Tag Archives: birding tour sc

Birding Trips and Birdwatching Tours in SC

Red-breasted Merganser encounter at Huntington Beach State Park

By Sally Siko

One of the obvious challenges that comes with photographing a bird is of course that they move around quite a bit.
Add the Atlantic Ocean waves and a species of diving duck and now I’ve got a whole fresh set of obstacles to deal with.
In this case I was incredibly lucky to be able to catch a fair amount of shots of this male Red-breasted Merganser swimming right offshore which was freak’n awesome!


Normally these ducks swim behind the breakers, diving constantly in search of a meal. Even when shooting at 600mm, trying to photograph one from so far away is difficult to say the least.
Perhaps the best way to describe it would be like trying to photograph fleas jumping on a running dogs back from 20 ft away using a zoom lens lol!
In any case I took this opportunity for what it was and even though I still had to crop these images, I’m stoked to finally catch some useable photos of this handsome bird.



A member of the “Sawbill” family of ocean faring ducks for its long, thin serrated bill, Red-breasted Mergansers are voracious eaters of fish.
The young ones will also eat crustaceans and insects until they learn to hunt on the open water.
These guys are strong underwater swimmers, easily able to catch a slippery fish in that serrated bill and there are even reports of flocks of RBM’s hunting for schools fish cooperatively by driving them into shallow waters.
Red-breasted Mergansers aren’t just speedy underwater, they happen to be one of the fastest flyers of all the duck species in North America with speeds clocking in approaching 80mph at level flight.
Crazy!

Red-breasted Mergansers are usually found in brackish and saltwater habitats in the eastern counties of the Carolinas. That being said, smaller numbers also frequent our fresh water impoundments, lakes, and ponds, usually for short periods of time, both inland and coastally.
They’ll stick around until late May before they heading north to their breeding grounds so you’ve still got plenty of time to see them.

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


Birding Trips and Birdwatching Tours in SC

South Carolina Sanderling encounter

By Sally Siko

Walking up the beach during my recent birding trip to the Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet SC, I spotted a Sanderling messing around with a jellyfish which had washed up on the shore.
It appeared that the bird was eating the gelatinous blob or at least giving it a taste. Whatever the case, the Sanderling was quite protective of his find and would chase off any other birds that approached his meal.
I’ve never seen a Sanderling snacking on a jellyfish before and I wondered if the bird was enjoying the meal or just super hungry and willing to suck it up because other options were limited lol!



A familiar shorebird to many here in Carolinas, Sanderlings are usually seen scurrying after waves as they roll back out to sea always in the hunt for tiny crustaceans and mollusks exposed by the retreating water.These tiny birds are quite entertaining to watch! With legs that seem to move a ‘mile a minute, these pint sized dynamos make quick work in their efforts to find a meal on the beach.

Sanderlings are one of the most common species of Sandpiper in the world. Indeed, during the wintertime they may be found along every coastline in the United States including Alaska and Hawaii too.Here in South Carolina they are a year round resident but during the summer, they are slightly less common because the ones who spend the warmer months here on our beaches are non breeding birds.Whatever the season, it’s always nice to see one

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

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

Roseate Spoonbills at Huntington Beach State Park

One of the most unique looking birds we’ve got flying around the Carolinas is the Roseate Spoonbill.
With that long flat bill it’s easy to see how these beauties earned their name.
I spotted this one a few weeks ago while birding at the Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC.



Having a “built-in” spoon on its beak can be a big help at mealtime. Spoonbills take advantage of this adaptation with a special feeding style known as “head-swinging.”
They’ll plunge their bill nearly vertically under water and swing it side to side in wide arcs. In this way, they snag a host of small animals from the lake bottom.
Their diet is made up of small fish, crustaceans (especially shrimp and crayfish), insects, molluscs (such as slugs and snails), and other small aquatic animals.



Roseate Spoonbills are an occasional, transient visitor to NC during the late summer along our southeastern coast. If you’d like to have a better opportunity to see them, your best bet is to take a short trip down to coastal South Carolina where they are found throughout summer and autumn. Some smaller flocks even spend the winter there so it might be worth looking for them in December too.

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