Recently I took a quick trip down Murrells Inlet SC to see what kinds of birds were spending the winter south off the Raleigh area. One species in particular I looking forward too seeing again were this pair of Limpkins which have been calling a neighborhood drainage pond in SC home over the past year.
The fact that these birds are here in South Carolina is pretty special because the Limpkins typical home range extends from south Florida to central and South America. But what is the thing that is keeping them here?
The answer is snails. Apple Snails to be precise! While they certainly consume a fair amount of mollusks, worms, amphibians and insects the Limpkins favorite food is the Giant Apple Snail. In fact their bills are bent and twisted at the tip, a unique physical adaptation solely developed for removing the snails from the shell. Even during courtship the Apple Snail plays a part as the males will feed their mates the slimy snack in an effort to win her affection. Apparently that tactic has worked in the case of these two birds since they successfully nested and raised several chicks in this location last year.
I’m hoping that this spring will yield another successful nesting season for the pair and am looking forward to seeing little ones running around the shoreline in May.
There is a book/movie called The Big Year which I think every bird lover should watch. Based on a true story, it is about a few obsessed birders who spend a year traveling the country to see as many birds as they can. It illustrates the fine line between competition and passion. Every tally is another tale of adventure. When Bostick, the main character, is asked which bird continues to elude him, he declares it the Snowy Owl.
The Snowy Owl first hit my radar late last year when I had rediscovered the Outer Banks in coastal North Carolina. I grew up vacationing in the Outer Banks and had not returned in many years. As a photographer and a storyteller, I have now found this magnificent landscape in a different light. It is a massive series of barrier islands spanning over 175miles along the coast with numerous wildlife refuges and parks peppering the area. It is a treasure trove.
There were whispers of a Snowy Owl who is known to migrate through the area. It seems odd that an owl native to the Arctic would ever be found as far south as coastal Carolina, but then thousands of Tundra Swans, Snow Geese and even the occasional Snow Buntings come here as well. As for the Snowy Owl, the dunes provide excellent camouflage. Without the use of super-telephoto camera lenses and the foresight to know where to look, it would be easy to scan the dunes and look right over the bird. The expansive dunes are like a desert along the sea.
Sally has been looking for the Snowy Owl every winter for many years and always seemed to be a day late. That trend would continue for us. The main difference was that we decided that when there were new sightings of the owl we would drop everything we were doing in “the real world” and zoom three hours east to the Outer Banks to search for this noble creature. I couldn’t tell you how many days, hours, and miles we dedicated to the search.
I gained empathy for Bostick in his tireless search for the same bird. It began to feel like a quest for the mystic. Sally and I are experienced at searching for elusive birds, but this one seemed to take the cake. We talked to many people who had observed it and we scoured the area. It seemed like we were on her tale, but just had not managed to be in the right place at the right time. Snowy Owls are cathemeral, which means they hunt both day and night. They are skittish, and normally only hunt an area for about an hour before moving to another location.
We left central North Carolina at 11pm on January 27th to resume our search. I drove us through a snowstorm that looked like Star Wars warp speed in the headlights. It seemed fitting to begin the trip searching for a Snowy Owl in the snow. We arrived in Nags Head at 2:30am Friday morning, and departed the Comfort Inn South Oceanfront at dawn with snow covered beaches below our window. We worked our way down the coast until we were on a trail in Hatteras at the southernmost part of the main Island. Gus even helped!
This is where the Snowy Owl had last been seen. At the very tip of the island there is an off-road Jeep trail through the sand pits that ended at the beach. I drove my little all wheel drive Ford down that road, not knowing whether it would make it. Being right beside a Coast Guard station, I figured it would not be a bad place to get stuck. I did not get stuck in the sand, but I got stuck rescuing a pelican instead. I jest. It was not a feeling of being stuck at all but instead an honor to save the life of a beautiful and innocent wild creature who needed help. The full story can be read here: https://isaacmcshane.com/?p=360.
