Gray Kingbirds on Tybee

Well, I had looked earlier this summer for Gray Kingbirds on Tybee with no success. Then today a birder from North Carolina alerted Audubon web mistress Jaynne Reichert that he had seen a single Gray Kingbird near the Ocean Plaza Resort on 14th Street. He said he could hear it calling from the beach!

I went over this evening and found two adult Gray Kingbirds actively feeding two large fledglings. I kept hearing a persistent call and finally peered into an oleander bush next to the building where we have all our meetings for GOS winter meetings to find the young birds plaintively begging.

The first adult I found was preening - seemed to have recently bathed - and was perched on the metal railing of one of the hotel rooms. The adults flew about actively fly-catching and perching on wires and atop telephone poles.

I was lucky to see and photograph an adult coming into the oleander to feed a juvenile. The young ones were flighted, as before I left, they flew to a palmetto near the pool, still begging.

Also begging in the area were several young mockingbirds.
What excitement!

Gray Kingbird on the hotel railing

Gray Kingbird preening after a bath.

Gray Kingbird Adult on the Wire

Two young Gray Kingbirds in the Oleander

Juvenile Gray Kingbird #1

Juvenile Gray Kingbird #2

Adult Gray Kingbird feeding Junior

Early August Bird Notes

Whoa! Where has the summer gone? I've been enjoying my almost daily dose of Painted Buntings visiting the feeder for white millet and finally have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at the feeders and enjoying nectar from my Mexican Cigar Shrub and Bottlebrush plants.

Painted Bunting at the Bath

One interesting but troubling development this summer is that a pair of Cooper's Hawks nested somewhere in the woods across from my house. I heard what sounded like a Pileated Woodpecker only it was a slightly different loud cackling noise. I tracked it to a Cooper's Hawk and figured that since it was being so vocal, it must have a nest.

I never found the nest, but a couple of weeks ago I began hearing a flicker-like mewing call. Tracking that I found a young Cooper's Hawk, probably begging for food. So far I have found three juveniles. They are now flighted but still staying close to the nest area, probably still hoping Mom and Dad will bring food. I have not seen the adults recently, so they must be busy hunting.

One interesting feature of the juvenile birds is their white "bloomers." The feathers below the tail are very fluffy and downy, as are the feathers around their legs.

The other birds in the neighborhood are not happy about the new residents. I tracked one young bird by following the sound of two upset Red-bellied Woodpeckers. 

Pair of young Cooper's Hawks

Cooper's Hawk Juvenile

Cooper's Hawk Juvie Rear View

Note the downy undertail feathers.

Young Cooper's Hawk hollers for food?

 On a different topic, I finally got out to Tybee North Beach on Sunday evening for the high tide.
 There were lots of Laughing Gulls with many brownish young ones, Royal Terns and juveniles, Black Skimmers & their young, and Sandwich Terns with teen-agers begging.

Juvenile Royal Tern

Juvenile Sandwich Tern

 Also, some of the shorebirds that were off nesting in the Arctic have returned. It was great to see Sanderlings running about like beach wind-up toys and Ruddy Turnstones still in their fancy breeding costumes. A small flock of flying shorebirds turned out to be 25 Semipalmated Plovers.

Sanderling Lineup

Ruddy Turnstone in breeding best

Fly-by flock of Semipalmated Plovers

Several friends have reported already seeing migrating warblers but I am still waiting for my first. Fall is just around the corner.  Good birding!

Red-necked Phalarope on Tybee

Wow! What a surprise. I was taking some folks from my church out to the beach birding and we stopped at the freshwater pond off the North Beach. It was quiet with no herons or egrets, several barn swallows swooping and diving, and tons of turtles sunning on the bank.

Then, all of a sudden, I saw a small bird swimming and feeding rather frenetically at the edge of the pond. A quick glimpse at the thin bill, orange neck and white throat told me that a female Red-necked Phalarope in breeding plumage had made a stop on Tybee. Water levels in the pond were as high as I've ever seen them after all the rain. 

I returned to the pond with Russ Wigh two hours later but Mrs. Phalarope was nowhere to be found.
Others looked later in the day with no success. What a lucky find!

Red-necked Phalarope Female

Red-necked Phalarope Flies

Red-necked Phalarope Feeds

Success - breakfast!

Short-tailed Hawk and more

Well, on Saturday, April 27, I was working at WBU when I got an e-mail from my friend and co-worker Nicole with pictures of a hawk that she suspected might be a short-tailed hawk. Russ Wigh circulated the photos and everyone agreed that she had documented the first state record of this species in Georgia. While many birders made the trek to Hinesville on Sunday and were rewarded with views of the bird, I didn't get down until Monday morning about 11:30 am.

