On The Road – Albatrossity – October at the Beach – Week 1

Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) are not found in my part of Flyover Country, although they are the expected chickadee in the southern tier of counties in Kansas. I have always been fond of chickadees, so i was delighted to spend some time in the ubiquitous company of these sprites, whose noisy chatter filled the woods on the mainland.

The chickadees were on the snack menu for this young Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperi), but I never saw her catch one. Or catch anything, for that matter, although I did spot her at least three or four times during our month there.

This Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans), on the other hand, found a nice fiddler crab for breakfast. It was fun getting to know the life cycles in the salt marshes, paying attention to the tide tables, and trying to predict when the abundant Clapper Rails might make an appearance in the open.

Another salt marsh denizen, this handsome Green Heron (Butorides virescens) made several appearances, but only once did it perch in the open on this picturesque dead snag.

During the month we were treated to the sight of many butterflies along the dunes behind the beach house. Monarchs were migrating nearly constantly; on nice days it was likely that several of them would be in sight at any moment. Cloudless Sulfurs were also common, but this Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) won the prize for most photogenic.

While watching the ocean one day, I noticed lots of splashing on the surface about 200-300 yards out to sea. Naturally I tried to get pictures of the critters doing all that splashing, and it turns out that these were Spinner Sharks (Carcharhinus brevipinna). One of my nephews got a drone and after receiving appropriate FAA authorization, flew it out over these splashes, and there were large schools of these fascinating creatures out there! The leaps out of the water result from the feeding style of these creatures; they charge through a school of fish, spinning rapidly and snapping their jaws to capture anything that gets in their way. If they are headed up, sometimes their momentum carries them out of the water. Here’s a slow-mo drone video that my nephew got one day.

The drone also picked up some other denizens of the nearshore waters, including this hammerhead shark. This is a frame capture from a drone video  (thanks, Andy!), and it certainly made us a bit more timid about swimming too far out there! I am not sure which species of hammerhead this is; perhaps someone among the jackalateriat can weigh in with an educated opinion.

Another ubiquitous bird was the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). These are not common at all where I live, but North Carolina seems to be crawling with them. We were serenaded at dawn most mornings by one that lived in the yard; they can be quite loud!

I had hoped to see and photograph lots of warblers, since they are uncommon where I live and theoretically lots more common along the eastern seaboard. I didn’t find a lot of warblers, but this Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) made an appearance in the yard one afternoon, and posed briefly for a portrait.