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| Photo by Lindsay Addison Coastal Biologist, NC Audubon |
Our weekly Monday Bird Walks for the general public have started. Walks meet at 9 AM at the gazebo at Beach Access 43. They happen every Monday (even in the rain) from May through mid-August.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK…
- Ruddy Turnstones are migrating to their Arctic nesting locations, however, we have several that have stopped over on the south end and have been seen in the posting. Ruddy Turnstones forage by flipping over stones, shells, and wrack (Beach wrack or marine wrack is organic material such as seagrass, driftwood and other debris deposited at high tide on beaches and other coastal areas) looking for insects and small crabs, but they are also opportunistic and are known egg predators. When a nesting bird is disturbed and off its nest the Ruddy Turnstones quickly peck the eggs open to get at the tasty yolk inside.
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| Photo by Gretchen Schramm |
- We have a large number of Black Skimmers, and many are continuing courtship behaviors and have begun nesting. Courtship behaviors include fish presentations, scraping (making their nest), pair bonding displays (coordinated movements and standing near each other), and actually mating. Once a pair has eggs in their scrape, you can watch them incubate by sitting down in the scrape and swapping out.
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| Photo by Gretchen Schramm |
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| Photo by Gretchen Schramm |
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| Photo by Gretchen Schramm |
- There are hundreds of Least Terns nesting and sharing incubation duties in the shells in the front of the posting. Many people won’t notice them because they blend in so well with the sand. The parent birds bond with physical closeness during egg laying and shared responsibility of incubating the eggs, by regularly switching out who is on the nest.
The first Least Tern chick was seen Thursday (5/15) morning around 11:30 a.m. These videos were taken by Hannah White using a scope.
- We have several pairs of Common Terns that are incubating nests in the front area of the posting among the Least Terns and Black Skimmers.
- This week we are watching the oystercatcher pair (EMY & unbanded) for scraping behaviors. They lost their nest last week but are remaining together on the beach. We are hopeful that because the nest was lost early in the nesting cycle, that they will try again. A Bird Steward saw the Oystercatchers mating on Sunday (5/11) afternoon!
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