Krista Gridley, Gene Keferl and Larry Carlile were there, but the hawk had not been seen. Sandy Beasley and I left about 1:30 to go grab some lunch, leaving my phone number with Krista. Well no sooner had we ordered our Mexican food than my cell phone rang. The hawk had reappeared above Nicole's house. We said we had a bird emergency, paid for our food, asked that it be boxed to go for later pick up and rushed back to Nicole's. We were fortunate that the bird was still being seen at a distance and that it then proceeded to fly back toward us and over the house. It was up against the blue sky making for decent photos.

This was only the second time I have seen this species, the first time being a dark morph bird in central Florida in 1999. We enjoyed watching it plummet towards the earth in a steep dive on several occasions. 

Short-tailed Hawk 4/29/13

Short-tailed Hawk

Short-tailed Hawk

There were plenty of other birds to watch at Nicole's house, including the abundant purple martins, nesting pair of great crested flycatchers, and bluebirds scouting the houses. It was a great day!

Great Crested Flycatcher pair near nest box

Mr. Bluebird scouts the box

Glaucous Gull and More on Tybee North Beach

Finally, a beautiful morning on the beach! Mild winds, warmer temperatures and bird activity. The yellow-rumped warblers are still everywhere but getting handsome.

Walking along the beach at the North End of Tybee, the first thing that caught my eye was a large gull that seemed way too white. I studied all the features - no black in the tail, large bill, very pale gray mantle and a light colored eye. Could it be a Glaucous Gull? After taking many pictures and consulting my Sibley as well as a couple of other references, I concluded that Yes, this was indeed a Glaucous Gull.

Glaucous Gull - View 1

Glaucous Gull - note all white wing tips, light mantle, heavy bill and light eye.

Also of interest on the beach were the Laughing Gulls in their snappy breeding plumage, already "laughing" loudly. A couple of Bonaparte's Gulls were hanging out as well.

Laughing Gull "Laughs"

Bonaparte's Gull with Sanderling

 On the way back from the beach, a waterthrush walked out onto the path and bobbed its way along ahead of us. I studied and studied but don't quite know which to call it. The eye stripe was long but did not seem to get wider at the back end. The throat was clear and unstreaked which would indicate Louisiana. I would be grateful for input from other birders.

Which Waterthrush View 1?

Which waterthrush View 2

Thank you to Jim Morekis and Connect Savannah for reviewing my book - Birder's Eye View: Savannah & the Low Country. To read the review, click here:
 http://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/books/Category?oid=2130511

Please join me at Barnes & Noble in the Oglethorpe Mall on Saturday, April 20 from Noon until 2 pm. I'll be happy to attempt to answer your bird questions...(bring photos!) and sign copies of my book.

On Tuesday, April 16, Ogeechee Audubon will be presenting a program about Birds of Alaska, led
by Dot Bambach, Sandy Beasley and myself at 7 pm at First Presbyterian Church on Washington Avenue. Hope to see many of you there!

Puffins on the Rocks - St. Paul Island, Alaska

Signs of Spring & More

Well, I set out on Sunday morning to find signs of spring. The first thing I noticed was a lot of song – cardinals crooning, the brown thrasher doing his couplets from atop the oak tree, the red-bellied woodpecker drumming on metal on the telephone poll, and the wonderful wandering warble of the yellow-throated warbler.

 After watching gnatcatchers flit about, dozens of yellow-rumped warblers, and hearing the red-breasted nuthatch, I head for the Unitarian Universalist Church and then down to Hinesville where my friend Nicole had an extra-special bird visitor – an adult male Bullock's oriole.

I arrived about 1 pm to find that the oriole had visited at 12:15 and again at 12:45. While waiting for him to reappear, I enjoyed watching the Carolina chickadee gleaning fiber from the twine hanger of a nest ball.

 At about 1:35, the oriole made a brief appearance, slurping up some grape jelly before flying up into the magnolia.

Gene Keferl from Brunswick timed his arrival perfectly as the bird showed up about 5 minutes after he did.

We waited around for another viewing, which came about 45 minutes later.

More signs of spring were to follow.
On Monday morning, Tim Miller called to report a First of the Season for him swallow-tailed kite in Effingham County.

On Tuesday evening, a northern parula – my first this spring – visited my birdbath.

Then on Tuesday evening, my friend Connie and I found a Louisiana waterthrush in the wet area at the back of her Talahi Island property.

 I got some not great photos but enough to show the flattened  head, larger bill, white throat, and
long, spreading eyeline.

I was thrilled since many years the Louisiana waterthrushes slip through early and I miss them completely.
















Of course, it wouldn't truly be spring without the soft warble and brilliant color of the male eastern bluebird. This handsome fellow was hanging out near a box on Pinckney Island. His date was nearby on a fence.

I can't wait to see who will show up next!