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Fort Fisher Report (Long)



In a mad scramble to complete the goal of seeing 200 species in one
month I decided to wing it down to Fort Fisher on Thursday when I
don't teach any classes. I was up to 194 for January, which was very
maddening: a little fewer and 200 would have seemed out of reach and I
would not have tried at all. By the time I was out at the Wastewater
Plant at Carolina Beach it was clear that it was going to be a raw
sort of a day. Cape Fear River was nothing but white caps, and
stepping out of the car was like stepping into a freezer. The
Wastewater plant had lots of Green Winged Teal, and Killdeer, a Lesser
yellowlegs, Little Blue Heron and two rather forlorn-looking Leasts
Sandpipers, but nothing else of interest.
 
The Rocks were a challenge to be on, the river kept beating against
them and the windward side of my face was frozen, with one eye
watering madly and the other just fine. But the wind was, in fact, a
blessing since all the shorebirds also found it unbearable and had
congregated in a tight little knot at a spot where the concrete on the
rocks had chipped away, creating a deep overhang of a 'cliff'. They
were in no mood to move and so I kept inching closer and they would
periodically look up in alarm, some would fly desultorily a few
hundred yards, but most would just hunker down again. Finally I
decided it would be cruel to move any closer and mnake them fly. There
were at least 30 Oystercatchers (I have never seen such a large
concentration before), a similar number of Marbled Godwits and Short
Billed Dowitchers (I think), about 15 Willets, a few Western
Sandpipers (I clearly saw the droop on the bill and no yellow on the
legs). The only birds undeterred by the wind were the Forster's Terns
dancing over the river, swooping for all they were worth. The Basin
was totally glassy and unruffled (the wind being from the river side),
but also totally empty. This surprised me since if the birds were
trying to escape the wind shouldn't they have been in the calm waters
of the basin (and on this I would like to hear from any carolina
birders who have ideas)? 

There were more Red Breasted Mergansers and Red Throated Loons in the
open ocean than you could shake a stick at, but no scoters that I
could find. Periodically one or other of the dowitchers would decide
to move, but fluttering up into the wind was hard, and once they moved
it was very easy to slip on the rocks and down into the water. Four
times I saw the Godwits and Dowitchers lose their balance and slip
into the water before righting themselves. Fun to watch since
ungainliness is not something one sees in shore birds.

The Spit was, as always, beautiful but today a torture to be on. My
lunch of chicken curry and dal (which I had carefully prepared the
night before) was one frozen, sandy, tasteless mass as I sat on the
dunes and looked at an ominously graying sky. The Royal Terns however
were having a ball out on the ocean, and finally I did see one Common
Loon and a Tricolored Heron in the marsh. I did not have the patience
to scan the ground for Ipswich Sparrows which I have previously always
seen on winter trips out to the dunes. I shuffled back to the car,
swept clean by the wind. Every time I have visited the Fort Fisher
spit I have left with the feeling of being swept clean. It is what
makes this place so special. I decided to swing into Carolina Beach
State Park, and the minute I drove into the parking lot a mature Bald
Eagle soared by overhead. I slammed on the brakes and got out just in
time to see it disappear over the pines.

The last stop was Greenfield Lake which I found despite the limitless 
sprawl that Wilmington seems determined to become. The water-level was
extremely low, and the Cypresses looked very bizarrely artificial--as
though they were man-made platforms that had sprouted a thin trunk.
The Hollies were being mobbed by Waxwings, the Robins were feasting on
the extensive mudbanks, There was a convention of Great Egrets and a
few incongruous looking Brown Pelicans. And finally, in the flock of
American Wigeon there was the one Eurasian Wigeon, its head shining a
gorgeous cinnamon.

Dinner on the way back was Spicy Catfish with Red Sauce in the Thai
Restaurant (Thai Villa) that is so conveniently located near
Crossroads Mall in Cary. I recommend this place highly to anyone
rushing back to the Triangle after a day's birding on the coast. The
food is simply superb, and the location is perfect for a quick stop. 

I stand at 205. A new monthly total for me to surpass in the future.
And there are still a few more days to go as the Winter Wren, Pileated
and Blatimore Oriole have eluded me this month.

Shantanu Phukan
Capel Hill