Tag Archives: birding tours north carolina

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Kentucky Warblers at Bynum Bridge Pittsboro, North Carolina

It’s springtime in central North Carolina which means the Kentucky Warblers have arrived.
I spotted this feathered gem today while exploring the area around Bynum Bridge in Pittsboro.The neat thing was that this particular bird was super accessible as it popped out of the underbrush frequently to sing offering multiple opportunities to snag a useable photo or two.



This brightly colored warbler, (unlike so many other geographically named warblers lol), is actually well-named, as the center of its range lies squarely in the center of the state of Kentucky.They are quintessential birds of the Eastern deciduous forest, breeding across nearly all of North Carolina from the mountains to the coast. Though they are considered a common bird west of the Appalachians, east of the Blue Ridge mountains there isn’t a particular region where Kentucky Warblers are found in great numbers so it’s always a treat to spot a random one here in the Triangle area.



Kentucky Warblers are usually best found in moist, rich forests, containing a thick underbrush zone near creeks and streams beneath a hardwood canopy.Some are known to breed in our floodplain habitats (particularly in brownwater ones) while avoiding blackwater regions such as the Lumber River area.In our western mountains, where broad floodplains are scarce, Kentucky Warblers may be found nesting more abundantly on slopes, but usually on lower ones or on others that are very rich and lush.Look for these beauties from late April through early September here in the Tarheel state.

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Boat tailed Grackles in SC

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.

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

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

A Swainsons Warbler sighting in North Carolina

Had an excellent time birding in Alamance County NC this morning brought in part of getting a lifer Swainsons Warbler added to my list!
My friend Corie and I spotted this guy singing his heart out at Great Bend Park.
Although it took around an hour to locate the bird within the park we were rewarded with great close up views of this rare species.



Swainsons Warblers have a reputation of being one of the rarest species of Warbler in the United States. This label is given partly because of perceived low population in numbers but also because they are difficult to actually find because of their habitat preferences.
Swainsons tend to occupy dense, dark stands of brush beneath trees in wetland areas such as swamps, bottomlands, and narrow streamside forested areas. They also favor the bay forests and pocosin swamps of our eastern coastal counties for nesting activities.



In the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina they require very dense and dark stands of Rosebay Rhododendron under various canopy species of trees. If you’re lucky you might even spot one inside stands of Mountain Laurel or Carolina Rhododendron.
Interestingly the Swainsons Warbler does breed in this region but only along the Atlantic drainage streams of the Blue Ridge Escarpment mainly at the base upwards to around 2,500 feet.
Apart from those areas though they are rarely seen.

Across NC, these secretive little gems can be generally be found from mid April through mid October with earlier departure dates of late September for the birds in our western regions.
This means you’ve got plenty of time this year to spot one for yourself so get out there!
🙂

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

The Blue gray Gnatcatchers have arrived in the Carolinas

By Sally Siko

Here’s my first of the spring season Blue-gray Gnatcatcher for 2023 🙂
Seeing one of these tiny guys appear each March is a happy reminder that soon the trees, bushes and skies will be filled with migrating birds.
Usually this species moves through the canopies of the trees like hyperactive ping pong balls. I was pleased to be able to capture a few photos of this Gnatcatcher perched in one spot.



These little birds have a good reason to stay on the move as Blue-gray Gnatcatchers dine primarily on fast flying insects which are made all the more scarce during the winter.
Combine that with a super speedy metabolism and you’ve got a bird who absolutely, positively, cannot and will not sit still.They are agile flyers and are perfectly capable of snatching a small insect right out of midair. *Weirdly enough though, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers rarely eats gnats which is kinda odd.



Though they are relatively easy to find across the state during the summer months, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are a year round resident of the Carolinas.Once the temperatures drop, they tend to head east into our far southern coastal areas to spend the winter where the six or eight legged food choices remain available.

These lovely little ones will become more abundant throughout the rest of the Carolinas over the the next few weeks and will stick around until September. The best spots to find Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are in habitats containing a mix of deciduous forests and wetlands, ponds, lakes and rivers.They are particularly active in the morning hours as they need to make up for the loss of calories spent while sleeping by hunting for insects as soon as the sun rises.

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Photographing Buffleheads in eastern NC

By Sally Siko

Here’s a duck which I’ve yet to get a good clean photograph of, the Bufflehead.
While I see tons of them every winter, I just can’t seem to get close enough to one to grab a great shot.
It’s so frustrating because these are beautiful ducks, especially when they’re swimming on the blue water under bright skies. The sun just lights up the iridescence on the males head which reflects a dazzling array of color.
So beautiful!