It took us the rest of the day to get the bird to the nearest rescue center. In addition to saving his life, we were able to bond with a big bird, explore a new area, and score some major bird karma, which we undoubtedly needed as much of as we could get. It was dark by the time we returned to the Outer Banks. We rested up and prepared to go even further south the next day. In the morning we grabbed the best coffee available in the Outer Banks (or maybe anywhere for that matter) at Ashley’s Espresso Parlour and All Time Roasting Co., and headed back to Hatteras and boarded a ferry that goes to Ocracoke Island. We called this the “poor man’s pelagic bird tour” where we got great photos of Scoters, Loons, Gannets, and a damned decoy we initially thought was a Brant.
This little island is technically still part of the Outer Banks. I would say it is the outer Outer Banks. Here, life moves at a slower speed. There are no bridges to Ocracoke, far less tourism, and everyone knows everybody. We found Eurasian Collared-Doves, a flock of Pipits, countless Kestrels, Harriers, deer, and an adorable family of Nutria, which are little mammalian creatures that look like a mix between a beaver and a groundhog. I also saved a Cottonmouth from getting run over. We got a private tour of the Ocracoke Lighthouse, which is the second oldest lighthouse in the country. We saw a 55 foot yacht that had recently shipwrecked itself on the beach.
We walked many miles along this empty beach. It was one of the most beautiful and unique beaches I have ever experienced. I know I paint a pretty picture, but don’t go there. Part of the beauty is that there is no one else there. Again, I joke! You should totally go see it. No one should ever feel possessive about public land. We are simply the stewards of the land and must appreciate it with respect and diligence.
Ocracoke only covers 9.6 square miles of land. Sir Walter Raliegh ran his ship aground the beaches on this island in 1585. Over the next couple of hundred years there were numerous attempts at colonizing this piece of land, but it was also a pirate’s haven and resulted in massacres. Most notably, Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, used the island as his hideout until 1718 when he was killed while battling troops from Virginia. Ocracoke has a population of around 700 residents to date.
We had a wonderful day exploring this small island even though we seemed to again be a day late on spotting the Snowy Owl. After watching a beautiful sunset we boarded the ferry back to the main island and had a wonderful dinner at La Fogata Mexican Restaurant in Nags Head. This search went on for a couple more days. We saw countless beautiful birds, other wildlife and magnificent landscapes but eventually had to return to the real world. Was it discouraging? Maybe just a little bit.
However, it was far more exciting to know that this great gift was still waiting for our discovery. We had every confidence we would eventually find this bird, as well as the joy that the journey is just as important as the destination. Every time we searched for this unicorn of a bird, we made unexpected discoveries of other natural wonders.
Not completely a full day after our return home, I awoke to Sally exclaiming “You’re not going to believe it!” I didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. I knew. Instead, I responded with the question “When and Where?” She was looking at a recent photo of Ms. Snowy. The bird was at Oregon Inlet just a few miles from our HQ in Nags Head. Sally had talked to several different people who had just seen the owl in the area. We knew what we had to do. We hastily repacked our bags and laid the rubber to the road. We should have just left our gear at the hotel!
About: Isaac McShane is a birder, travel writer and photographer based in North Carolina. To read more of Isaac’s latest adventures, see his galleries and order prints visit his website at https://isaacmcshane.com/
Each spring, strange cat-like noises emanate from the bushes and shrubs. Peering into the dark tangled brush to locate the source of the sound, one might expect to find a feline, yet more often than not instead those soft mews and purrs are coming from a Gray Catbird.
Most Catbirds migrate every winter from central NC to the far southeastern states & Mexico but quite a few of them only make a short trip to our coastal regions instead. I found this one a couple of weeks ago while birding at Greenfield Lake in Wilmington. Usually Catbirds like to hang out in thicker stuff so it was nice to catch a good look at one out in the open!
I’ve found that your best opportunity for spotting one of these understated beauties is to wait for them to alight on a branch to sing (as was the case with this one) or when they emerge from the undergrowth to eat. Dedicated omnivores, Catbirds can be found snacking on berries and fruits, mealworms, earthworms, beetles, ants, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, moths, holly berries, cherries, poison ivy, bay, blackberries and elderberries.
