While birding yesterday at Ft.Fisher NC I spotted a Little Blue Heron hunting for a meal in a small pond alongside a Great Egret, a Tricolored Heron and a Snowy Egret. It was neat to watch the four birds making their way around each other in order to catch a meal.
Interestingly this species is closely related to the Snowy Egret (same genus), a white bird of similar size. Their similarities are especially noticeable as first-fall and first-winter immature Little Blues are completely white in plumage and are easily confused with Snowy Egrets. The easiest way to tell the two species apart from a distance is to observe their feeding habits. Unlike the Snowy’s who are constantly on the move, the Little blue Heron is slow and methodical in its feeding approach, walking very slowly in shallow waters or standing still waiting for prey to approach.
These beautiful birds are known to breed here in NC. Their nests are flimsy, hardly more than a few layers of loose twigs and sticks haphazardly stacked to provide a platform for the eggs to be laid. Their typical clutch is 3-4 eggs, with an incubation period of three weeks and a nesting period of six weeks. While in the nest, both parents feed the young by regurgitating a softened stew of prey. Within four weeks after hatching, the chicks are capable of short flights but don’t become independent until around six to seven weeks. Little Blue Herons are a year round residents in the coastal regions of the Carolinas. Although they are typically live near saltwater areas they prefer freshwater habitats, in fact they’re also occasionally spotted inland all the way to the Triangle (central NC) from June to August. They are usually seen hunting for fish, invertebrates, frogs, small reptiles and insects in shallow freshwater marshes, ponds and on mudflats. What a beauty!
This past summer I had the opportunity to go birding up in Maine. The plan was to scout out the state in preparation of my upcoming birding tours in Maine. After 3 days on the trails, it turned out to be an incredible trip which yielded 53 different species of birds plus epic views and really good food.
Day 1 was spent scouting around the Acadia NP area. Michael and I started off the day with a beautiful hike along the coast at Great Head. The morning was very foggy but gosh it was gorgeous up there in the woods.
Everything was silent except for the sound of a distant fog horn, a very noisy Winter Wren and a pissed off (yet adorable!) Red Squirrel who chattered loudly as we walked past him. It took about 20 minutes or so of hiking a gentle uphill slope before the forest opened up to a wide open cliff view overlooking the Atlantic. We stood up on the rocks taking in the grand view before us, marveling at the icy green North Atlantic slapping at the cliff below. Several Herring and Black-backed Gulls were circling overhead, it was neat to watch them preen and squabble over food once they landed on the rocks.
There were a couple Black capped Chickadees flitting through the pines as well as a curious Black and white Warbler who followed me as I wandered around the bluff in search of good photos and great birds.
A few minutes later it started to sprinkle a little so we headed down the Acadia Park Loop rd to look for more cool stuff. We ended up at Moose Lake SP where we encountered a few different species of Warblers including Blackburnian, Pine, Common Yellowthroat and a Northern Parula. It was neat to see these tiny feathered gems so far north.
By now we’d walked a few miles and were building up an appetite so we decided to grab a couple lobster rolls for lunch at the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound. https://www.barharborlobsterpound.com The rolls were delicious!
Although they seemed a bit pricey ($72 for two rolls and a couple drinks!) it was still pretty fucking awesome to bite down into that buttery bread and sweet lobster. Washing it all down with an Old Soaker Root Beer really hit the spot so totally worth the price IMO.
By now it was mid day and actually a little warm outside so we took a quick drive to take in the sights and sounds of Bar Harbor. Gosh what a beautiful town! Tons of great restaurants, hotels and shopping plus it’s a hub for a few boat tour companies which dock on the area. *more on that later…
Once the sun was a bit lower in the sky, we drove up onto Cadillac Mountain in hopes of enjoying a good sunset and maybe a great view of the Northern Lights which had been forecasted to be extra bright that evening. Unfortunately, mother nature had a different plan in mind as the mountain peak quickly was enveloped by a bunch of clouds rolling through.
There was no way that we’d get to see the aurora borealis with these weather conditions but gosh it was absolutely gorgeous up there watching the sun sink into the hazy horizon below.
