I spent May 23-28, 2007 in North Carolina on a Don Wilkinson Birding Tour. Four of us (me, Don, Nancy Eaton, and Lynn Abbey) participated. We all flew in to Norfolk, Virginia on the 23rd and immediately drove to New Bern, North Carlina, where we went to the Croatan National Forest for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. We [...]
Today we started by trying for Swainson’s Warbler and then birded the coast a bit. We were at McDonald’s at 6, although they didn’t get around to opening the door for another couple minutes and had no one to work the counter. Eventually the help arrived, although without her reading glasses. Don loaned her his [...]
Today would be another try for the Swainson’s and then a trek back to Norfolk and flights home. We were out again early. This time McDonald’s was open and close to prepared. We headed for Alligator River, making a brief stop at the Bear Road spot we had tried the other day without anything. We [...]
Day 2 on the boat made Day 1 look good. We started out the same, missing the terns again. Once out into the ocean, we had a few jaegers and started seeing shearwaters and storm-petrels. A bit of excitement came as 3 Pomarine Jaegers buzzed by several times. There were more Cory’s Shearwaters around (one [...]
Today was the first of two days offshore. An early start again, stopping at the 7-11 with the rest of the hotel and grabbing some food quickly. At the dock, we couldn’t really hear the instructions but not a big deal. Since I didn’t keep track as carefully of what order things were in, I’ll [...]
Today was an early start as we wanted to be back at the Croatan and get the singing Bachman’s Sparrows. We slowed briefly on the way in to listen to a Yellow-breasted Chat and a mystery noise that was likely a Red-shouldered Hawk, although being next to a farm we weren’t sure it wasn’t something [...]
Day 1 (May 23) started with a 6 AM trip to the airport. A Downy Woodpecker in the yard, a Red-tail on 128, and gulls and cormorants on the Pike got things going. After being dropped off, I waited for the outside check-in, although the line was probably a lot longer than the one inside [...]
Life bird Canada Goose (many locations) Mute Swan (1 at Pea Island) Wood Duck (Croatan and ARNWR Superspot) Gadwall (Pea Island) Mallard (docks) Northern Bobwhite (heard in several places, two flushed in Croatan near Bachman’s Sparrow spot) Common Loon (several offshore both days) Northern Fulmar (I missed it) Black-capped Petrel (1 brief flyby first day, [...]