Day 3 - Outer Banks Birding Trip - Cedar Island and Harkers Island

At the crack of dawn, we piled into the bus and headed for our next stop which was the ferry from Ocracoke to Cedar Island which is a 2 1/2 hour ride.  We hoped to see some loons and Northern Gannets on this ride.  It was a beautiful day finally!!  These are a group of Mallards right by the ferry.

I looked up and saw a flock of Tri-colored Herons flying overhead -- not a bird I am used to seeing in a flock!

I didn't see the Common Loon that some saw but this is a picture of one from the Coast Garden Station on that miserable Saturday.  He was swimming alongside a Red-breasted Merganser.

This is a Greater Black-backed Gull who was flying along the thermals with the ferry.

 He landed in the water here.

 This is a side view of the Greater Black-backed Gull.

These I believe are Herring Gulls who followed after us as well.

As we headed into the ferry terminal, I spotted this Red-breasted Merganser standing on the rocks by the jetty.  She was really far away.

We headed to the Cedar Island NWR but didn't spot anything but flocks overhead but hard to identify.  This is a look at the large Sawgrass marshes though.

Next on our agenda was Harkers Island and we spotted this beautiful Red-headed Duck by the marina.  You can see my camera has completely unfogged here but the ability to change settings is gone so into the camera shop it will go to see if it can be fixed.  If not, a new camera body is in my future.  

Another view of the Redhead.

I can't remember now but I think it was at Cedar Island that I saw my first Canvasback.  The light was not ideal and she was far away but here she is among a flock of American Coots.

She took a stretch here.

We saw a Common Yellowthroat here but this is a picture from Mattamuskeet as you couldn't see much of the bird in my picture from Cedar Island.

We took a walk around a pond at Harkers Island but really didn't see anything at all but the scenery was beautiful and you can see the bright blue sky reflected in this untouched photo!

Another view of the pond!