Cadillac Mountain turned out to be a pretty good birding spot as well with sightings of Wild Turkeys, a Herring Gull (yes there was an actual Herring Gull sitting on a rock wall in the parking lot at the top of the mountain lol!) Common Ravens, Blue Jays, American Crows, a Hermit Thrush, an American Robin, two Song Sparrows, several Dark-eyed Juncos, a couple White-throated Sparrows and a cheerful Common Yellowthroat. Truly a nice way to wrap up my first full day at Acadia!
Day 2 and we were hitting the road again, heading inland to check out the Moosehead Lake area. I’d found an interesting birding spot called the B&A Railroad North which I’d targeted as being a good spot to find Boreal Chickadees and White-winged Crossbills. (Lifers I’d yet to tic off my list). While we were driving along a gravel track through the woods, I got lucky and spotted several Ruffed Grouse as they crossed the road. It was thrilling to actually grab a couple photographs of these birds, as I’ve never managed to do so before.
Continuing on we ended up at an intersection of gravel paths so we walked a bit from here. It wasn’t long before I heard the calls of Boreal Chickadees emanating from the woods, so I started pishing in hopes of drawing a couple of out into the open. Happily, one did fly out and landed onto the outer edge of a pine bough which allowed me to grab a couple photos before it flew back into the deep woods. Success!
In addition to that Boreal Chickadee there were a bunch of other cool birds at that spot too such as a Hermit Thrush, an American Robin, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Nashville Warbler and as always, several cheerfully singing Common Yellowthroats. Although I didn’t get to tic off a White-winged Crossbill here at the Railroad site I was pleased with what I saw!
From there we continued heading north to our destination of The Birches Lodge at Moosehead Lake. https://www.birches.com
We’d booked a Moose Cruise for later that day but since we arrived a little early, we decided to grab a quick lunch at the resort’s restaurant. Omg the food was delicious! ( roasted & chunky carved Turkey on that sandwich, yum!) As great as the food was, the service was even better.
One thing I have to share now is how awesome the people of Maine are. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. It didn’t matter where we traveled throughout the state, the people were just awesome. Our waitress at The Birches was very friendly and made us feel right at home as we ate lunch in the north woods. As a bonus, I even got to meet the owners wife Tania Willard. She was so excited once I told her that I was a birding guide! We talked for a few minutes about all of the great birds in the area and it warmed my heart to encounter another business owner who loves the outdoors and birds as much as I do. Tania told me to be on the lookout for Belted Kingfishers and White-winged Crossbills (a lifer for me) during the Moose Cruise. As luck would have it, we spotted both species while out on the water! Yay!
The Moose Cruise was a lot of fun. At first everything was quiet, the water was smooth as glass and the world around us was an impossible shade of green. My gosh what a peaceful place!
Then as the boat made its way up the river the birds started making an appearance. It started with seeing a beautiful Common Loon sitting on its nest (wow!) and got even better from there lol!
There were Canada Geese, a Wood Duck, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Wild Turkeys, Double-crested Cormorants, Turkey Vultures, an Osprey 2 Belted Kingfishers, a Blue-headed Vireo, a couple Winter Wrens, 7 White-winged Crossbills (yay!) and a Pine Warbler to round out the boat trip. We even lucked out and spotted a mother moose and her calf crashing through the brush along the shoreline. Freak’n awesome!
Day 3 had arrived and with it, a powerful offshore storm. The winds were high and the surf was churning like a washing machine. This was a problem because I’d reserved a boat to take out onto the ocean in order to photograph the Puffins who nest on the small rocky islands which line the coast. Unfortunately the rough seas prevented any boats to depart so unfortunately, I was unable to get out there onto the water. It’s okay though! I’ve been in contact with a bunch of great Puffin boat captains and will be heading back to Maine in July 2024 to try again to share these birds with my guests.
Not wanting to waste a single moment feeling unhappy about missing out on a boat trip, we decided to explore more of the trails of Acadia National Park at Schoodic Point. This area is even better IMO for birding since it’s far less crowded here than along the Loop Road on the western side of the park.