Their wide range of food preferences allow them to remain in eastern North Carolina throughout the winter as long as there are enough berries and fruits to be found.
Each winter, a very special sort of tourist shows up in OBX of North Carolina, the Snowy Owl!
I’d seen reports two weeks ago that the bird was back in the Nags Head & Ocracoke areas so @isaacmcshanephoto and I hit the road to see if we could find this shy high Arctic visitor. On our first trip we spent 4 days looking but came up empty. I’ve had this bird on my target list for years but never seem to be in the right place at the right time to see it. Once again I’d come up a day late and a dollar short on the Snowy Owl hunt. Sigh…
Disappointed (but not unhappy because birding in the OBX during the winter is awesome owl or no owl haha!) Issac and I agreed that we’d try again to find it whenever it popped up again in NC. I kinda figured that would be next year but as it turned out, we didn’t have to wait that long! In fact, we were only home for about 24 hours when another alert was shared that the owl had been spotted near Pea Island again. So, we repacked the bags (which had just been unpacked, lol!) and headed straight back out to Nags Head to try once more. Day after day, we searched but with no luck. Until the very last hour before heading home that is…
Finally, after a couple hundred miles of driving over two weeks, dozens of miles on foot hiking on sand, through snow, rain, wind and biting cold temperatures, our persistence paid off yesterday as our sweeping searching of the dune trail south off of Ramp 4 at Oregon Inlet yielded our first look at this elusive owl.
It was a real rush to be able to snap off a few photos of a bird I’ve been hoping to see for years. Although the encounter was brief, I’ll never forget twisting the barrel of my lens to zoom in on the birds white head poking up from behind a tuft of grass. That moment of realization that the search was over once the owls head was in focus was exhilarating. It was also a tremendous relief to be able to exclaim out loud to Isaac, “I got it”! Woohooo!
Birds may not speak like people, but they undoubtedly communicate with us, if you listen. Earlier this week Sally and I were walking along the southernmost point of Hatteras in the Outer Banks searching for the elusive Snowy Owl when we found a Pelican who had a message for us. It was a message of distress. It was a cold and blustery day. We were outfitted with heavy coats, our insulated hoods protecting our faces from the harsh wind blasting sand on anything in its path.
A Brown Pelican flew towards us, landed a few feet away and walked right up to me. I kneeled down with open arms and welcomed him into my embrace. Sally stepped back to photograph the experience with her long lens. I am a volunteer at Skywatch Bird Rescue where I capture injured birds and bring them to the rehab center. I have caught many Pelicans, so when this little guy waddled up to me it felt natural to pick him up. He was shivering. If a person is able to easily pick up a wild bird it is a red flag that something is wrong with the animal and needs to be rescued. The search for the Snowy Owl would have to wait.
I I swung my eight pound camera around my back, cradled the bird in my arm and walked two miles through the sand storm to my car which I had left at the very end of a long sandy trail. On the drive there I followed the deep sandy ruts in my little all wheel drive Ford Escape. I was channeling my experience of all those years Jeeping off-road “goat paths” back in the hills of Kentucky, and felt relief that I had not gotten stuck with my low ground clearance and street tires. On the way out of there I put the pedal to the metal, heat on full blast, and didn’t think twice about the excitement I felt while driving down that same sandy trail.
We wrapped the Pelican in a blanket and sat him on Sally’s lap. For those who don’t know Sally, she has been rescuing birds her whole life. She went into Momma Bird mode and coddled the animal, soothed it, and completely bonded with it. I had been wearing gloves throughout the whole time, and when we got into the car and cranked up the heat I took off my gloves, felt the pouch under his lower mandible, and realized it was freezing cold. He was suffering from frostbite and starvation. Within 10 minutes his shivering stopped and he began to relax on Sally’s lap.
