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CBC LAKE MATTAMUSKEET FIELDTRIP



Yesterday I lead the CBC's Fall fieldtrip to Lake Mattamuskeet NWR.  We had a 
great group with 16 participants from all over North Carolina and we even had 
one from Miami, Florida.  We were a little nervous at the start of the day 
because of sporadic light rain, but the weather turned nice we birded in 
T-shirts for the afternoon.  We birded the Wildlife Trail, the causeway and a 
small portion of the Lake Landing impoudments.

Although we were unable to locate any hyper rarities, we did have a nice 
rounded out checklist with 83 species.  Highlights included the following.

We observed 15+ BALD EAGLES of which at least at least 5 were adults.  Rarely 
was there a point in the day that we did not have between one and three 
Eagles in site at the same time.  We also watched a pair of young eagles 
attacking a flock of coot on the lake.  Each eagle ended up plucking a coot 
off the lake and carrying it off into the distance.  Within 100 feet of this 
activity was a Great Black-backed Gull also making lunch of coot.  Safety in 
numbers does not apply to everyone!

One of our participants was able to spot a MUTE SWAN amongst the Tundra Swans 
on the wildlife drive.  This made for a nice comparison and added a species 
to the checklists of many individuals.  We had great looks at numerous 
waterfowl including a close-up male Lesser Scaup and two pairs of Redheads.  
We also observed an enormous flock of Snow Geese and "Blue" Geese.  This was 
the largest number of blue phased Snow Geese I have ever seen (easily in the 
thousands)!

We had quick but close looks at a KING RAIL that we flushed in one of the 
impoundments and heard 3 or 4 more at another impoundment.

Some of the group had great close-up looks at 3 OR 4 SEDGE WRENS, while 
others just caught glimpses of these "skulkers" as they popped up and dove 
back into the marshes.

We had numerous PALM WARBLERS throughout the day, but did not find any large 
passerine flocks.  At the end of the day we did observe a BLUE-GRAY 
GNATCATCHER and a PRAIRIE WARBLER.  Other Fall species still lingering around 
included good numbers of Cattle Egrets, Forsters Terns and Laughing Gulls.

-Brad Carlson
Winterville, NC
Bcar105390@aol.com