CarolinaBirds for Thursday, November 9, 2006

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Time   pond sightings   barbara brooks   9:20am   Ruddy Ducks   Phil Warren    10:22am   NC Rufous Hummingbirds   Dwayne Martin    4:09pm   trip to Edisto Beach SC   BUTCHER, Greg   8:44pm   Re: Christmas Bird Counts (last year's)   Steven Tracey   8:58pm   Huntington Beach SP 11/9   Dennis Forsythe   9:48pm   Wings over whater reports?     9:56pm

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Subject: pond sightings
From: "barbara brooks" <brooksba(AT)visionet.net>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 9:20am

I walked to the pond with the scope to what might have come in.  the best 
bird was a green wing teal.  it was preening and stretched its wing and the 
green did shine.  otherwise coots, ring necked ducks, american widgeon,pie 
billed grebe, a huge number of canada geese flew in as I left.  around the 
edge in the bushes , ruby crowned kinglet, and a winter wren. flocks of 
field sparrow, white throated sparrow, song sparrow.  I believe that the 
green wing teal is a first for the pond and the winter wren is also.

at the house I have juncos and white throated sparrows as well as the normal 
winter all year residents.
all birds in NE orange county.

Barb Brooks, poet
author of the chapbook
"The Catbird Sang"
Black cap, wings slate gray,
feathers dribbled with red.


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Subject: Ruddy Ducks
From: Phil Warren <phwarren(AT)earthlink.net>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 10:22am

On Thursday morning there were 10 ruddy ducks on Symphony Lake at 
Regency Park in Cary, NC.  The flock can be closely and easily 
approached on the walking trail around the lake.

Phil Warren
Pittsboro, NC
phwarren(AT)earthlink.net


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Subject: NC Rufous Hummingbirds
From: Dwayne Martin <redxbill(AT)charter.net>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 4:09pm

I have banded two more Rufous Hummingbirds this week.  I banded an adult female
near Burnsville yesterday afternoon.  Then this morning, I traveled down to
Monroe to the home of Blane and Anne Olsen.  Within minutes I had the adult
female Rufous banded and on her way.  I'm up to five Rufous Hummers this fall.
I'm going to try for a couple more next week.  Maybe an Allen's will pop up
somewhere.

Dwayne
*************
Dwayne Martin
Hickory, NC
redxbill(AT)charter.net

Catwaba County Park Ranger
Riverbend Park - Conover, NC
jdmartin(AT)catawbacountync.gov
http://www.catawbacountync.gov/depts/parks/


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Subject: trip to Edisto Beach SC
From: "BUTCHER, Greg" <gbutcher(AT)audubon.org>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 8:44pm

Thanks to all who sent birdwatching advice for my just-concluded trip to South
Carolina. I got enough advice to support a month-long trip -- I wish I had had
that much time!

Special thanks to Ann Shahid and her husband Ron who took us out for a great
dinner at Bee City diner and to Nate Dias, who led several of us on a very
successful shorebirding trip on Kiawah Island. I saw 15 species of sandpipers
and plovers, which seems like a lot for this time of year.

One of my most interesting birding experiences of the trip was Saturday night at
 the edge of Beidler Forest where we had about a thousand robins going to roost
under a full moon, along with several towhees and thrashers, in an old-field of
young pines and scrub.

Birding at Edisto Beach was a bit slow, partly because we were distracted by the
 weather. I had a new tent that had a more "open-air" design than I had
expected, so we had wind in the tent all night Sunday night and rain in the tent
 all night Monday night. The biggest surprise was Tuesday morning when we found
out that campsite #74 at Edisto Beach State Park floods during lunar tides --
especially with an extra six inches due to the storm. So, we retreated to a
cabin for Tuesday night and back home for last night.

We got Eurasian Collared-Dove at the state park. We had good mixed-species
flocks at ACE Basin NWR (Edisto unit) and at the Edisto Island Interpretive
Center, including Palm and Black-and-white Warblers and Field, Swamp, and
White-throated Sparrows. I was surprised to see so many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
-- they're all gone from here. Lots of Tree Swallows, but no other swallows.

Unfortunately, Donnelley and Caw Caw were both closed Monday and Tuesday, but we
 took a really quick run-through at Caw Caw Wednesday morning. Great habitat,
but not enough time to check out all the sparrow chips.

Thanks again -- we'll be back!

