We'll Just Rename this Beth's Birding Blog or I Finally Know Where all the Birds Have Been Hiding!!

Less and less quilting is getting done as low tide has beckoned me and my new lens to the beach.  How about this very colorful Great Blue Heron who was standing in the weeds at the Ft. Fisher basin.

It was a cloudy cold day but this male Kingfisher was hanging out on the pier.

The Dunlins were back in great number!!

This beautiful Snowy Egret made a visit and was joined by an Ibis and another Great Blue Heron.

He also took to standing on the pier near the Kingfisher.

This was the first time I had seen the  Hooded Mergansers and they were down by the basin on one of our very cold days.

Today, however, I met some fellow birders that I had met down here before.  They were heading to the elusive pond and took me along!!  Oh, my -- that is where all my ducks have been hiding plus a few that I hadn't seen before down here!

This of course is a Hooded Merganser with his crest up as opposed to the picture above. They are a beautiful bird and there were lots of them in this pond down by the Ft. Fisher aquarium.

This is a female Ruddy Duck -- I have seen these before at Carolina Beach Lake.

This is the male Ruddy Duck and I have only seen this one once before.

I believe this is a Common Goldeneye which I haven't seen down here before but have seen in Rochester.

I believe this is a male Gadwall in his mating plummage.

This is the female Gadwall.

This was a male and female Scaup.  I believe the female may be a Greater and the male a Lesser (he is on the right).  This is the first I have seen of these down here this year although I have seen many previous years.

I think this is a female Hooded Merganser but think I spotted a Common Merganser in the crowd as well.

This is a Pied Billed Grebe.  I have been seeing these at Carolina Beach Lake as well.

This is a closeup of the Pied Billed Grebe down at Carolina Beach Lake on a sunny day.

This is a Forster's Tern which was diving for fish as I watched over the basin.  They dart around unlike the gulls.

I am pretty sure t his is a Yellow Rumped Warbler from below. They are everywhere down here even in this ultra cold weather we have been having.