Tag Archives: birding video
Birding Video at Pocosin Lakes NWR
Birding at the North Carolina Museum of Art
By: Sally Siko-Admin Birdwatching NC
Last week I had the opportunity to go check out the North Carolina Museum of Art to see what kinds of birds I could find there. From Indigo Buntings, Goldfinches and Orchard Orioles to Red tailed Hawks and Nuthatches, I was in heaven.
With the sunflowers blooming in the back field, this was the place to be to catch some beautiful photos and nice clear sightings of all sorts of different species of birds.
Check out the video below to see what I found and click on the map link at the bottom of this post so that you can visit this amazing location for yourself.
Birding video: Summertime at the POcosin lakes NWR & Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Here is a video I made highlighting some of my favorite finds from my latest birding trip to the Pungo Unit at the Pocosin Lakes NWR and Lake Mattamuskeet NWR on the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina last week.
What a neat place to go bird watching, even in the middle of summer!
10/10 recommend a visit 🙂
Filmed on a Canon 5DS at the Pungo Unit at the Pocosin Lakes NWR – Pantego, NC & Lake Mattamuskeet NWR – Englehard, NC
Red cockaded Woodpecker video from Weymouth woods Preserve
A Red cockaded woodpecker nest at the Weymouth Woods preserve
By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching N.C.
One of the best parts about living in central North Carolina is the opportunity to see all kinds of incredible birds in the springtime. In addition to the migratory species moving through, we’ve got access to view a small number of endangered species as they enter their breeding season.
Recently I took a quick trip to the Weymouth woods Preserve near Pinehurst N.C. to see if I could grab some photos and video of the endangered Red cockaded Woodpecker. Happily, I was not disappointed!
Shortly upon arrival, I found a nest in an old Long-leaf Pine tree and had the opportunity to watch a pair of woodpeckers flying in and out of their tree as they fed the nestlings inside. Check out the video below!
Unlike most North American woodpeckers, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers are a social species that live in family groups with a highly developed, cooperative breeding system. This also makes them unique amongst all bird species–only 3% of bird species breed in this manner. Another interesting behavior to note is that these woodpeckers use a group of trees, known as a “cluster”, to develop nesting/ roosting cavities en mass. Family groups generally consist of 2–6 birds with one monogamous breeding pair and 1–4 helpers. The helpers are typically the pair’s male offspring from the previous breeding season, who have delayed their own reproduction in order to help their parents in raising their siblings. The family group grows in size during the course of the breeding season with the hatching and fledgling of new young.
Red cockaded Woodpeckers are adapted to mature, living, open-pine forests. It is estimated that there are about 6,000 groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers, or 15,000 birds from Florida to Virginia and west to southeast Oklahoma and eastern Texas, representing about 1 percent of the woodpecker’s original range.
The Red-cockaded is the only woodpecker which excavates cavities exclusively in living pine trees. Cavity trees that are being actively used have numerous, small resin wells which exude sap. The birds keep the sap flowing apparently as a cavity defense mechanism against rat snakes and possibly other predators. The typical territory for a group ranges from about 125 to 200 acres. Habitat loss and degradation have greatly reduced its range and negatively affected this species, which has been considered Federally Endangered since 1968.
Seeing these lovely birds in the wild was absolutely thrilling! I’m so glad that I was able to photograph them at the Weymouth Woods Preserve.
N.C. Video Birding : Tufted Titmice at Jordan Lake
By: Sally Siko – Admin Birdwatching NC
A few days ago, I took a quick trip to Jordan Lake with my son to see what I could find. We spotted a few Bald Eagles and a Hooded Warbler but were most pleased to find a whole bunch of fledgling Tufted Titmice flying for the first time.
What a joy it was to watch these tiny birds exploring the world.
April Birding Highlights at Bass Lake Park, holly Springs, N.C.
Birding at the Audubon Observation deck : Video Bird watching Adventures
By: Sally Siko – Admin Birdwatching N.C.
A cople of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of making a quick trip up to the Audubon Observation Deck at the Jordan Lake State Recreation Area to see what I could find.
Upon arriving, I was rewarded with a couple of Bald Eagle sightings right off the bat. It was absolutely awesome to see these majestic birds soaring right above my head!
After spending a few minutes on the dock, I headed up the coastline to check out the action in the cove area. The coolest things I found were a pair of Black Vultures dining on a catfish and a huge Red-tailed Hawk!
My only regret when making this video was that the wind was blowing really hard so the audio quality isn’t me best. That being said, I think you’ll enjoy the clips above anyway 🙂
Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the morning…
One of the nice things about the Audubon Observation Deck is that there is no gate restricting access to the dock or shoreline of Jordan Lake. With all of the recent park closures going on, it’s nice to find a spot we can go to get some perfectly legal exercise (social distancing -while wearing bins, carrying a scope or camera of course).
Here is a map below of how to get to the Audubon Observation Deck…
Happy birding!
-Sally
PS. For more places you can go birding without fear of being locked out, check out this post of my no-gates, no problem location list!
All photos and video were 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!
Birding at the carroll Howard Johnson Environmental Park Video
By: Sally Siko, Admin-Birdwatching NC
A few days ago, I headed out to go bird watching at a park in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina which does not have a gate restricting trail access. I like the fact that it’s possible to get out here early before a few of the joggers and dog walkers arrive which would give me the best opportunity to see the birds.
Here is a video below of my highlight birds which included my first sighting of 2020 of Barred Owls!
Here is my eBird list which included 11 species 🙂
One of the things I liked about this park is that there are two distinct habitats for birders to explore. Deep woods and a narrow open field with a small creek winding through it all. In the late spring and summer months it’s a haven for breeding songbirds and a real gem of a birding spot when other parks get busy (or get shut down).
Below is are a few of my favorite photos from the trip which are featured in the video above. Although I did not net a whole lot of different species, I had a great time just being outdoors in the woods. I’m really looking forward to returning here in a couple of weeks to see what is flying around once spring migration gets underway.
If you’d like to visit the Carroll Howard Johnson Environmental Education Park for yourself, here is a map of the location below…
Be on the lookout for videos and photos from my next trip back to this nice little birding spot next month. Hopefully I’ll have a longer species list to share with you then 🙂
Until next time, Happy Birding!
-Sally Siko
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!
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