White-throated Sparrow
Greenwood, DE

You cannot beat seeing this species in its breeding plumage.

01 Jan 2018

Dunlin
Huntington Beach SP, SC
Nov. 2017

Dunlin in winter plumage. Observed on the jetty at the North Beach of Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, SC. Several were stealing fisherman’s bait.

To read Part 1: Logistics click here.

Castle Howard
After a week of nothing but rain, I got a small reprieve. At least the overcast clouds made for dramatic photos.

I identified seven bases for my summer travels to England: London, Oxford, Hadrian’s Wall, Lake District, York, the Norfolk Coast, and Bath. Due to transportation and lodging difficulties, I would also spend a day and a half each in Carlisle and Cambridge. Once the logistical plans were complete, major travel and lodging booked, I could sit down and make daily itineraries.

Daily Itineraries

Setting daily itineraries that account for every minute of every day are not my thing. Instead, I allow for flexibility by identifying high priority locations and selecting a few nearby places to complement them. After identifying the bases from my Google Map I began to delete locations more than 1-2 hours from each base. I was still left with many more locations than I could visit in five weeks! Narrowing the list down was a difficult and arduous process. Several key questions and criteria helped me narrow down the choices:

• Did the travel time to and from a location, along with its opening and closing times, restrict my daily schedule?
• If I could only visit one location in a day, was there enough to do to keep me occupied?
• Are the locations that appear close on the map actually that close? Would it take more than an hour to get there by walking or public transit?
• Did public transit timetables affect the time I could spend in a place? (Ex. The first bus of the day arrives at 10 am but the last pickup is at 1 pm.)
• 

  Blenheim Palace has some restrictions on photography inside the house. There are still plenty of places to photograph around the property.

  Did the location allow photography? While I visited locations that didn’t allow photography (ex.: British Library exhibitions), this was a careful consideration when selecting sites.

• Budget: My ultimate goal was to maximize the amount of time spent overseas. Regularly going to expensive attractions would be counterproductive. Now that doesn’t mean I dismissed any attraction above an arbitrary threshold, I was just more selective. Most of the places I visited charged a fee around £5. Some charged up to £20-30, which equated to $26-40. Accommodating more expensive admission fees required sacrifices. This meant eliminating something else in my budget, pursuing discounts or committing to discounted advanced tickets and hoping the weather agreed.

Opening and Closing Times

Opening and closing times are perhaps the most frustrating part of travel, in my opinion. Most attractions I came across in England are open from 1000-1700. This is quite a narrow band if you like to visit more than two places in a day. Especially if they require travel time or if you want to take time out for lunch.

However, some attractions may extend their hours on a particular day of the week or time of the year. For example, the Roman Baths extend their hours to 2200 during the summer months and many museums in London open late one day of the week. For example, the British Museum opens late on Fridays. Looking for extended hours and incorporating them into the itinerary meant losing some flexibility. Luckily, many of these activities were indoors and would not need a backup in the event of inclement weather. Other time considerations included taking advantage of guided tours at different museums and attractions.

The Roman Baths, open until 2200 in the summer months, are lit by torches in the late evening.

Travel Times

Transportation was a complicated and tricky factor to consider throughout planning each section of my trip. Travel prices greatly vary depending on the mode and time of day. Thus, transportation played a large impact on developing my itineraries.

Planning to take my time on the trails means I’m in no hurry to get anywhere.

An important consideration when visiting an attraction, particularly those out-of-town, must come down travel time. Are you spending more time getting to a location than you might spend there? This effectively eliminated many of the excursions on my short-lists. The notion of spending two hours on a bus to spend three hours at a location didn’t make economic sense. As a result, I removed locations like Stonehenge from my list. This didn’t completely discourage me from taking day trips, but if the destinations didn’t offset the cost and time of transportation I couldn’t justify going.

Walking time also had to be a consideration. While Google Maps helps calculate and give options for walking times, it was important to consider my personal walking time. This was where training for my trip came in handy! Google Maps generally calculates walking times around 3 mph, or 20-minute miles. Nowhere in my vacation did I even consider a walking speed of 3 mph! Unless the distance covered less than half a mile I generally rounded half an hour into each mile for hiking distances and 15 minutes to a city mile. At least if I ended up walking faster it gave me more time to explore a destination.

Avoid the Crowds

I hate crowds! Personal space is something to be respected! I don’t like wading through crowds of people or standing in obscenely long lines. Crowds of people in my photos are also something I like to avoid. As a result, I effectively took places like Westminster Abbey off my list.

While crowding is usually a given in most city sightseeing areas, there are usually tips provided by attraction websites or on sites like TripAdvisor on how to avoid it. When conducting research for destinations like Blenheim Palace I was able to identify when the tour buses arrive or leave. This allowed me to plan a little smarter.

Being one of the first people in the building has its perks!

Smaller Considerations

• It is also worth noting that you cannot visit most museums in just a few hours and do them justice! I researched and identified a few key galleries that I did not wish to miss and visited those first. If I had additional time, I would wander. Most people don’t enjoy spending all day in a museum, so it is best to go with a game plan.
• Sunrise & Sunset Times: As a photographer, this is something that I think about, but it is not important to all travelers. England, in the north, experiences longer days than my home. For my visit, civil twilight in London extended from 0400-2200, while in the north civil twilight extends from 0330-2300. I did research 1-2 places for city and/or landscape views at sunrise or sunset for each base of my trip. Since taking sunrise or sunset pictures would not interfere with my sightseeing times and only my sleep I wanted to attempt one sunrise or sunset shoot at each base, weather permitting. In reality, it didn’t happen. When considering architectural photography I took into account the direction of lighting at the beginning and end of the day. Directional lighting in a cathedral is more photogenic than harsh overhead light in the middle of the day. This meant looking at maps and determining the orientation of buildings to determine which cardinal direction they faced. I was able to do this with the help of Google Maps.
• Weather Back-ups. There is a phrase that rings true no matter where you visit: “there is no bad weather, only incorrect clothing.” While I don’t know who to attribute the quote, the saying is very much true. No one likes bad weather to ruin their holiday, but I think I managed to stave off most disappointment. Flexibility is the key when planning, but creating interchangeable itinerary days helps immensely when faced with unexpected weather. I grouped indoor and outdoor items together in the itinerary such as a morning outdoors and evening indoors. I also scheduled either a half or full-day free at each base. This allows for some movement of individual items or whole days in the itinerary when necessary.Unfortunately, while point-to-point hiking at Hadrian’s Wall this was not an option. Setting up time along the trail where I returned to the same lodging location enabled me to choose to take a day off if necessary.
• The last day of my trip was left totally open to allow me some freedom. I could revisit a place, visit what I missed, or do a last-minute splurge to an attraction.
• Special Events, Concerts, Tours & Exhibitions: This particular category caused my plans the most grief. Many attractions do not list complete lists of concerts, talks, and exhibitions until one or two months out. I knew I wanted to attend several particular events. I had to wait, agonizingly, until late spring to view the events calendars. Having set my itinerary early using all of the tips above, this proved to the
  

  Last minute add-in event: Turma! Roman calvary event in Carlisle. Definitely worth the inconvenience of shifting my itinerary last-minute.

  hardest consideration to accommodate. Last minute additions to my itinerary had to be carefully evaluated as to how they would interfere with my plans. Would it move another item, decrease valuable transportation time or require that another item be completely removed? Case in point, the addition of the Turma! between my bases at Hadrian’s Wall and the Lake District created a headache that was well worth the effort. Adding in the two-hour event in Carlisle meant rearranging important transportation transfers in both Carlisle and the transfer in Penrith. This meant taking the last bus from Penrith to Patterdale, which to me was risky. Other special events included concerts such as the lunchtime concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, evensong and classical performances at Cathedrals and Churches, talks and lectures at various museums.

In the end, whatever I missed only gives me the excuse to visit again.

When, is the only question!