I took this series of (zoomed in on a 600mm lens & cropped 80%!)shots this past weekend while birding in the OBX and while they are pretty good, I still want better lol!
Happily I’ll be back in eastern NC next week to lead another tour so maybe I’ll get another chance at getting the perfect photo then.
We will see….



A wintertime resident of North Carolina, Buffleheads are best spotted swimming on our coastal lakes, ponds, estuaries, and impoundments. You can even see them swimming in the ocean just offshore on calm days.
The males are easy to ID with that striking combination of black and white body plumage paired with a black (but multi colored iridescent) face and white patch of feathers which extends from his eyes to the back of his head.
The hens (the ones shown in the series of in-flight photos) are quite lovely too with their soft grey and black plumage with white spots on their cheeks.

One of our smallest species of diving ducks, Buffleheads will hunt for a meal in both fresh and salt bodies of water.
In freshwater habitats, they eat primarily insects, and in saltwater, they feed predominantly on crustaceans and mollusks. Aquatic plants and fish eggs can often become locally important food items, as well when available.
They are strong swimmers and able to stay under water for more than a minute, then often popping up a long way from where they disappeared.
This makes them a little more challenging to photograph but it’s still fun to try haha 😉
The Buffleheads will remain in NC until early March so you’ve still got plenty of time to enjoy them this season.
Wooohoo!

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

Field Notes

The Tundra Swans have returned to the OBX in eastern North Carolina

By Sally Siko

One of the things I look forward to the most year after year is the return of the large flocks of Tundra Swans in eastern NC.
Thousands of these majestic white birds are flying in to spend the winter months in the fields, lakes and impoundments of our coastal counties.



It’s quite a sight to stand on the shoreline of a lake and see so many of them all in one place. Yes they are indeed beautiful but gosh they are a noisy and rambunctious bunch lol!
Large groups of Tundra Swans may be best defined as thinly controlled chaos so it’s not uncommon to see scuffles like the one pictured here break out within the flock.
I photographed these two pairs brawling this past weekend and boy it was as entertaining to watch as any prize fight haha 🙂



When they’re not fighting each other, Tundra Swans nest in northern Alaska and in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northeastern Manitoba, northern Ontario, and northwestern Quebec.
Interestingly, these guys break off into 2 distinct groups of eastern and western migrating populations when traveling between breeding and wintering grounds.
Swans that nest east of Point Hope in northern Alaska winter on the Atlantic coast, while birds breeding from Point Hope south & west winter along the Pacific.
It seems odd to me for the birds in the Coleville River region of Alaska to make such a long trip east which spans across the entire United States when a straight shot flight south to California is quite a bit closer.
Whatever the reason, I’m glad they are here!

You can find these beauties in southeastern North Carolina from November through early March in with peak numbers occurring in January.
Look for them in open marshes, lakes, shallow ponds and estuaries in fresh and brackish waters. They are also easily spotted feeding in grain fields in our agricultural areas too.
So cool!

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

Birdwatching News

NC Rare Bird Alert: A (possible) Pacific-slope Flycatcher at Buckhorn Reservoir in Wilson, NC

By Sally Siko

After seeing several reports on the NC Rare Bird Alert for a Pacific-slope Flycatcher being seen within an hours drive of my home, I decided to go see if I could spot it.
As a bonus my daughter came along for the ride which was pretty awesome!

We arrived at the Buckhorn Reservoir in Wilson, NC yesterday around 4 PM.
Unfortunately the pinned map locations provided by the other eBirders weren’t accurate so finding this little bird proved to be a challenge!

The first location I tried (near the mudflats) was a no go.
The second spot (a marina parking lot) was a dud and I quickly realized that the bird I was looking for wasn’t going to turn up where the pin locations had said it would be.
I scanned the tree line around the lot and played a couple calls but had no luck.
At this point the sun was getting low in the sky and I decided that I probably wasn’t going to find the bird so I might as well enjoy the sunset sparkling over the water.

Walking down onto one of the long docks, I looked to the left shoreline and noticed that there was a large area of exposed mud which look like it might be drive-able.
So acting on a hunch, my daughter, and I got back into the car and drove out over the levee and onto the mud flats.
At this point, the only clue I had to the birds whereabouts were some eBird comment notes about the Flycatcher being near a red flag.
And lo and behold, flapping in the breeze attached to a low branch was a marking flag tied to a low branch on the muddy beach.
Then….something small and yellow colored fluttered out of the corner of my eye into a bush. I quickly searched for the bird in Merlin and played the single note call of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
To my amazement, out popped the Flycatcher who flew immediately up onto a nearby low hanging branch!
Success!!!

