Burnt Mill Birding

Cape Fear Bird Observatory (CFBO) led a bird walk along Burnt Mill Creek on March 7, 2023, led by Jill Peleuses of Wild Bird & Garden and Evan Buckland, Managing Director of CFBO.

The group assembled at the Port City Java at 21st and Market Streets in Wilmington and headed out north along the creek. Participants included birders who were hoping to add species to their personal “life list” (the list of all the birds one has ever seen); others were just enjoying learning a little more about local birds. They traveled at a slow stroll characteristic of birders scanning the trees and shrubbery and pausing often to look through binoculars and the leaders’ spotting scopes. Buckland recorded all the species spotted; she later reported that the group had started at 7:54 a.m., walked a total of 2.19 miles in 197 minutes and recorded seeing 40 different kinds of birds.

Buckland used her phone to record all sightings on her eBird account, and later shared the online list with those in the group who wanted it. This allowed anyone who wanted to “accept” the checklist, so that all the birds recorded during the walk would be added to their personal list on eBird. eBird is a citizen science app one can use on a computer or phone to record birds one has seen.*

The group saw:

1 Wood Duck

1 Mourning Dove

1 Great Blue Heron

7 Turkey Vulture

1 Cooper’s Hawk

1 Accipiter sp.

1 Bald Eagle

2 Red-shouldered Hawk

2 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Belted Kingfisher

1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

2 Red-bellied Woodpecker

4 Downy Woodpecker

1 Pileated Woodpecker

2 Northern Flicker

1 Eastern Phoebe

2 Blue-headed Vireo

6 Blue Jay

3 American Crow

2 Fish Crow

8 Carolina Chickadee

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

3 Brown-headed Nuthatch

3 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

6 Carolina Wren

4 European Starling

2 Gray Catbird

2 Northern Mockingbird

5 Eastern Bluebird

15 Cedar Waxwing

3 House Sparrow

2 House Finch

2 White-throated Sparrow

1 Song Sparrow

1 Eastern Towhee

7 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Black-and-white Warbler

1 Pine Warbler

10 Yellow-rumped Warbler

5 Northern Cardinal

Total Number of Taxa: 40

The March walk was a fundraiser for the Cape Fear Bird Observatory, a not-forprofit organization offering programs for bird science and research in our community. Learn more about their work at www. capefearbirdobservatory.org. They and Wild Bird & Garden have several other birding trips planned. Find out what they’re doing at the Observatory website or at the new Wild Bird & Garden website, which is www.wildbirdandgarden.com.

*Note: Our publisher, who participated in the walk, was able to accept the shared list of 40 species so it would register on her own eBird account, but was able to delete the eight that had been seen by members of the group but not by her. That way she was credited with having seen just the 32 species she had seen herself.

Wild Bird & Garden has a new website: wildbirdandgarden.com. Sign up for their newsletter to stay current on events planned, sales of binoculars and other bird supplies and native plant sales.

Global Big Day is an annual celebration of the birds around you. No matter where you are, join in virtually on May 13, help celebrate World Migratory Bird Day and share the birds you find with eBird. Learn more at the eBird website: ebird.org.

Between February 17-20, more than 555,000 people around the world contributed 390,652 eBird checklists and shared 372,905 Merlin bird identifications during the 2023 Great Backyard Bird Count, delivering a record-breaking jump in participation over previous years as well as some interesting and unusual species highlights. Visit birdcount.org to learn how to participate in next year’s event.