Greg Butcher
Director of Bird Conservation
National Audubon Society
1150 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600
Washington DC 20036
Tel.: 202-861-2242, ext. 3034
Fax: 202-861-4290
gbutcher(AT)audubon.org

Protecting our Great Natural Heritage through the Important Bird Areas
program,<http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba>,
and the WatchList, <http://www.audubon.org/bird/watchlist>.


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Subject: Re: Christmas Bird Counts (last year's)
From: "Steven Tracey" <steventracey(AT)sprintmail.com>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 8:58pm

I'll admit to likely being the one carolina birder who will not be sharing
Nate's hope that one of the carolinas' counts beats the West Pasco count
this year.  For the past several years I have been a participant in the West
Pasco count, as my father is one of the key organizers for that count, and I
always schedule my holiday visit to coincide with it.  Carolina count
hopefuls be forewarned that I know my dad has already found a few new
arrivals in the area that would add to 171 if they stick around for a while,
so the bar could be set high again this year...

Actually, I am hoping I can participate in both SC and FL's high counts this
year... a tie would be fine by me.  Along those lines, I have seen some of
the NC count dates posted on the Carolina Bird Club website, but none of the
SC count dates.  Have any of the dates for the SC counts been decided yet?

Steve Tracey
Irmo, SC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nate Dias" <offshorebirder(AT)yahoo.com>
To: "Chris Hill" <chill(AT)coastal.edu>; <carolinabirds(AT)duke.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: Christmas Bird Counts (last year's)

> Much obliged Chris.  We all like to scan for our local
> CBC rankings, thanks for taking up the task of
> distilling it for us.
>
> Somehow one slipped past you - Charleston having the
> high count for American Oystercatchers at 1002.
>
> A CBC from Florida - West Pasco - tied McClellanville
> for the most species (171) on counts east of the
> Mississippi.  I sure hope the Carolina CBCs - either
> Southport, Wilmington, BPI, Charleston, Litchfield or
> McClellanville takes sole posession this coming year.
> Southport is overdue to take the title back...
>
> RE: the Bachmans Sparrow question, John Fussell has
> developed a winter "finding" technique that he can
> explain better than I.  Involves forward observers,
> loud playback, good fieldcraft...
>
> The huge number of Chipping Sparrows on MCSC was a
> product of 2 features: the Francis Marion National
> Forest and the Santee Coastal reserve.  And the
> morning rain.  Both the FMNF and SCR were full of
> Chippies, but the Waterhorn party in the FMNF also ran
> into a HUGE flock of Chippies.  Plus, driving in to
> the Santee Coastal Reserve to launch the boat to
> Murphy Island, we came upon long stretches of roadside
> puddles/streams.  Water was running along the edge of
> the road, confined by the banks along the side.
> Chippies were lined up for hundreds of yards at a
> stretch in some places.  They varied in density, but
> we were flushing birds constantly as we slowly drove
> in the entrance road.  Many Pine Warblers too.
>
> I hope everyone supports their 4 or 5 closest CBCs.
> Or 5 or 6...
>
> Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC
>
> --- Chris Hill <chill(AT)coastal.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi C'birders,
> >...
> > 9 Bachman's Sparrows, West Pasco, FL
> >
> > Does anyone else have any luck in finding them (the
> > sparrows) in
> > winter in the Carolinas?  I keep wondering what a
> > vigourous effort in
> > the right habitat might produce (i.e. playback by
> > someone familiar
> > with any little chips one might hear in response -
> > tromping around
> > probably wouldn't do it).
> > ...
> >
> > And how on earth did they come up with
> >
> > 2687 Chipping Sparrows, McClellanville, SC??
> >
>
>
>
>
>
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Subject: Huntington Beach SP 11/9
From: "Dennis Forsythe" <dennis.forsythe(AT)citadel.edu>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 9:48pm

Hi All,

I looked for the Snowy Plover at HBSP today without success.  I did have 1
imm Reddish Egret, 1 imm Great Cormorant, several Salt Marsh Sharp-tailed
Sparrows, 1 Seaside Sparrow, and a Lapland Longspur.

Dennis

Dennis M. Forsythe PhD, PA
Emeritus Professor of Biology
The Citadel
171 Moultrie St
Charleston, SC 29409
843-795-3996 Home
843-953-7264 Fax
843-708-1605 Cell
dennis.forsythe(AT)citadel.edu


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Subject: Wings over whater reports?
From: <sgibeau(AT)bellsouth.net>
Date: 9 Nov 2006 9:56pm

Where are the reports?  It's the third day and not one report on c-birds yet.

Stu Gibeau
Black Mountain, NC