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Re: Painted Buntings? Found!




Folks,

Thanks for all the suggestions on where to find a Painted Bunting! We 
walked the property and roadway near the old Fishmeal Factory on West 
Beaufort Road our first stop. When we finished we walked down the road 
among all the Chinese Privet and I heard a male calling. My friend Glaeshia 
who`d never seen one before was ahead of me and had it in her binocs. By 
the time I caught up it flew off into the thickets... Then we walked up the 
a nice yard with 5 bird feeders and talked to the lady of the house who was 
out in the garden. She told us one really pretty bird tropical bird visits 
the feeder on her window every morning! While talking to her a male Painted 
Bunting flew in and visited 2 of the feeders for several mins. We also 
found a pair of Grass Snakes mated and twisting and twirling up a storm in 
a privet bush. We were told the entire area where we were was planned to 
become the new Maritime Museum location and all the thickets were to become 
parking lots!

  The next day while walking Hoop Hole Trail I heard another Painted 
Bunting but never caught sight of it. Hoop Hole had a Loon in one of it`s 
tiny bays that just gave us close looks and let me get a few photos.

We paddled my canoe(40 mph winds!) across to Carrot Island in search of 
Black Skimmers, no luck on the skimmers.We saw and photographed 21 wild 
ponies up close in the marsh. The shorebirds out there were common ones 
except the pair of Least Terns and single Piping Plover. White Ibis, 
Wimprel,  Willet, Oystercatcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover, 
Semi-palmated Plover Sanderling and Least Sandpiper were common in the 
flats. On the ocean in front of the condo we stayed at were several 
immature Gannets feeding.

Yesterday on our way home we went by way of Croatan NF and Millis Road and 
located 2 more lifers for Glaeshia, 3 Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, and 
2  Bachman`s Sparrows. We also saw several Bobwhites, Yellow-breasted 
Chats, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, loads of Brown-headed Nuthatches and 
many other species..

On our way home we found  a colony of Least Terns delivering fish on top of 
a Food Lion just east of hwy 17 on hwy70. This was a first for me finding 
terns nesting on a roof. We also saw a Common  Nighthawk flying with the terns.

Randy Emmitt
Rougemont, NC

Randy Emmitt Photography
http://www.rlephoto.com
Carolina Butterfly Society webmaster
http://www.carolinabutterflysociety.org/