Tag Archives: backyard birdwatching
Tips to attract birds to your backyard via Redfin & birdwatching NC
By Sally Siko -Admin Birdwatching NC
Recently, I was asked by Redfin.com to share some advice on how to attract birds to your backyard. Here is an excerpt from the article below..
“Foster a bird haven. The most effective way to attract many different species of birds to your yard is to offer a wide variety of food sources including seeds (especially black oil sunflower seeds), suet, nuts, jelly, sugar water (for hummingbirds) and fruits.
Also consider installing native plants, fruit-bearing trees, and shrubs in varying degrees of density in your backyard to promote an attractive, safe habitat for the birds to forage, roost and nest in.
It’s also a good idea to put out a birdbath or install a small pond garden so that the birds have someplace to bathe, cool off and grab a drink, something that is particularly important during the summer months.
Lastly, make sure that you clean your feeders and birdbath periodically and keep your feeders full. Following these steps, it won’t be long before your backyard will become a bird lover’s paradise!” -Birdwatching N.C.”-
Originally published on Redfin.com
A wintertime Purple Finch encounter in North Carolina
Seeing Purple Finches here in central North Carolina has been a joy this winter.
If you’ve never seen one before, it’s understandable to confuse them with the similar looking House Finch. Once you’ve viewed them side by side, there is no mistaking these beauties.
Purple Finches are larger birds with an overall more vibrant purple color that covers nearly their entire bodies.
Recently I had an opportunity to observe a small flock of Purple Finches as they devoured the seed in my feeders.
As seen in the first 3 photos, the males are dressed in a maroon-ish purple color.
Female Purple Finches (photos 4 through 6) are covered in a lovey combination of buff brown and tan patterned plumage.
A wintertime resident of North Carolina, their numbers seem to be declining over the past few decades.
That being said, 2020 & 2021 have been proving to be interesting years for viewing several species of Finches. Quite a few North Carolina birders have noticed unusually large numbers of these gorgeous birds moving into their areas.
These mass movements, called “irruptions,” are different from regular migrations and are likely causes by a poor crop of conifer seeds, an important food source for the finches, up north.
Since their food supply has been cut back in the northern regions of the United States, large flocks of Purple Finches are popping up all over the east coast.
Normally Purple Finches are birds of the deep coniferous & wet hardwood forest but in the winter they will venture out into suburban backyards and parks in search of an easy meal.
If you’re interested in attracting these feathered gems to your own yard, fill your feeders with thistle & sunflower seeds. They seem to prefer feeding from a platform style feeder vs. a cylinder too.
They will stick around the Tarheel state through early April so keep an eye out for them over the next few months!
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds
PS. Shout out to Mike at Critter Cove NC @critter.cove.nc for these feeders and that custom seed blend. Freak’n awesome!
Bird feeder & Seed review: Critter Cove NC
Backyard Birding highlights from Fuquay Varina
Birding at home in Fuquay Varina N.C.
Doing a bit of work from home today and decided to step outside for a backyard birding break. With 16 different species found in about an hour, I’d say that this was time well spent haha!
Here is a video of some of the birds I saw that I captured with my Canon 5DS. It’s nice to able photograph these beauties from the comfort of my patio.
These are a few of my favorite photos from the day. The Canon 5DS did pretty well in the low lighting of the morning light, even with fully extending my focal length to 600mm. Gorgeous!
A northern Cardinal in Fuquay Varina N.C.
By: Sally Siko, Admin-Birdwatching NC
Found a male Northern Cardinal all poofed up in my yard yesterday morning.
With the recent bit of cooler weather that’s made it into the Raleigh area of central NC, I’ve noticed an uptick to the number of birds at my feeders.
The Cardinals usually appear early in the morning or late in the afternoon just before sunset. Makes me wonder if they know how bright their plumage is so they only come out into the open at dawn or dusk to avoid predators.
Such handsome birds, worth getting up a little early to enjoy!
Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds
Photos and video captured with my mighty Canon 5DS. If you are interested in getting shots like these with this 50 MP beast of a camera, please check out the link below to Canon USA.
Birdwatching NC is sponsored by Canon USA and I am proud to be a Canon shooter. After 13 years of trusting my professional photography business to Canon’s line of products, I cannot recommend this company strongly enough. If you have have any questions about my gear, shoot me a message!
Birdwatching NC is also sponsored by Zenfolio. Zenfolio is a photography website gallery and hosting company. I’ve been using Zenfolio to show and sell my images for over a decade and actually recommend this company to other photographers over WordPress!
You can check out Zenfolio for free by clicking the link below.
With custom galleries, online storage, the ability to sell prints and digital downloads, a powerful blog with seamless SEO tools, Zenfolio provides everything a professional photographer would need to run their photography business online.
Lastly, in addition to running things around here at Birdwatching NC, plus operating a North Carolina outdoor wedding photography company, I also provide website SEO and building services for photographers who need a solution to showing and selling their work online through my company Websites for Photographers. In a nutshell, I design kickass websites on the Zenfolio platform built from the ground up with a sound foundation of SEO principles in place so that my clients get found by more customers on the web.
I also provide SEO services and site audits for existing Zenfolio users to fix search engine indexing problems fast.
If you are a wildlife or bird photographer who is in need of a solid website please check out my company Websites for Photographers by clicking the photo link below.
Eastern Bluebirds in Fuquay Varina, N.C.