Blog posts on my summer trip to England are long overdue! While I’m sure most of my readers are more interested in the pictures and itineraries, I feel that it is also important to explain how I planned for a 5-week solo trip overseas.

Tower Bridge
Taken from the Thames, about the Thames Clipper service

Logistics of a Long Trip

I spent the better part of 8 months planning, booking and building an itinerary for a 35-day trip to England. The majority of this time was spent on overall logistics and building itineraries.

My Planning Style

Rain, Rain…go away!
@ Vindolanda
The paving stones meant to allow you to cross the stream to the temple are completely flooded thanks to non-stop rain for most of my trip at Hadrian’s Wall.

I cannot bring myself to go on a vacation without a plan; whether it is for a day or a week. For me, this does not mean planning every minute of every day. Simply put, the task of creating and using a daily itinerary gives me a piece of mind. It allows me to enjoy myself more than if I were to wing it and feel like I missed something. My itineraries usually allow for flexibility and include research for back-ups when weather and transportation snafus require detours. In my previous travels, I have dealt with these occasions resourcefully and with a care-free attitude. English weather made sure that my planning was tested this time around as well.

Setting up a Structure

The prospect of moving my luggage to a new lodging every day or two was unappealing. For this reason, I decided to create “bases” from which I could explore an area for 3-5 days. The most daunting part of planning a trip of this magnitude was to identify where to visit and how long to stay.

Choosing my Bases

Weeding out my impossibly large bucket list was a grueling task.

Screen Shot of Google Maps for Base: London
Amazingly I did more than half of the items marked on this map! (In 9 days, of course.)

I used Google Maps to add possible attractions I was interested in. Useful sites for research included the National Trust, English Heritage, and the Historic Houses Association. After adding the possibilities to the map, then began the weeding process. My first criteria for culling was simple: which places could I visit by public transit without walking more than 1 mile. If I had to walk more than that, was the location somewhere I could spend all day (ex. Blenheim Palace)? I also compared and eliminated similar sites. For example, how many museums on Roman history did I really need to go to? This managed to narrow down my sites into reasonable geographical pockets to make bases.

My final itinerary focused on 7 regional or city bases. Off the bat, several bases were non-optional: Hadrian’s Wall, London, and York. Of the remaining areas I used several criteria to narrow down my bases:

1. Transportation options to get to and from the chosen base.
2. Available transportation options to the attractions near that base.
3. Available budget accommodation.
4. Enough attractions or things to do to fill several days.

Despite missing a few items on my must-see list, the additional bases I settled on were Oxford, the Lake District, Bath, and the Norfolk Coast. I ended up spending only one night each in both Carlisle and Cambridge due to breaks in transportation between bases. I also split my time in London to spend time at the beginning and end of my trip there.

Travel Between Bases

The next big decision to make was what order to move from base to base, what time of the day to travel and what mode of transportation to take.

A circular route would be more favorable, both due to cost and to reduce travel time between bases. However, some of the bases I chose were centered around specific events which complicated the order. I was also constrained by the availability of lodging due to some festivals. Not to mention, the Lake District can book up months in advance, something I did not plan for (surprisingly).

An important consideration was what time of the day to travel. My preference is to travel in the early morning or late evening to maximize sightseeing hours during times that many attractions are open: 1000-1700.

While train travel is faster, it is also more costly. I compared the cost, timetables of available routes and length of travel time using the research tools of Rail Journey Planner (train), Megabus and National Express (both coach bus). I created a plan utilizing both rail and bus routes between bases. Some transfers were a combination of both because rail travel can’t get you everywhere! With the exception of one transfer that involved an overnight bus, none of the base transfer legs took more than three hours, and most were less than two.

Lodging Reservations

YHA London St Pancras
View from the room at the hostel. Not a bad view for the start of my trip.

Lodging was by far the most complicated and stressful part of the planning process due to my budget.  The majority of lodgings available to me would be hostels, bunkhouses or cheaper B&Bs. The majority of my bookings were made through the YHA Hostels.