Well, I think it was successful.
My sighting still hasn’t been officially confirmed in eBird as the Pacific-slope and Cordilleran flycatchers are pretty difficult to tell apart from one another.
Even with photo verification the conformation might take a few days.
I’m calling this a win though because the bird responded so quickly to the single note call (a Cordilleran typically uses two note calls).
I’ll update this post if I’m proven wrong.
Either way, this was a fun bird to find.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty 50MP monster, the @canonusa #5Ds

Google Maps pin drop to the exact location to this bird shown below…

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Black Ducks in eastern North Carolina

By Sally Siko

With so many colorful species of waterfowl arriving to to spend the winter in NC, it might be easy to overlook the understated elegance of the American Black Duck.
That would be a shame though because with that dark mahogany and buff plumage combined with that vibrant bright violet-blue wing speculum, I think they’re quite beautiful.



I spotted this gorgeous duck hanging out in a mixed flock of Pintails, Mallards and Teals while on a recent trip to eastern NC.
Though they sort of look like mallard hens, Black Ducks are overall quite a bit darker in appearance (especially below the neck) and are relatively easy to tell apart when the two species are swimming side by side.



Throughout the year, you can spot flocks of Black Ducks paddling around both in the fresh and slightly brackish water habitats of our eastern counties.
In fact, the American Black Duck is one of only a handful of waterfowl that breeds here in NC.
Unfortunately their numbers have been declining over the past 20 years, in part due to coastal marsh habitat loss and an increase in feral Mallard populations which are overtaking the Black Duck’s nesting grounds.

Look for these guys in wooded swamps, as well as on very large, open bodies of water such as lakes, impoundments, and sounds.
Keep in mind that Black Ducks are more wary than most ducks, flushing quite readily, so stealth may be required to see one up close!
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa#5Ds

Biridng Trips and Tours in SC

Anhinga fish flipping

By Sally Siko

One of the most fascinating species of birds that I enjoy photographing are Anhingas.
While on a recent birding trip at Huntington Beach State Park I was lucky enough to observe this one using its sharp bill to spear a fish, flip it into the air, and then swallow it head-first!



Anhingas are actually a species that is on the increase here in the Tarheel State. They favor habitats containing freshwater with cypress trees and are most often spotted hunting for a meal in swamps, ponds and lakes in the coastal plain and in the eastern Piedmont regions.



As you may have guessed, Anhingas eat a wide range of aquatic creatures such as fish, crayfish, small invertebrates, insects, and frogs.
Masters of underwater hunting expeditions, they are super entertaining to watch wrangling a meal.
In fact, they’ve evolved with some unique ways to hunt underwater more efficiently.

For one, they lack the water proofing oils found in duck species. Since (surprisingly) they’re not the strongest swimmers, they become waterlogged once their feathers become saturated. This added weight allows the Anhinga to dive deeper than it could if it was waterproof.

Another specialized feature of the Anhinga is that they do not have nostrils. This adaptation means they’ve got no worries about accidentally breathing in water while hunting below the surface.

As for the fish flipping technique shown here?
Well by tossing the fish into the air, the Anhinga is trying to manipulate its prey into a head-first downward position so that the fish doesn’t get caught in its throat.
Pretty cool, huh?

I think that it’s neat that a bird that looks like it belongs in the Jurassic Period would actually be the one species which is holding the latest in cutting edge freshwater hunting physiology, lol!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

White Pelicans in eastern NC

By Sally Siko

If you’re into photographing birds, the Outer Banks of eastern North Carolina is the place to be during the winter.
It’s my favorite spot because of the wide diversity of species that are found here.
From Ducks, to Gulls, Owls and eagles, Harriers and Pelicans, it’s heaven on earth for those that venture out with a camera in search of all things feathered.



Case in point, this American White Pelican. I mean look at this thing! He’s freak’n huge!
With a wingspan that can stretch up to 10ft from tip to tip, they are absolutely an epic sight when gliding low across the water.

I spotted this one as he flew in to join his squadron on the north pond at Pea Island.
It was interesting to watch these large birds feeding together. They forage by swimming on the surface, dipping their bills down to scoop up fish in that enormous pouch, then raise their bills skyward to drain water and swallow their prey whole.



Here in North Carolina, American White Pelicans are found in our coastal marine habitats such as bays, lakes and estuaries from October to early March.
Unlike the Brown Pelicans who are often seen hunting for a meal over the ocean, White Pelicans prefer to hunt in shallow, slow moving fresh or brackish bodies of water.
This is nice because one has a greater chance of seeing them (relatively) up close at a local waterfowl impoundment vs. trying to spot one over the horizon of the vast Atlantic.

I can’t wait to return to eastern NC to lead my birding tours next month! It’s such a joy to share these huge beautiful birds with my guests. Truly amazing creatures!


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