Chicks Continue to Make Appearances

Photo by Jeff Hall

 WILLETS (WILL)

We had two Willet families make an appearance on the beach with chicks this week.   

Wednesday morning (5/31) one pair of Willets with five (yes 5!) chicks came out of the dunes and went to the water What a thrill!  Both parents were with all the chicks and it was fun to see them try to keep them together going to the water and back up into the dunes. 

Another pair of Willets brought 4 chicks to the water early Thursday morning (June 1).  Willet chicks are so adorable and it is a rare event to be able to see them when the parent birds bring their chicks to the beach!  

AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS (AMOY)

The Oystercatcher pair, EMY & unbanded, lost their 2 chicks sometime Thursday night (6/1).  There was a “territorial dispute” between the two Oystercatcher pairs and misbehavior from beachgoers that evening that may have played a part…including fireworks and a campfire.   We really don’t know the specifics, but sadly the adult birds are now on the beach without chicks.

CT4 & CFO and chick have been seen throughout the week and are walking around throughout the posting even in the area by Beach Access 43 and the Gazebo.  Watch for feeding activity at low tide.  

As some of you may know, CFO has a transmitter and we placed the data logger (receiver) next to the posting hoping to gather data from her this week.  The logger was successful and when downloaded there were 2000 hits.  We learned  that CF0 wintered in Cape Romain, South Carolina.

COMMON TERNS (COTE)

Common Terns were seen feeding two chicks on the east side of the posting (ocean side) this week.  Again, watch for parent birds coming in with fish and follow them with your binoculars and they will lead you to the chicks.

BLACK SKIMMERS (BLSK)

Black Skimmers are nesting again after a couple of days of grieving the loss of their first nests.  Courtship activities including fish presentations, scraping and mating have been seen and they are spreading out into the interior of the posting.  

We have a number of skimmers who have returned to Wrightsville Beach and saw one skimmer that was banded about 8 years ago!  One skimmer has a white band which means it was banded in Virginia.