As we were driving I was contacting Skywatch Bird Rescue, which is four and a half hours away in Wilmington, as well as every other bird rescue center in the area. Our passenger was an immature bird and these younger fellas really struggle to survive their first few winters when the fish are scarce and the weather is harsh. Many don’t make it. All the local rescues were unable to take him…
About: Isaac McShane is a birder, travel writer and photographer based in North Carolina. To read more of Isaac’s latest adventures, see his galleries and order prints visit his website at https://isaacmcshane.com/
As a nature photographer, I have been using the “Sigma 600” for many years now. Specifically, I have been carrying the Sigma APO 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary as habitually as I carry my wallet, keys, and watch. I have carried it on my shoulder while kayaking hundreds of miles of wild and scenic rivers, kept it in my car whether at work or running errands, and in gale force winds on sand dunes. I love it. After many years, it began showing signs of age. The barrel became loose at the focus ring and it just didn’t perform like it used to.
I decided to contact the good folks at Lensrentals.com and rent a new Sigma 600 Contemporary as well as its big brother, the Sigma 600 Sport. (Sigma APO 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports). Currently the Sports retails for around $1,999, whereas the Contemporary is almost half the cost at $1,089. Always looking to get the edge, I had to know why the Sports is almost twice as expensive and if that extra cost is worth it. Fortunately, Lensrentals.com has a “Keeper Program”which allows you to rent their equipment and if you like it, you can buy it, at a discounted rate.
The bottom line is that I have returned the Contemporary lens and will be calling the brute of the Sport my new baby. In the following paragraphs I will explain my experience with both, my personal opinions of why I have made this decision, the pros and cons of each lens, and a sprinkling of tech specs. This article is not intended to be a dry “tech review”, as that info is readily available to anyone who does a Google search for the comparison. I will only include specs to emphasize my reasoning. I read a lot of reviews before ordering them, but I want to relate to the reader in such a way that may help those in my similar situation.
I am a birder. I travel great distances to seek rare and elusive birds. As I write this, I am in the Nag’s Head Comfort Inn South Oceanfront nestled along the beach of the Outer Banks where I am tirelessly searching for a unicorn in the form of a Snowy Owl. I also consider myself a landscape photographer and a wildlife photographer. Last week I photoed a floofy family of Nutria feeding in a field in Ocracoke, a Possum swimming across a canal in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, a White Tailed Deer meandering across a frozen marsh illuminated by the reflection of a sunset at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a A Bald Eagle catching catfish at Jordan Lake Dam, and rescued a frostbitten Pelican on the South Shore of Hatteras. (My next article will highlight that experience).
It is important to me to have an ultra-telephoto lens that focuses quickly, operates under a variety of lighting from dusk to dawn and everything in between, functions in harsh weather conditions from rain to ocean spray, sand blasting, extreme cold, extreme heat, and doesn’t break when my 70 pound Catahoula Leopard Hound takes a nap on it in the back seat, or a Pelican stands on it while walking 3 miles back to the car while carrying said bird and camera. Whether the Contemporary or Sport, Sigma makes an affordable and durable lens.
I tested both lenses on a Canon 5Ds and the mirrorless Canon R5. While the 5Ds boasts an impressive 52 megapixels, the R5 features animal eye auto focus and when paired with the Sport, its auto focus is laser sharp and smooth as silk. I have to say that pairing the Sport with the R5 is my new favorite combination. You get what you pay for, and the Sport is more expensive for a reason. After many years of carrying the Contemporary, I found the Sport just has a greater range of functionality. It focuses faster, captures more detail and a greater range of color, with less lens distortion.
About: Isaac McShane is a birder, travel writer and photographer based in North Carolina. To read more of Isaac’s latest adventures, see his galleries and order prints visit his website at https://isaacmcshane.com/
Last week, I headed down to Jordan Lake in New Hill, NC to catch some Bald Eagle action. As usual, the birds did not disappoint! Dropping out of the sky like darts, the Eagles put on an absolute clinic on how to catch the fish swimming in the icy river. It was epic to watch them hit the water with a splash and come up with a wriggling fish. Their speed is breathtaking and for the older ones, their accuracy is astounding.