By: Sally Siko, Admin-Birdwatching NC
At home today and decided to take a few minutes to spend some time out in my backyard.
This spring a pair of Eastern Bluebirds are considering the move into one of the bird houses on my property.
They took turns peering inside and landing on the roof to survey the view.
At one point, the male landed right next to me which allowed for the capture of the first photo in this post 🙂
The breeding season for these birds begins in April and will go through July, although a couple of weeks on either side is possible.
After the nest is built within the birdhouse, the female lays between 3-6 pale blue eggs.
Incubation will last up to 16 days and the chicks will leave the nest within 15 to 20 days from hatching.
I’m hoping to see this life cycle play out in my yard this summer and will post updates as they occur.
Nice to have such interesting neighbors!
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds
Photos and video captured with my mighty Canon 5DS. If you are interested in getting shots like these with this 50 MP beast of a camera, please check out the link below to Canon USA.
Birdwatching NC is sponsored by Canon USA and I am proud to be a Canon shooter. After 13 years of trusting my professional photography business to Canon’s line of products, I cannot recommend this company strongly enough. If you have have any questions about my gear, shoot me a message!
Birdwatching NC is also sponsored by Zenfolio. Zenfolio is a photography website gallery and hosting company. I’ve been using Zenfolio to show and sell my images for over a decade and actually recommend this company to other photographers over WordPress!
You can check out Zenfolio for free by clicking the link below.
With custom galleries, online storage, the ability to sell prints and digital downloads, a powerful blog with seamless SEO tools, Zenfolio provides everything a professional photographer would need to run their photography business online.
Lastly, in addition to running things around here at Birdwatching NC, plus operating a North Carolina outdoor wedding photography company, I also provide website SEO and building services for photographers who need a solution to showing and selling their work online through my company Websites for Photographers. In a nutshell, I design kickass websites on the Zenfolio platform built from the ground up with a sound foundation of SEO principles in place so that my clients get found by more customers on the web.
I also provide SEO services and site audits for existing Zenfolio users to fix search engine indexing problems fast.
If you are a wildlife or bird photographer who is in need of a solid website please check out my company Websites for Photographers by clicking the photo link below.
At home bird watching in North Carolina
By: Sally Siko, Admin-Birdwatching NC
At home working (kind of) and getting distracted by the birds in my yard, lol!
Though Tufted Titmice are a “common” sight here in central NC, it’s nice to stop and appreciate them every once and a while.
Especially if it means I can sit outside sipping coffee on my porch and avoid sitting at my desk right now, haha!
Enjoying
the antics of the birds right here at home in central NC is a welcome
diversion to all that’s going on out there in the world today.
This
little Tufted Titmouse has been raiding my feeders hourly and seems to
really appreciate the buffet that I’ve set out for him and his feathered
cohorts.
A little gray bird with an echoing voice, the Tufted Titmouse is common in North Carolina’s deciduous forests and a frequent visitor to our feeders. Their large black eyes, small, round bill, and brushy crest gives these birds a quiet but eager expression that matches the way they flit through canopies, hang from twig-ends, and drop in to bird feeders.
When a Titmouse finds a large seed, you’ll see it carry the prize to a perch and crack it with sharp whacks of its stout bill.
What they lack in size, Titmice make up for in tenacity as they will defend favorite feeding spots with vigor.
Quite a sight to see 🙂
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds
Photos captured with my mighty Canon 5DS. If you are interested in getting shots like these with this 50 MP beast of a camera, please check out the link below to Canon USA.
Birdwatching NC is sponsored by Canon USA and I am proud to be a Canon shooter. After 13 years of trusting my professional photography business to Canon’s line of products, I cannot recommend this company strongly enough. If you have have any questions about my gear, shoot me a message!
Birdwatching NC is also sponsored by Zenfolio. Zenfolio is a photography website gallery and hosting company. I’ve been using Zenfolio to show and sell my images for over a decade and actually recommend this company to other photographers over WordPress!
You can check out Zenfolio for free by clicking the link below.
With custom galleries, online storage, the ability to sell prints and digital downloads, a powerful blog with seamless SEO tools, Zenfolio provides everything a professional photographer would need to run their photography business online.
Lastly, in addition to running things around here at Birdwatching NC, plus operating a North Carolina outdoor wedding photography company, I also provide website SEO and building services for photographers who need a solution to showing and selling their work online through my company Websites for Photographers. In a nutshell, I design kickass websites on the Zenfolio platform built from the ground up with a sound foundation of SEO principles in place so that my clients get found by more customers on the web.
I also provide SEO services and site audits for existing Zenfolio users to fix search engine indexing problems fast.
If you are a wildlife or bird photographer who is in need of a solid website please check out my company Websites for Photographers by clicking the photo link below.
Early morning Cardinal observation in North Carolina
By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC
I know they are a common bird here in central North Carolina but I cannot help but smile and grab my camera when ever I see a Northern Cardinal.
I especially love to photograph them in the wintertime on dark rainy days. Somehow I think they just look even better in seemingly “adverse” weather related photography conditions.
That crimson plumage just pops in this dim silver light 🙂 I’ve noticed that the Cardinals around here tend to come out of the woods along my property line just before sunrise and again at sunset to visit my feeders. During the rest of the day, they tend to stay in the forest.
The exception being on rainy days where they appear out in the open all day long.
Have any of you out there ever noticed this behavior?
Let me know in the comments below.
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds