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Birdwatching News

North Carolina Rare Bird Alert-Sandhill Crane at Alligator River NWR

By-Sally Siko

Admittedly these aren’t the best photos I’ve ever taken, but I had to grab a few ‘far away shots of this Sandhill Crane I spotted while birding with my friend Corie Latta @calatta at the Alligator River NWR in eastern NC.
While I wish this lovely bird was a bit closer, I was so excited to share this rare sighting in the field with friends!



Sandhill Cranes breed in Siberia, throughout central Canada as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.
Their are even small year round populations of Sandhills which nest in Florida, Mississippi and Cuba.
Each autumn, thousands of them migrate south to spend the winter in northern Mexico, California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
Luckily for us, a handful of Sandhills show up right here in eastern NC at Alligator River NWR & at the Pocasin Lakes NWR each winter.

Standing nearly 4ft tall, Sandhill Cranes are large birds with long, thin legs and necks. Though it’s hard to see in my photos, the bird’s cheeks are white and its forehead has a bright red patch, which is one of their most noticeable features.
Though they are covered in mostly grayish plumage, the shade of those gray tones can vary widely from bird to bird.
In fact, if you look closely at these photos sometimes Sandhills can display a reddish-brown appearance. This is because they preen themselves by rubbing mud on their feathers and mud from iron-rich environments is often red.



Though most would expect a Sandhill Crane to be spotted near water, these elegant birds are usually found in wide open places, especially plowed or stubble (preferably corn) fields; closely mowed fields, soggy & grassy pastures, shallow pools, and around the edges of impoundment margin areas.
Look for them feeding with flocks of Tundra Swans at the Alligator River NWR and at the Pocasin Lakes NWR in NC from December through early February.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

Want to find the Sandhill too?

Google Maps pin drop to the locations of the 2 fields along Miltail Rd & Sawyer Lake Rd at ARNWR where this bird likes to hang out linked below.

Dropped pin off of Miltail Rd

&

Dropped pin off of Sawyer Lake Rd

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

An encounter with a Common Grackle at the Alligator River NWR

While on a recent visit to the Alligator River NWR in East Lake, NC I spotted a flock of Common Grackles roosting in the trees next to the cornfields.
It was dark and with rain clouds threatening overhead and a stiff wind blowing which is why this bird was taking cover in the canopy instead of feeding on the spilt grain below.



Normally these interesting birds take flight as soon as someone approaches so I counted myself lucky to get in a few shots of a Grackle preening at a relatively close range.
Grasping a feather in his beak, he’d comb through his glossy black plumage and then fluff out his feathers and give a shake every now and again. He repeated this process until he was sleek & clean then flew off deeper into the woods to join the rest of his flock calling from the trees.



Common Grackle’s are a year round resident of North Carolina and are found in varying number’s throughout all 100 of our counties.
They are particularly numerous in the eastern part of the state where they may be found eating on the ground in large flocks along roadsides, suburban lawns and in farm fields.
“Common” though they may be, I still think they are lovely!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty megapixel monster the @canonusa #R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Instagram Birding

A Red Wolf and a Northern Harrier encounter at the Alligator River NWR

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

A Northern Harrier encounter at the Alligator River NWR

On the last day of my recent birding trip to eastern NC, I got up early and drove out to meet up with my guests at the Alligator River NWR. Big fat raindrops beating off of my windshield, I began to worry that the weather might put a literal damper on the trip.
It had started pouring the night before and according to the radar, it would be a few hours before it let up.

Though it wasn’t the deluge which was forecasted for that morning, it was still raining as we got started looking for the birds at Alligator.
I shouldn’t have worried though…
As it turned out, I was blessed with booking the nicest people ever who had no problem enjoying the birds in the rain with me. No one complained and we ended up seeing some wonderful things despite the weather.
Just awesome!



One of the most entertaining birds we encountered was this Female Northern Harrier that greeted us in the fields off of Wildlife Drive. Sweeping in low and slow over the grass, these raptors are mouse hunting machines.
As seen in the photo below, we watched one dive down to the ground to catch a snack which was pretty cool!



Northern Harriers are quite distinctive looking birds of prey with an owl-like shaped face and bright white rump which makes them easy to ID from a distance. Another clue to their ID is noticing their hunting behavior. Harriers tend to fly about 2-8 ft above the top of the field growth (grass, corn, wheat ect.) and often circle back over the same patch repeatedly.
They also glide more often than not, only flapping their wings when forward momentum is needed.

These impressive birds are a wintertime visitor to North Carolina. They are best found in our wide open fields and marshes from September through April before departing for their breeding grounds in the Northern United States, Alaska & Canada.
There is still time for you to go enjoy them for yourself so get out there while you can 🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

An encounter with a Greater Yellowlegs at the Alligator River NWR

While driving through the Alligator River NWR in eastern North Carolina recently, I spotted what I believe to be a pair of Greater Yellowlegs hunting for a meal in a flooded out field on Miltail Rd.



Slowing my truck to a stop, I grabbed my camera, got out and quietly shut the door.
Boots crunching on the gravel road, I tried to move as quietly as possible, every footstep was like walking on semi wet potato chips lol!
Finally I made it onto the grass where I could edge a little closer to see these birds while moving in silence. Happily, I was able to spend about 5 mins watching and photographing these elegant creatures before they moved on across the field.



Moving their heads in a side-to-side sweeping motion, the Greater Yellowlegs probes the mud below its feet searching for a meal of insect larvae, worms, snails, shrimp, minnows and even frogs. When successful they’ll swallow their prey whole, headfirst.
It was neat to watch these two birds in action at a relatively close range.



Greater Yellowlegs look nearly identical to another bird, the Lesser Yellowlegs. Though the Greater is larger then the Lesser, ( GY=15in vs. LY=10in) unless you’ve seen the two species in person (to judge scale of size) it’s hard to tell which is which.
The easiest (well kinda lol) way to tell them apart is to look at the overall length of its bill.

*The Lesser Yellowlegs has a straight bill that is equally the same length as its head front to back.
*The bill of the Greater Yellowlegs has a slightly upturned bill which is longer in length than its head.



Wether it be a Greater or Lesser, seeing a Yellowlegs is really neat and it can be a fun exercise in memory to test out an ID assessment when encountering them in the field.
Well fun, if your into that kind of thing lol!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Out There with the Expert, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Wintertime birding in eastern North Carolina

I had an excellent time this week birding in the OBX! Spending 3 days straight, I saw thousands of beautiful birds from Cape Hatteras, to Pea Island, Pungo Lake and the Alligator River NWR.



Of all the birds, my favorites were the American Widgeon, Pintails and Redheads. Those ducks are simply gorgeous!
It was an incredible sight to see thousands of waterfowl all in one spot. So much squeaking and quacking, these large flocks are pretty noisy once you get close.

With pictures like these, you might ask why is eastern North Carolina such a duck magnet?
The answer is that the majority of the waterfowl here in North America breed in Canada’s Prairie Provinces and the United States’ upper Midwest, particularly in the area known as the Prairie Pothole Region.

Every autumn, ducks and geese funnel down the Atlantic Flyway to the farm fields, ponds, lakes and rivers of eastern North Carolina to spend the winter in our temperate regions where there are vast quantities of food still available throughout the colder months.
Pretty neat, huh?
I’ll have a ton of photos and new videos coming soon from the trip so stay tuned…

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds