Quarantine Chronicles Archives - Page 2 of 2

Because of the coronavirus pandemic my ability to go birding has been hindered so I have decided to write about some of my favorite birding adventures in a series called the Quarantine Chronicles. For the second post I will show you some of my favorite pictures from a trip to North Carolina in August, 2018. Although this trip was a beach vacation, not a birding trip, we still managed to see 41 new birds for my life list (lifers). These pictures were taken before I had my Nikon P1000 so they were all shot by my Dad. Thanks Dad for letting me use these! Here are my favorite pictures from birding in North Carolina.

If you missed the first part you can read it here.

August 21

Great Egret
birding North Carolina — Two Great Egrets and some Boat-tailed Grackles.

A Laughing Gull in nonbreeding plumage which was a lifer several days before.

Osprey and Laughing Gull — An Osprey with a fish and some Laughing Gulls hoping to share.

August 22

Our goal today was to find shorebirds on the south end of Topsail Island. It proved to be excellent shorebird habitat.

Willit and Sanderling — A Willit on the left and a Sanderling on the right.

Semipalmated Plover
birding North Carolina — More Semipalmated Plovers on the beach.

Semipalmated Plover and Sanderling — A Sanderling in the foreground with Semipalmated Plovers in the background.

Wilson's Plover — Wilson’s Plover which was a lifer.

A Black-bellied Plover transitioning from breeding plumage to nonbreeding plumage.

Piping Plover, lifer. This threatened species is often banded by researchers. This bird has one band on each leg.

August 23

We spent the early morning birding on the north end of Topsail Island in expansive marshes and mudflats.

A Least Sandpiper. These small shorebirds are easily identified by their yellow-green legs.

Cooper's Hawk — A juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

Gull and Tern flock
Birding North Carolina — Large flock of gulls and terns roosting on a sandbar. The ones with black backs are Black Skimmers which were lifers.

Gull and Tern flock — Another part of the flock with some shorebirds in the foreground.

A Whimbrel in the background and a juvenile Laughing Gull in the foreground.

August 25

During our final day in North Carolina we birded on the way to the airport. Dad got a little distracted with photographing dragonflies. I included several of the best ones.

Forest in North Carolina — Look at that forest!

swamp — I wonder if there are any alligators in here?

Alligator — Looks like there are! Seen from a raised boardwalk (thankfully).

Great Crested Flycatcher, final lifer of the trip!

What excellent birding in North Carolina!

Because of the coronavirus pandemic my ability to go birding has been hindered so I have decided to write about some of my favorite birding adventures in a series called the Quarantine Chronicles. For the first post I am showing some of my favorite pictures and birds from two separate trips to Holland Michigan to see my grandparents. Although neither of these trips were primarily focused on birds they ended up being awesome Michigan birding adventures.

September 25-28, 2018

Lake Michigan — A cool lighthouse on the shores of lake Michigan, aptly named “Big Red Lighthouse”.

Warbler — Unidentified warbler in poor light.

Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A lifer!

Swainson's/Gray-cheeked Thrush — A Swainson’s or Gray-cheeked Thrush (leaning towards Swainson’s but poor lighting made it difficult to identify).

March 21-24, 2019

Our second trip to Michigan was quite different than the first. I seem to remember the temperature barely passed freezing our whole trip! Regardless of the weather I still added several species to my life list.