There was a gentle light mist of rain falling as we hiked in the Blueberry Hill area and along the Anvil Trail. All was quiet save for the sound of the surf hitting the rocks and the occasional calls of the gulls flying overhead. The air smelled so good along the coast with the gentle scents of pine, saltwater and beach roses wafting on the cool breeze. When we ventured deeper into the woods, we were quickly enveloped in a world of emerald green ferns, spongy soft moss and ancient pine trees. Walking these trails felt like stepping back in time.
At first there wasn’t much activity going on (wildlife wise) but as we walked the shorelines and forests of Schoodic Point, the birds started to become a little more active despite the foul weather. Here we saw a raft of Common Eiders, Canada Geese, a Black-throated green Warbler, an Ovenbird, several Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Gray Catbird, a few Dark-eyed Juncos, a couple Song Sparrows and a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Not too bad considering that the weather was a bit dodgy. We ended the morning by getting a bonus sighting of a juvenile porcupine making its way across the road.
I’ve never seen one before in my life, so it was very cool to finally lay eyes on a real live Porcupine! He was super cute and we were absolutely thrilled to see one of these remarkable creatures up close.
The day ended with a stellar dinner at the Union River Lobster Pot. https://www.lobsterpot.com Oh my goodness that was a great meal! 1 1/4 lobster served with clams, a big red potato and one of the sweetest ears of corn I’ve tasted. So much buttery goodness I can’t even describe how good it was without drooling a little lol!
I’ll tell ya, it was a difficult decision to make in order to point my car south to head home. Don’t get me wrong I do love North Carolina, but Maine is an incredible place. The people are lovely. There’s zero traffic. The food is superb. The views, unbelievably beautiful. And the birds, omg there are so many up here that we don’t get to see often (or ever!) in the south. I left dreaming (and yeah now seriously considering) about buying some land so that I can offer birding tours on a frequent basis in Maine. At least it will be great to spend the summer working in Maine where it’s cooler during the hottest months in NC. Lol we will see!
Photo by Michael Wildrick
Anyway, to sum it all up, Maine is freaking awesome and I cannot wait to get back there again soon. I’ve got space available for reservations in 2024 so if you’d like to join me, feel free to hit up the link below for details 🙂
While leading a birding tour last weekend, I spotted this handsome Painted Bunting singing his heart out and fluttering around the shadows of the brush scattered behind the dunes of Wrightsville Beach. Although this bird isn’t adorned with the familiar rainbow plumage, I was able to identify it as a first year male. The reason why is because of its song as only male Painted Buntings sing out in varied warbling song, while the females are generally silent save for a few chip calls every now and again.
It can be difficult to identify a juvenile male versus female Bunting though! First-year males (like this bird) look similar to the females (which are dressed in subtle green hues), but the vibrantly colored green color of the young males plumage is much brighter and may have flecks of iridescent blue in it. Male Painted Buntings retain their green plumage until they are 15-18 months old, then molt into the multi colored feather gems which we are most able to recognize in the field.
As seen in the last couple photos in this post, the adult male Painted Bunting’s upperparts are blue, with a lemon-green back, green wings, reddish rump, and red eye ring. The underparts of their plumage is bright red. But what is the point in being so flashy? As with other members of the Cardinal family, the brightest hued Painted Buntings are most likely to attract the mates of their choice. Not surprisingly, the breeding plumage of the adult Buntings tends to attract the attention of photographers and others the most too lol! And for good reason, they are truly stunning.
Now that we are in mid-May the breeding season has arrived and the woods are noisy with bird songs. A few familiar calls ring amid the din. Cardinals, Wrens and Ovenbirds all sing at high decibels but one of the loudest is the voice of the Great Crested Flycatcher. Their emphatic screeches and high pitched whistles are easily picked out amongst the chaotic symphony of chirps and squeaks encountered when birding in Central North Carolina during the spring.
Great Crested Flycatchers are busy birds at this point of the year as they pair up with a mate and begin the task of building a nest. These guys are the only species of flycatcher in the state which nests in the cavities of trees. Yet instead of creating their own holes, they use old woodpecker cavities and even bird boxes and Purple Martin condos for nesting sites. Their breeding habitat is found in a varied array of forests, though they slightly favor drier habitats as found in pine-oak forests, open longleaf pine forests, oak-hickory forests, as well as in bottomland and swamp forests. For some reason they tend to avoid areas with spruce or fir trees. A bird familiar with suburban life, Great Crested Flycatchers can also be found nesting in wooded residential areas, especially in our Coastal Plain regions.
These lovely feathered gems may be found in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties from now through mid September. This means you’ve got plenty of time to go out there and see one for yourself soon!
While leading a tour this past weekend I was pleased to share this Louisiana Waterthrush with my guests. I found the bird via its beautiful song emanating from the woods, so we set off down the trail to look for it. It didn’t take long to locate the bird perched on a branch overhanging a swift moving, steep banked creek. These birds are generally pretty shy so it was a real joy to get a good clean look at the it from a relatively close range!
The Louisiana Waterthrush nests across nearly all of the eastern United States. That being said, they are a scarce sight in Florida and near the coastal areas farther north and west during the breeding season. Generally speaking, they are not one of North America’s more common species, as their breeding territories are well-spaced along narrow streamside corridors. Yet, if the right habitat is found, this species can usually be seen and heard without too much trouble.
During the spring and summer months, the best places to look for them are along streams and rivers, under the shade of hardwood trees, and as with the case here in the woods at the PeeDee Wildlife Refuge, near creeks with near-vertical banks where the nests are placed. These beautiful birds favor slightly running waters of rocky creeks, as opposed to standing water of larger streams and rivers, but they can certainly be quite numerous along some of our larger rivers such as the Roanoke and Cape Fear.
With the breeding season just now getting underway, you still have plenty of time to see one for yourself this year. They’ll stick around until mid August here in the central part of the state and until early August in other regions before heading south to Central America in the West Indies to spend the winter.
It was so cool to spend a little time with an American Oystercatcher yesterday at Wrightsville Beach, NC. These are gorgeous birds, always interesting to watch as they roam the beach in search of a snack. They’re voracious eaters of mollusks, crustaceans, worms and other marine invertebrates which inhabit the intertidal areas of the Carolina coastline.
American Oystercatchers are a year round resident of southeastern NC.Each spring, they lay their eggs in shallow depressions in the sand among large nesting colonies of Terns, Skimmers and Plovers.
Unlike other shorebirds who hunt for fish above the water and dig for shellfish and marine worms on the sandy shoreline, Oystercatchers prefer to look for it’s namesake snack in exposed sand bars and mudflats during low tides. They’ll also forage on rocks, such as those found at jetties and around bridge pilings. Aren’t they beautiful?
One of the coolest birds to see in the mountains of western North Carolina is the Chestnut-sided Warbler. I spotted this little guy singing on a sunny wildflower covered slope last Sunday morning while birding at the Bass Lake Trail in Blowing Rock NC. Like their neighbor the Canada Warbler, they’re quite curious about people and will fly in quite close to see what we are doing. I had no trouble at all trying to get a good look at this one as he foraged in the brush after tiny insects.
Chestnut-sided Warblers hunt for food by flitting between branches of shrubs and small trees, finding their six legged prey among leaves and twigs. Every now and again they’ll dart out of the brush to catch flying insects in midair. When they’re not looking for a snack you can find them singing loudly in the thickets, sending messages warning others to stay out of their territories or to attract a mate.
Primarily Chestnuts tend to nest to the north in New England however their breeding range does extend south down the narrow spine of the Appalachian mountains. They hide their nests low in dense shrubs, blackberry tangles, rhododendron stands, or even in young saplings of alder, maple, and other hardwood shrubs and trees. They are commonly found between 3500-5000 feet along the Blue Ridge Parkway throughout May and June and will stick around until the first week of October before migrating south to Central America to spend the winter. You’ve still got plenty time to go see them this year so get out there if you can!
I was pleased to spend some time this past weekend with a small flock of Eastern Wild Turkeys at the Cataloochee Elk Viewing Area of the Great Smokey Mountains NP in western NC. It was so cool to watch this large Tom fan out his feathers and put on a display to impress a nearby hen or to try and intimidate his wing man away from said-hen lol! A year round resident, the Eastern wild Turkey is found in nearly every county here in North Carolina. As a flock, they’re skittish birds which in my experience, are best photographed from belly down in the grass perspective as not to spook them off. These large birds are constantly on the move, always on the lookout for a new snack (nuts, seeds, grains, insects and small fruits) to gobble down 😉They’re most frequently observed foraging in the early morning hours around sunrise, and will also feed actively in the evening before darkness sets in.
Turkeys are interesting birds. Did you know that Wild Turkeys are ground nesters and will lay around a dozen eggs per clutch? That’s a lot of eggs and the hen doesn’t lay them all at once. Instead she’ll lay one egg per day but will not begin incubating them all until the last egg is laid. Although the first laid eggs will get cold (exposed to the elements) during the first few weeks, the fascinating thing is that the embryos in the eggs will not start to develop until the hen starts warming her clutch by sitting on the nest after all the eggs have been laid. This ensures that even though there was a two week difference between the first egg & last egg being laid, the entire clutch will hatch at the same time!
The Eastern Wild Turkey is a year round resident of North Carolina. They are found in all 100 of our counties and unlike other species of birds, thanks to conservation efforts (and the decline of large predators) their population is actually on the increase! Look for them in open, tree lined fields in the morning and evenings throughout the Tarheel state.
When the springtime heat rolls in, it’s nice to get out of the sunny fields and into the woods to cool off.We aren’t the only ones who appreciate the cool shade that the trees provide, Ovenbirds are masters of the shadows and remain active throughout the day even during the hottest hours. I spotted this beauty yesterday while birding in the woods of Pittsboro NC.
Ovenbirds favor mixed deciduous and coniferous forest areas which are semi open under the canopy yet still contain scrubby thickets and moderate brush.Though they look like Thrushes, they’re actually a species of warbler and like others in that family they are voracious eaters of insects.However like Thrushes, (and unlike most other warblers) Ovenbirds are usually spotted hunting for a meal on the ground scratching up under the leaf litter in search of beetles, worms and grubs. In fact they even nest on the ground (usually at the base of trees) building old world pizza oven shaped tunnel nests for which they derive their names.
These lovely birds are a spring and summertime resident of North Carolina and are found across the state from the mountains to the coast from April to October. That being said, a few Ovenbirds have been found to spend the winter in Buxton Woods on Cape Hatteras Island in recent years. This is an interesting trend to watch as more people get out to go bird watching during the winter in the OBX.Pretty cool, huh?
Male Boat-tailed Grackles are covered in the most beautiful iridescent plumage I’ve ever seen. When the sunlight hits them at just the right angle, their feathers turn from glossy black to an array of purple, blue and green colors. Female Boat-tails are lovely too! Dressed in buff brown plumage they are quite striking. I spotted several of them while birding along Sunset Beach NC earlier this past week. Boat-tailed Grackles also have long, full “v” shaped tails which crease into a wedge shape while in flight, earning them their moniker “boat-tailed”. I really enjoyed watching him hunting for a six legged meal in the trees. The way this one moved methodically along the branches when foraging was neat to watch!
Boat tailed Grackles are a permanent resident of both North and South Carolina boasting a wide range that stretches from the coastline of New York, down into Florida and into east Texas.They are found almost always near sources of water such as wetlands and coastal marshes, waterfowl impoundments, lakes, rivers, both the Atlantic and Gulf beaches, ponds and mudflats.These sharp looking members of the blackbird family are omnivorous with a diet of expected coastal fare that consists of mussels, shrimp, frogs, aquatic insects, snails, crayfish, and even crabs. When grabbing a meal away from the water, they will feed on grasshoppers, caterpillars, and the eggs of other birds.
During the winter months, they will supplement their diet with different kinds of seeds and grain to make up for the protein loss that may occur when their favorite prey becomes scarce in cold weather. This is why you’re likely to see more of them at your feeders in the wintertime if you live on the east coast.