I did utilize TripAdvisor to check reviews, however, I always take these with a grain of salt and try to read a lot of current reviews to get a feel for the places. Many people have a varying degree of tolerance for certain features of a place and I don’t tend to be picky at all. I certainly don’t care if the cafe is awful at a place if I don’t plan to eat there. I purchased a membership with Hostelling International which entitled me to a discount when I checked in to the YHA hostels.

Not everything goes according to plan…

Unfortunately, this process did not go without a hitch. When I began to make my reservations, about five months prior to leaving, I came to realize that some of my chosen accommodations were already booked or were booking up fast! This caused a cascade of revisions to several parts of my trip:

• Apparently, lodging along Hadrian’s Wall is scarce and gets booked up fast! Even the back-ups I had identified were booked! I had to resort to booking two nights at a mid-range B&B rather than the bunkhouses I originally planned on. On the plus side, I got my own room and bathroom for two nights. Oh, and the hot breakfast was nice too! (More about this place later!)
• Budget lodging in the Lake District also books up early! I emailed a few places in hopes that I could find an opening even though they showed no vacancy online. No luck. Unfortunately, I had to cut my time short in the Lake District, spend a night in Carlisle and add a day to my base in York. I think I would like to revisit this area when I return to visit Scotland or Wales.
• Many hostels are closed on weekdays during term times (when schools are in session) or off-peak times. For my June and early July bases, some of the hostels had limited dates and/or availability. This complicated my stay in Cambridge and in York. In Cambridge, I had to shorten my stay to one night and push two nights to the Norfolk leg of my trip. (Not a loss!) This also required me to seek more expensive lodging in York for three of the five nights at that base. But again, this meant I got my own room for a few nights, so it was not a loss either.

Luggage Storage

This was the first extended trip I planned without access to a car. My goal was to keep the total weight of my bags under 30 lbs/14 kg. (I did this!) For a few days along Hadrian’s Wall I would have to carry all of my items for several miles. This goal also allowed me to bring back souvenirs and stay under the airline baggage weight limit.

Part of my planning process required researching options for luggage storage. Left luggage facilities are becoming extinct. Heightened security has seen many of these services become discontinued. Most rail stations do not offer self-service lockers anymore (do any of them?). I had to choose hostels or B&Bs that provided some form of luggage storage before and after check-out. In the case of the hostels, this required renting a locker or paying a fee. It was helpful to search the reviews on TripAdvisor for more information and read the experiences of other travelers on this matter.

On most days I stored my backpack at my accommodation and carried my day bag around town. When selecting a day bag, I chose one that could easily fit inside of the larger backpack on the days that required me to carry all of my things. This also meant leaving enough space in my backpack to accommodate all of my things!

Along Hadrian’s Wall I utilized a baggage transfer service that moved my luggage between accommodations so I was able to carry less while hiking long distances. These services are common along the long-distance trails in the UK.

Up Next…Part 2: Building my Itineraries

The school year is well under way and I’m already feeling overwhelmed. I have not been able to go out birdwatching since August! However, this has not kept me from keeping my eyes on the horizon. Plans are developing for a 10-day trip to Texas for Spring Migration in April. I am working on a slew of posts about my trip to England. I can’t wait to share many of the thousands of pictures I took and my many experiences. Most importantly, I can’t wait to do it again!

For now, I’ll leave a map preview of my April plans:

Birding Hotspots for Texas 2018 trip

Click here to view this photo book larger

Okay, I am running quite late reporting on my December trip. In my last post I mentioned that a nice couple we met at Pea Island NWR told us about a photography hide on the northern end of North Pond. We ate a late lunch at the hotel and downloaded photos from our morning hike. Afterwards, we headed out again for the photography hide.

A beautiful sunset was developing as we headed south. We did not have a lot of time, but we stopped off at Bodie Island Lighthouse for a peek at the observation deck overlooking the pond and marsh. This area is accessed from a boardwalk to the far left of the lighthouse. Superb directional lighting on feeding Northern Shovelers and Pintails was a nice treat.

