dorthea dix park | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

By Sally Siko

The thing about bird photography is this, birds don’t always cooperate haha!
I went to the sunflower field at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh NC last week to try and catch a few photos of an Indigo Bunting perched on a sunflower.
Unfortunately the birds weren’t in the mood to grant my wishes as most of the time the Buntings were either sitting on top of this lone cornstalk or flitting through the leaves in search of a meal.
In the end I opted to try and get a portrait of one *near a sunflower (nice colors) so this is what I came away with lol!

Speaking of color, these brightly colored feathered gems are named for their deep sea-blue plumage that looks like indigo dye. The males appear to be blue with a tinge of black on the face, wings and tail. Females are toned in a lovely tannish-brown.

Although this bunting is known for its rich hues, that blue color on the males is actually a trick of light.
Believe it or not, adult male indigo buntings in full breeding plumage are covered in black feathers, but thanks to the diffraction of light by the feather structure, they appear to be a brilliant blue, a colour that changes from black to blue to turquoise as the angle of reflected light changes.
Pretty neat, huh?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds

By Sally Siko

There’s a Painted Bunting who’s been hanging out at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh NC that’s been delighting bird lovers with excellent views for the past couple of weeks.
While I’ve already seen several Painted Buntings this year in the eastern part of the state, it was exciting to spot one here in the Triangle!

Although these birds are certainly colorful which makes them easy to see & ID, they can be somewhat hard to find as they prefer to hunt for insects in scrubby brush and the heavy foliage of a tree line where it meets a field.
My best advice when searching for a Painted Bunting is to listen for their high pitched buzzzzed-zeeeep calls from ground level to about 20 ft in the brush.
Painted Buntings can be found along the coastline of North Carolina (and throughout the southern states) catching grasshoppers, weevils and other beetles, caterpillars, bugs, spiders, snails, wasps and flies.
During non-breeding months of early spring and late summer, they prefer to eat seeds and may be found visiting your feeders on a somewhat regular basis.

By the way, as beautiful as these birds are, their favorite seed is plain as can be lol!
Fill your feeders with white millet, (a seed that is commonly snubbed by other birds yet abundant in the most basic of mixed seed blends) & a Painted Bunting might visit your yard too.
How cool is that?!

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds