And then there were TWO!

On Monday, 8/20 around 3:30 PM one of the Wrightsville Beach Bird Stewards (WBBS) reported that she saw 2 big gray Black Skimmer chicks and 11 adult Black Skimmers!!!  One had just flown in and went behind the dunes with additional adults.  What a surprise!

Seven adult Black Skimmers, an Oystercatcher (CT4) and the second chick roosted in the posting for over 3 hours and then easily flew across the inlet. Here are two pictures of the second chick as seen through a scope.

 The Black Skimmer pair with our other chick (the one we banded #47) continued to roost by the point at the inlet while the other chick and Black Skimmers were in the posting. The new “field readable” #47 band was wonderful in allowing us to know exactly what bird we were looking at!  We are so thankful that we were able to capture and band our south end chick (banded #47), and we watched #47 easily move when beach goers approached and fly over the water and mimic skimming behavior.  Both of the Black Skimmer chicks continued the resting posture of lying flat on the ground and appear to disappear in the sand. 

Black Skimmer chick bathing in the surf
photo by Shelia White

BS chick dancing on the beach
photo by Shelia White

BS chick "skimming" in the surf
photo by Shelia White

BS chick playing in the surf
photo by Shelia White

We continue to see flocks of birds roosting on the south end either by the water or in the posting.  Sunday afternoon (8/19)  the WBBS saw a large flock of Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Least Terns and Common Terns.  We also have been seeing increasing numbers of Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Willets, Oystercatchers…and of course the Great Black Back Gull and Laughing Gulls. 

The birds are moving all the time now and if you happen to arrive when they decided to fly across the inlet and roost on the other side it seems like the nesting season is over but there is still much to see!

Our last bird walk of the season is planned for Monday, 8/27.

Nesting Season Slowing Down

The torrential rains on the south end of Wrightsville Beach have finalized the nesting of the Black Skimmers and the Common Terns that were nesting on the front of the dunes the last week of July.  On the last nest check (7/30) we had 12 active nests on the front dune and on the beach, but the storms and the heavy rainfall in the following days that week washed all the eggs out of the nests. 

THE GOOD NEWS… 

We have one strong and fast growing Black Skimmer chick to enjoy! And flying lessons have already begun for this little one.  

  

Here is our Black Skimmer chick practicing FLIGHT!! Notice it is only about 2 feet above the ground! A milestone.... If you zoom in, you can see its leg bands!

photo by Shelia White

On August 7 the chick was caught and bands were placed on its legs.  You will notice a metal band on its right leg and a black “field readable” band with white numbers…#47 on its left leg.  With this field readable band we have the possibility of easily seeing this chick when it returns to Wrightsville Beach in future years and knowing it was our 2018 special chick!!!  

We continue to see large groups of our Black Skimmers on the beach and in the inlet! There were 191 Black Skimmers in the colony the other day.  The birds are moving all the time now and if you happen to arrive when they decided to fly across the inlet and roost on the other side it seems like the season is over but it is not.  Large numbers are on the move because they do not have chicks to care for in the posted area.

Black Skimmers and Common Terns will randomly fly over the posted area and some Least Terns  and Royal Terns can occasionally be seen.