Northern Shoveler
Bodie Island Lighthouse Pond
Dec. 2016

Northern Pintail
Bodie Island Lighthouse Pond
Dec. 2016

Northern Pintail
Bodie Island Lighthouse Pond
Dec. 2016

After spending about 30 minutes here we headed back to the photography blind on the North Pond. I was very happy to find the Marbled Godwit again. Two of them were close to the blind, feeding among a large flock of Avocet. The lighting was not ideal because most of the birds were back-lit. We stayed until just before sunset to observe the birds.

Marbled Godwit
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

Marbled Godwit
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

Marbled Godwit
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

Dunlin
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

American Avocet (B&W)
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

With the recent snowfall I now have some time to sit down and put on paper some resolutions and expand or extend some current goals. As a teacher I usually evaluate my years from July to June rather than January to December, so January is usually a check-in month for my financial and personal goals. This will be a long post, but I really would like the accountability of having this out there! One of the nice things to make this go by faster is the nice activity out the window:

Hermit Thrush
High Rock Lake, NC
Jan. 2017

Pine Warbler
High Rock Lake, NC
Jan. 2017

2016 Was a Great Year!

Despite the shit-show that was 2016 in politics, my 2016 was a great year. My biggest accomplishment by far was being named Teacher of the Year by my peers! My aversion to spotlight has kept me from boasting, but I am humbled by this honor and I hope, so far, that I have done everything that I can to live up to it! I had two Honors Earth Science classes in the spring, the first Honors classes I have taught in my career. I had loads of fun with them and was able to design some fun labs and activities with them! They were such good sports.

I paid off my credit card in March, but this plus was short-lived. I did pay off my hearing aids, which I purchased at the end of November in 2015. After a year of use, I can say without a doubt, this was one of the best decisions I have made for my personal health. It is amazing how much of an impact they have made on my behavior and my confidence.

My decision to travel abroad was made clear and I aligned many financial decisions to making this dream a reality! Planning this trip has been a most wonderful experience. In another life I think I would have had fun as a travel agent.

By the end of 2016 my credit score, as reported by my bank, has soared to a number I am VERY happy with. I have a love-hate relationship with money, so budgeting and watching my accounts is compulsive for me. Years of paying down debt and wisely managing my financial choices has paid off!

I had several birding trips that added a few new species to my list. While on spring break in Delaware with Teddy we found Purple Sandpipers and Brant. In May, a rarity was spotted just up the road from me. A Brown Booby was found far inland at Lookout Shoals Lake. Despite the very hot weather this summer, my mom and I took a short trip to Charleston for some summer coastal birding. New species for me were Gull-billed Tern, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Common Gallinule and Painted Buntings. I regret not getting a good picture of the last one. The last highlight of the year was finding Wilson’s Snipe at my usual haunt: Pee Dee NWR.

Brant
Delaware Seashore SP
April 2016

Brown Booby
Lookout Shoals Lake, NC
June 2016

Yellow-crowned Night-heron
Donnelley WMA, SC
July 2016

Black-bellied Whistling-duck
Donnelley WMA, SC
July 2016

Common Gallinule
Caw Caw Interpretive Center, SC
July 2016

Wilson’s Snipe
Pee Dee NWR
Dec. 2016

…But there were a few downs.

I had a few back-and-forth trips to the vet with a sick dog this year. Thankfully the situation has been remedied by a diet change and all things seem to be back to normal. I had to cancel a week-long trip to Maine because of it. A few more injuries kept me in and out at the vet’s. Man, I LOVE them (and they probably love me too)!

I had to have my car engine repaired in early 2016. In part due to my own negligence and another part due to the nature of the problem. I thought it was a braking problem. We looked for and changed a different, smaller, problem before realizing the issue was bigger. While fixing the engine was cheaper than getting a new car, this fix required me to dip both into my savings and my credit card.

Though not really an up or down, I moved this year. Financially it was a smart move and it will make my travel goal more reachable. However, it did not affect my long commute (only 0.1 miles difference) so no boost to my gas budget. I also became a roommate. After five years, and for the better part of 10 years, of living on my own, this has taken some getting used to.

