An Afternoon Walk at the Carolina Beach Lake

Okay, I have no idea what this sleeping bird is! It appears to be some sort of heron and my best guess was an immature yellow crowned night heron but I may be way off. He simply refused to wake up and was quite a distance away.




It's hard to call this a lake as it is really a small pond with a nice walkway around it (less than a mile) but there are always a variety of ducks and gulls there. The water has been relatively high lately when I drove by so I thought today would be a good day to take my camera and see what was there! Imagine my surprise when I found that the lake was almost completely drained and mostly just black muck remained. However, the good news was that the birds just loved it!! I got closer to some species than I ever have before (they had nowhere to run and hide). There were a plethora of birds of all kinds and even one I hadn't seen before! I felt like I was back in Florida as there were herons, snowy and great egrets, ibis and lots of Coots!


This is a pair of Lesser Scaups. Again according to my Stokes Field Guide to Birds, they can be differentiated by the shape of their heads and beaks with the Lesser Scaups having a peak on their heads while the Greater Scaups don't. I see the Greater Scaups on Lake Ontario. The male has the prettier black and white plummage.

I couldn't resist these Canada Geese who common as they are, still are quite a sight close up.

These are the American Coots which I have seen many times but usually at quite a distance.

Many many coots!

This is one of the Ruddy Ducks that were constantly diving while I was there. Here he perked up his tail just for picture taking.

Again another Ruddy Duck.

Even a Turkey Vulture flew right over my head!

Of course a snowy egret with his reflection in what little water there was.

There were also a lot of pelicans, gulls, a tri-color heron, fish crows and cowbirds. It was a nice afternoon treat!