Birding The OBX – Early Morning
Are you like me and wondering what in the world – or where in the world – is The OBX? It was on my previous trip here – about 10 years and 2 hurricanes ago – that I learned. It is short for The Outer Banks and you will find OBX everywhere out here on these barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. On bumper stickers, on tee shirts, on shop and restaurant signs. I like it – clever!
We got up early this morning to go birding. The first stop was a large park just south of Rodanthe and on the west side of the island – on Pamlico Sound. We were able to drive through the park, leave the car at several places, and take short walks to the bay and also a longer walk through an area which is filled with full grown native junipers and bayberries – stunted by wind and salt, but full grown. Thick and in some places impenetrable. And the bird of the day – the bird that was simply everywhere throughout this habitat was the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Flitting everywhere and all were constantly calling to each other throughout this habitat of junipers, bayberries, sand and bay. Here are the additional birds we saw and heard – all call notes were confirmed by Merlin*:
Orange-crowned Warbler
Northern Flicker – we saw several in flight within these junipers
Brown Creeper
Northern Mockingbird – we saw several perched for long periods of time right on top of the junipers or bayberries – nothing shy about this bird!
Carolina Wren
Eastern Meadowlark – 2. Together. Both on tops of bayberries, preening. And no one is more surprised by this than I am. This is definitely a saltwater habitat – all sand with not much grass. And yet there they were. I look for meadowlarks where I live in central Illinois – where there are still acres of grassland. Not here on a barrier island within sand dunes! As I always say: If birds would just read their entries in field guides, birding would be so much easier – but also so much less fun – and surprising!
Killdeer
Cedar Waxwings – small flock of about 8-10 eating bayberries.
Golden-crowned Kinglets – another bird I was surprised to see and hear. I think of these as woodland birds, not here in a juniper/bayberry area of sand.
Boat-tailed Grackles
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
From this area, we went to the other side of the island to the ocean – not far. In fact, on this part of the island, if it were not for the sand dunes, if you stood at the shore of the bay, you would be able to see the ocean. This is what we saw on the ocean side:
Herring Gulls
Laughing Gulls
Great Black-backed Gulls
In fact, there were gulls everywhere. Once again, there were fishing boats – this time 3. And there were hundreds of gulls in each boat’s wake plus gulls scattered all over the ocean and through the air. Most of these were far off shore – even with our powerful scope, we could not make out specific physical traits.
Brown Pelicans – close to 30 – mainly in groups of 4-6. Most were flying and soaring close to the water.
Black Scoters. About 10 – all independent of each other. All flying low to the water.
Double-crested Cormorants – About 2 dozen – all flying over the water.
Common Grackle – 1 on the beach
And my favorite sighting:
Northern Gannets! At least 45. All far from shore. All diving for food. Such strong fliers! And they sit tall when they are floating in the water.
And with all this – swimming from north to south – and arcing as they came out of the water – 3 dolphins just past the breaker line. There were also scattered fishermen and women – fisherpeople? We are not sure what schools they were after but flounder is a big catch here. So three fishing boats, hundreds and hundreds and more hundreds of gulls, plenty of Northern Gannets, Brown Pelicans and Scoters, dolphins – I am guessing the fish did not have much of a chance to live another day.
But our day was just beginning …….
*Merlin is an app for your phone from The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. If you are unfamiliar with this app, look on this website’s menu under Articles I Wrote: The Merlin App and Its Sound ID.