Upcoming Trip

There is just a little more than 23 weeks to go until my first overseas trip! My itinerary is pretty full, although I left at least one day at each of my bases free. I’ll be visiting London, Oxford, Hadrian’s Wall, Lake District, York, Wells-next-the-Sea, and Bath for a total of 35 days. I tend to over-plan my trips, but I do not get upset if I get side-tracked or miss something. This just gives me a good excuse to visit again!

I budgeted $4200 for this 35-day trip. The day total does not including the day of plane travel and airport transport on the day before landing in London and round-trip travel to Baltimore. My budget includes these days and additional to/from travel costs like gas and dog boarding. It is predicated on a currency exchange rate (USD-GBP) of 1.4, which is currently 1.229! If the exchange rate falls below 1.15 I will go ahead and get a TipPak from AAA.

My plane ticket and all but four of my lodging places are booked, so the trip is shaping up just as I envisioned. I booked a ticket for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London back in October as this opportunity books up fast! I still need to book some long-distance travel by train and bus in-between bases, but that will take place 12-16 weeks out. When the concert tickets for both the York Early Music Festival and the Proms come out I will be purchasing those tickets in advance as well. I will continue to keep an eye out for the season at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, since I was not moved by the summer selection at the Globe.

Goals I Need to Work On

I started the school year with ten major goals. I usually start with large goals that can easily be broken down into weekly or monthly (numerical) benchmarks. There are several goals I am behind on:

1. Walking: Unfortunately, I am probably the most sedentary I have been in my entire life. This is a terrible realization. This summer I moved, which brought me to a better neighborhood. I hoped to walk 500 miles before leaving for my trip, which originally amounted to 10 miles per week. My trip will require a fair bit of walking and about two of the five weeks will require between 5-12 miles per day of hiking. For about two months I was on target, when it was warm and I had the summer off. Once school started and after daylight savings time I fell off track. If I modify my original goal down to 300 miles, still an impressive goal, I can still keep my weekly goal at around 10 miles. For now, I can aspire to complete this on the weekends until daylight savings time begins giving me more evening light.
2. Lose Weight: I really wanted to lose 25 pounds before leaving on my trip. I am the heaviest I have ever been. Numbers on a scale are not the only measure of my unhappiness in this respect. I am also the most sedentary I have ever been. When I set this goal I had to lose approximately 2 pounds per month, which I felt was a reasonable goal. Unfortunately I have not been making progress on this goal. While I have not gained any weight, I have been fluctuating within 5 pounds of my original starting weight. I am adjusting my original mark and hope to lose 20 pounds before June 1st, which would require a drop of about 4 lbs per month, a very ambitious goal.
3. Reading: I use Shrook as a means of keeping up with several blogs and RSS news feeds and use iTunes for Podcasts to listen to while I commute. Whenever setting up a feed I set it to delete any unread entries after seven days. This keeps space open for a more diverse news feed. I hoped to develop a habit of spending at least 10-30 minutes a day reading, but this has not happened. I usually keep a journal of thoughts/questions while reading and follow up with additional research. This method helps me learning more about finance, politics, photography and birds. Truthfully, I just need to train myself to get up a little earlier and do this while eating breakfast. (As if I wanted to get up earlier than 0500!)
4. Credit Card. As always, car trouble and emergency vet bills keep me in credit card debt. After successfully paying it off in early 2016 my balance has burgeoned up to a unsuitable (for me) balance by the end of 2016. Since my focus at the moment has been to save as much for my trip, paying my credit card down to a $0 balance before I leave in June would be unfeasible. I hope to pay it down to under $200 which should be manageable by boosting my monthly payment by 25%. I DO NOT intend to charge anything associated with my summer travel to my credit card! My large budget includes a modest amount for unexpected costs and souvenirs.

