Who likes Wood Storks?

The answer of course is “We like Wood Storks” a la the Royal Teens 1958 call and response classic “Who wears short shorts?”

I bring that up for two reasons. The first is so that my reader(s) can appreciate the title in the way it was intended. To whit, a simple question “Who likes Wood Storks?” answered “yes” (because obviously, I don’t want to meet the person who doesn’t like Wood Storks) is apropos, but not at all funny. But referring to a ridiculous novelty song? High-larious. The second is so that those same readers realize the amount of preparation and focus group testing that goes into writing a blog title. In fact, “Who likes Wood Storks?” tested well, though not exceptionally, across the board, beating out such co-contenders as “Alas poor Wood Stork, I knew him well” which tested well among 300 year old British readers and “Wood Storks and boobs”, tops only with 13 year old boys, who also appreciate gratuitous use of the words “bitchin” and “ass”.

Blog title having been sufficiently appreciated, now we go to the birds. Saturday morning found me out with a big group of people from the local bird supply store back out at Jordan Lake. We haven’t gotten any measurable rain since my last visit a month ago, so the water level was even lower than it was then. Apparently the area only has enough water for four more months which is a little alarming, North Carolina is turning into a desert. This is exactly what people around here should have prepared for after years of rampant development without any thought to what the actual region can support. It’s just stupid that they think that suburban growth around here, with acres of manicured lawns and golf courses, can continue unabated. But I run the risk of ranting off-topic so I’ll leave it at that. Low water, while bad for farmers and home-owners has made for an unbelievable fall for shorebirds though.

So we went off to Jordan Lake for those very shorebirds, 15 people with 3(!) scopes, one was mine, not good odds. It was a beginner heavy crowd, which is fine, I feel an obligation sometimes to share what I know about birds like so many did for me when I was just starting, though shorebirds can be a little rough for novices. But more people into nature and pro-habitat conservation is a good thing in my book and if I can give back a little by hoping some enthusiasm rubs off while trying to show people an eclipse Northern Shoveler in my scope and explaining exactly what “eclipse” means while practically shaking with excitement to scope a mixed flock of shorebirds sitting maddeningly a hundred yards away and yet they can’t find the Shoveler who I put right in the middle of the scope view and the shorebirds are looking like they’re gonna spook and people keep stepping in front of me to see a damn duck and.…ARRGGHHHH!!!! (deep breaths)

Enough exposition, you all know how it can be. And I can’t complain that much, the birds were by and large cooperative and I did have a really good morning. The walk out to the good mudflats was shorter cause of the lower water and we didn’t have to go far to find good birds. In fact as soon as we saw the lake there was a large exposed flat that had several Egrets (Great) and Herons (Great and Blue). Folks started preparing themselves for the deathmarch up to the far flats but I says to myself, I says, “Let’s have a look here”. No sooner had I put the bins up to my eyes, than six of those Egrets turned into juvenile Wood Storks, the very same Wood Storks that had been reported earlier in the week and the very reason we had come out here. Great birds, especially for our region and perfect for beginners. While everyone was ooohing and aaahing at the storks (very ooh and aah worthy birds), I checked out the flat for any interesting shorebirds and found an apparent Black-bellied Plover. The words were just out of my mouth then I realized that this bird was different. In fact, it was an American Golden-Plover, also somewhat out of range. Another great bird for our area, and not even close to all. While I watched the plover with a small group of Lesser Yellowlegs, a Wilson’s Phalarope ran into my scope view. All three vagrants within a quarter-mile of our cars and within 100 meters of each other. Wild. And a bit bewildering to the rookies as they tried to figure out why we scope-carrying few were so excited over a basic-plumaged Phalarope (mostly gray) and Plover (mostly brown).

So having looked at these birds sufficiently we walked up the flats another half mile or so to find some other shorebirds and several Blue-winged Teal that also contained the hard to spot Shoveler mentioned earlier. When I finally got my scope back and turned it on the shorebirds they were mostly Least, Semipalm and Pectoral Sandpipers, but also at least one Baird’s and one Western, very exciting. Parsing shorebirds can be tiring for even some experienced birders, so you can imagine a few folks were ready to go back, especially as the sun was coming out from behind the clouds and the temperature was creeping upwards. Many left, but three of us that remained decided to walk a little further up and see if there was anything else worth finding. It was a good thing we did too, even just a few hundred meters further we found two more Golden-Plovers and a beauty of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. One of my very fav shorebirds and I had forgotten to bring along my camera. Too bad too cause I would have had some good pictures of it, and by good I mean slightly blurry and barely recognizable.

So it was a much better morning than I expected, and with four new birds for the year for me, all vagrants. And the Wood Storks were nice too, maybe they’ll stick. Just a couple years ago Anhingas were considered really good birds for the area then one year we saw several and the very next year they started nesting so now they’re all over the place. Could Wood Storks be next? That would be really wild and really great. So although the landbird migration has been slow so far this year, the shorebird flight has really been one for the ages, it’s great to take advantage.