I had great expectations on birding from Nags Head to Litchfield Beach, S.C., but Mother Nature had other plans. Hurricane Maria was just strong enough to get me kicked off Hatteras and forced to use the land route to Beaufort, but it was an adventure nonetheless. On future trips, I plan to take more notes of the birds seen, but for this trip, I’ll just share some of the best images and move on. After sending the photos off to the Piping Plover researchers, I learned the banded Piping Plover found at New River Inlet was born in Canada, on the shores of Lake Erie. I added four species to my LIFE LIST – Ruff, Piping Plover, Roseate Spoonbill and Painted Bunting. Here is a summary of the 17 eBird reports I posted, totaling 107 species. Not bad considering Maria’s interference.

I was more than happy Sheree’ was able to come along for two days. We had a nice campsite at Pettigrew State Park, enjoyed the history of Somerset Place there, and then the adventure of Maria in Rodanthe. As Maria approached, Sheree’ headed back to Durham and I headed inland and south down to Cedar Point National Recreation Area, near Emerald Isle. Read more about the trip at our blog – Wild Places, Wild Birds.