Goals on Track

Ending on a good note, there are several goals that I am on track for:

1. Increase upper body strength: While self-explanatory in its importance, I admit this goal has an ulterior motive. Increased upper body strength will help me keep steady my birding camera. At nearly 5 pounds, hand-holding this for about 30 minutes to an hour can cause some serious issues for sharp photos. I have a variety of upper body workouts and there is nothing wrong with old-fashioned push-ups. My friend Julie let me accompany her to a workout class at a Gold’s Gym about two months ago. I felt that burn for a few days!
2. Processing Photos: With the exception of just six species, I have photographed every species on my bird list. Over the years, I have greatly improved my photography techniques and upgraded to better equipment. Using Adobe Lightroom, I catalog all of the photos I take on my travels and keyword all bird photos by species. Regularly, I evaluate the photos by culling the least favorite 10-20% of each species. This requires/allows me to continuously rotate the photos on this website and study my favorite photos, improving my eye and technique.
3. Money Market: A few years ago I created a dedicated travel account with my bank. I automatically deposit $100 a month into this account on payday. This usually covers all of my yearly travel. In order to save for this monstrous month-long trip to England, I needed to supplement my account with an extra $50 a week starting last June. My priority in June was to pay off my hearing aids, which I did in October. After that goal was realized, I simply siphoned the amount I was paying to my money market account which is keeping me on track for my trip budget.

FYI…

As a side note, I noticed that when doing searches on my website that the links seem to be broken. I am researching this issue and hope to have it corrected soon. I also need to finish the content for two posts about my winter trip to the Outer Banks in December 2016.

Here’s to a wonderful 2017,

Charlene

(Note: All pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

My mother and I went to Dare and Hyde Counties in NC this week for a few days of dedicated birding. While I won’t recount each day’s events I do want to touch on some highlights of the trip. Of considerable note is the generosity and kindness of fellow birders. Everyone we met and talked with was polite and forthcoming with tips; even if just to chat about what was seen for the day.

Day 1:

Pungo Lake: We attempted to go to the Pocosin Lakes NWR Pungo Lake unit and were unable to find a feasible entry. A detour is in effect along Hwy 99/45. After evaluating road conditions and going around the detour we decided to instead continue on to Lake Matamuskeet NWR. I have heard great things about Pungo Lake, so I will resolve to visit soon.

Lake Mattamuskeet NWR (Wildlife Drive): Due to the detour from Hwy 99/45 we approached the refuge via State Rd. 1304 and saw many Belted Kingfishers along the power lines. The clouds parted for a few minutes offering some exceptionally well lit Tundra Swans. For the most of our visit the weather was chilly and overcast. By far, the most abundant species was the Northern Pintail. Along Hwy 94 we noticed a photo blind about half a mile south of the wildlife drive start. We visited here on our way out of the refuge and were surprised to find it to be a good vantage point. The scarcity of foliage allowed many of the nearby ducks to see us as we walked up. By time we reached the blind all but the coots were left in the vicinity.

Northern Pintail
Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Dec. 2016

Northern Pintail
Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Dec. 2016

Belted Kingfisher
Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Dec. 2016

Tundra Swan
Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Dec. 2016

Alligator River NWR:
This was my first visit during this time of year. The impoundments were flooded and much of the waterfowl were far back away from the wildlife drive. It must have been the “Day of the Kingfisher” as we saw more than a dozen during the entire day! I’m a little disappointed that my photo of the Kestrel was not quite all in focus.

Belted Kingfisher
Alligator NWR
Dec. 2016

American Kestrel
Alligator River NWR
Dec. 2016

Pea Island NWR: We  left home early enough that we still had enough daylight to pop down to Pea Island NWR. Our first stop was the Old Coast Guard Station in hopes of finding Purple Sandpipers. In the end, no Sandpipers but a Willet did make an appearance. We continued south to the North Pond Wildlife Trail. Despite that we were losing light fast, I am rather pleased with a series featuring a White Ibis in flight. One of the shots I have included below.

Willet
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

Willet
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

Willet
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

White Ibis
Pea Island NWR
Dec. 2016

The, if not one of the, most beautiful ducks! This photo is of captive ducks residing at the Sylvan Heights Bird Park. My go-to place to see them in the wild are at the Pee Dee NWR in Anson County, NC.

Wood Duck (captive)
Sylvan Heights Bird Park
Nov. 2014