| General Comments |
This Tropical waterbird, found in the warmer portions of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, had been expected on the state's bird list for several decades, ever since numerous pelagic trips had been taken off our coast starting in the 1980's. The first state record was one seen and photographed "from a cruise ship nearly 200 miles at sea, assigned to Carteret County by closest point of land", on 8 Jun 2019* [Chat 85:139 link]. Acceptance of photographs by the NC BRC places the species directly onto the Definitive List. One of the most remarkable sightings ever in the state was the finding of a dark-morph bird sitting on a boardwalk railing over Yates Mill Pond (Wake) on the surprisingly early date of 3 Mar 2023* [Chat 87:57 link], [Chat 88:25-26 link], [Chat 88:53 link]. Many dozens of people saw and photographed the bird, and photos are on the Carolina Bird Club Photo Gallery. This may be the farthest inland record anywhere for this strictly ocean-going species. The third state record was a dark-morph bird photographed perched on a boat railing well off Oregon Inlet (Dare) on 11 Jul 2025 [Chat 89:146 link]; this report is expected to be reviewed by the NC BRC. Thus, even through 2025, despite hundreds and hundreds of pelagic trips taken by birders off the NC coast, none of the three state records was reported from any of them, despite two of the three being well offshore. |
