity for documentation.

Western Tanager!

I knew my photos wouldn't be much compared to what Ali can capture with his camera, so I shot a quick HD video that shows the bird nicely from a variety of angles (be sure to watch in 720p!).

One thing I noticed from my photos and video is that the bird appears to have reddish coloration on the undertail coverts and vent.  I have no prior experience with this species (lifer #1544!), but I haven't seen reddish in this area in any field guides or google images.  Could this bird have some Summer or Flame-colored genetic influence or is this just an artifact?  In all other respects it appears spot on for Western to my novice eyes. 

This was also my 298th NC bird...getting close to the third century!

A big thanks to Marjorie for sharing this beautiful bird with such hospitality!