Bald Eagles use a couple of fishing techniques to fill their bellies during the winter. Here on the Haw River, their favorite method is to perch in a tree and watch for a fish swimming in the water below, and then swoop down to capture it. Just before they hit the water, the adult Eagles will pull their legs up into the classic C shape extending their talons in front of them to align their strike zone with the target fish below. The immature birds are still learning this method so their legs tend to drag behind them resulting in missed strikes. With practice they’ll achieve the nearly 95% success rate that the adults enjoy.
After catching a fish the eagle will either fly back to a perching tree to eat it, or if the fish is small enough, swallow the meal whole while the bird is in flight. Occasionally, they’ll employ a second “fishing” technique by harassing one another in flight in order to get the successful hunter to lose his fish in midair. Diving and nipping at at each other the aggressor will slam into the other bird in midair in an attempt snatch the fish from the other birds talons or in effort to get the other to drop the fish for easy pickings later. It’s quite entertaining to watch and very interesting to note the difference between the hunting techniques of the experienced hunters vs. the newbies still learning the game.
Recently, I headed down to southeastern NC to go birding with @isaacmcshanephoto As the day drew to a close we saw an eBird NC rare bird report that a Long -tailed Duck had been reported in the Ft.Fisher area. Thinking it would be epic to take some photos of the sunset while ticking this bird off our yearly lists, we arrived at the jetty just as the sky was set ablaze with color.
Walking on the rocks I spotted the familiar backlit profile of a duck in the distance floating on the basin alongside the jetty. Peering through my 600mm lens I exclaimed, “omg Isaac, that duck has a long tail!” We picked up our pace as best we could with measured steps on the slippery algae stones. A fall here meant broken cameras or worse. We’d stop every 40ft to hastily grab a couple photos just in case the duck got spooked. With darkness closing in, we were in a race to get close before the light was gone.
Finally we arrived at a spot about 30ft away behind the duck who was calmly floating in the same spot. We couldn’t believe the duck allowed us to get so close!
I whispered to Isaac that we should crouch low and walk down on the right side of the jetty to try and get on the other side of the duck to try and capture some good photos in better light. Stealthy as jungle cats, we crept around and popped out in front of it about 20ft away.
The first thing I noticed once I finally got a good look at the duck in decent light was that unfortunately it was a Pintail, not the Long-tail Duck we’d been hoping for.
Still, Pintails are beautiful so I quickly snapped off a couple gorgeous photos of the bird while marveling at it’s lovely plumage glinting in the fading golden hour light. Then we both noticed at the same moment that this duck wasn’t moving. Wtf, is going on here? Busting out laughing we realized we’d been duped big time!
Check out the photo below to see why.
Moral of this story is that even the most seasoned “professional” photographers & birders often fail (often spectacularly!) our way to the top.
Snipe hunt success! Here’s a bird I’ve been trying to get a clear look at for a long time but with no luck. That’s why I was so happy to finally get an opportunity to photograph these Wilson’s Snipe at the Pungo Unit in eastern NC last week. There were several of them dotting the shoreline of a small pond and although it took about 30 minutes to finally see them out in the open, (they mostly stuck to the high grass at the waters edge) it was well worth sticking around long enough to grab a couple photos.
Measuring around 10in in length, the Wilson’s Snipe is a sneaky little bird who’s brown, black, streaked buff plumage helps them blend right into their surroundings. It’s camouflage is so good that they can disappear right before your eyes in short grass, even when standing a couple feet away. To make matters more difficult, the Wilson’s prefer to forage for their meals in thick areas of grass. Always on the lookout for insects, small invertebrates and earthworms, they’ll plunge that long bill into the mud and use sensory pits at its distal end to locate their prey. Luckily, they’ll venture out onto the mudflats and open shallow water areas a few feet offshore every once in a while so that we can enjoy these beauties without getting a headache from staring at the same patch of grass while scanning for movement for an hour lol!
A wintertime resident, though they are more commonly spotted in the eastern part of our state, the Wilson’s Snipe is found throughout North Carolina from the mountains to the coast. Look for them from September through late March/early April at the densely grasses shoreline edges of fresh & slightly brackish water bogs, swamps, ponds and marshy areas.
