Tag Archives: nc birding tour

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Birding at Carvers Creek SP, Bachmans Sparrows

By Sally Siko

Happy to catch up with a pair of Bachman’s Sparrows this morning while Birding at the Carver’s Creeks State Park near Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Although I’ve heard the species singing before, I have never laid eyes on one until today which was very exciting!
I located the birds by their song which is very loud. In fact I nearly stepped right on top of one that was chirping from a pile of pine straw underfoot.
Then I got tremendously lucky as the sparrow flew up into a small tree, and began to sing right in front of me.
So cool!



Although they are found year-round in North Carolina, the Bachman’s Sparrow is a species in decline due to habitat loss. They strongly prefer habitats containing stands of old growth Longleaf Pines and are most often spotted on the ground hunting for a meal in tufts of dense Wiregrass and oak shrubbery.
They once nested and all of our southeast counties, but today are mainly found in the Sandhills region of the central portion of the state.
Nest sites within areas burned the previous 12 months are highly favorable
so it’s useful to look for them in areas where prescribed burns are regularly scheduled.
Bachman’s sparrows also use recently planted clear-cuts and young pine plantations of longleaf, loblolly, shortleaf, slash pines where native grasses dominate the ground cover and perches are available. Alternatively, they will occupy relatively grassy open fields and prairie sites with extensive grass for hiding, especially in the southern US from Florida to Louisiana.


Though this species is very difficult to see (due to the fact that they spend most of their time hiding in dense grass) spotting one of these beauties is incredibly rewarding if your
patient enough to wait for one to pop out and start singing from a sapling.
I know not everybody cares about sparrows, but I think that they are just lovely!

New for this year I’m offering birding tours in the Sandhills, so if you’d like to see a Bachman’s Sparrow too (along with a whole bunch of other gorgeous birds!), check out the calendar link below to book your date today.



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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

A Hermit Thrush encounter at Shiners Park in Lillington NC

By Sally siko

Pleased to spend time with a Hermit Thrush this morning while birding at Cape Fear Shiners Park in Lillington, North Carolina.
I hadn’t spotted one since last year so it was nice to catch up with this beautiful bird again.

In my opinion the Hermit Thrush has one of the most beautiful songs in the entire United States.
There is a distinct melody, delicate thread of song rising and falling between the birds notes.
Sometimes they sing quite loudly, others at a near whisper.
Often they may be the only bird singing in the entire woods, as was the case this day. Truly, this is a bird that beckons you to linger just a few minutes longer to enjoy your time outdoors.



Although they do breed in the higher elevations in the Appalachian mountains in western North Carolina, Hermit Thrushes are generally a winter time visitor to the rest of the state from late September through mid March.
Once you’ve located a Hermit Thrush by its song, it’s pretty easy to ID them.
As you can see by the photos, they are nice, warm copper, reddish, brown color, which stands out among the gray trees. They’ve also got bright white breast plumage with a pleasant spotting all over.


My advice is to find someplace comfortable to sit and wait for the bird to start singing again. I’ll warn you, though, these enchanting little performers will pull you in so you might not leave the forest again until dusk lol!
They’ll only stick around central NC for another week or two so get out there while you can to see this bird before they head north and west to their breeding grounds this spring.

By the way, I’ve added 80+ new birding tour dates to my 2024 calendar for destinations in North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Maine.
Check the link in my bio for booking availability 🙂

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

By the way, I’ve added more than 80 new birding tour dates to my Best Life Birding trip schedule including trips to Shiners Park in Lillington.
Check out the calendar below and book your next birding adventure with me today!

Field Notes, North Carolina rare bird alert, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers have been spotted in NC

By sally Siko

By the way, I’ve added more than 80 new birding tour dates to my Best Life Birding trip schedule.
Check out the calendar below and book your next birding adventure with me today!

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News, Field Notes

Green-winged Teal in North Carolina

By Sally Siko

One of the prettiest duck species that visits North Carolina each year are the Green-winged Teal.
I was so happy to get a nice look at this pair last month!
As you can see here, the drakes have a green stripe going across their faces which is absolutely gorgeous when the sunlight reflects off of it. The hens are just as lovely dressed in a mottled plumage of buff and brown tones.
Both sexes sport their namesake bright aqua green wing patches (called the specula) with white borders which are best viewed when they’re in flight.
Usually they are pretty skittish so getting a couple photos of this pair at a relatively close range felt really good!



Weighing in at less than 16oz, these little ones are among the smallest of the dabbling duck family.
What they lack in size they make up in appetite though lol!
During the spring and summer, they are voracious eaters of mollusks, worms, insects and crustaceans.
When winter arrives they switch up their diet to feed on the seeds of aquatic plants grasses, sedges, and agricultural grain.



Green-winged Teals are a familiar wintertime resident of North Carolina. Each November they arrive in droves from their breeding grounds in Canada and the northern parts of the United States to spend the coldest months in the mid Atlantic region.
Mainly found in the central and eastern regions of the state, look for them in fresh & brackish water areas, marshes, ponds and lakes.
They’ll only stick around until late March (and occasionally through early April) so get out and go find ‘em soon before they head north 🙂

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

By the way, I’ve added more than 80 new birding tour dates to my Best Life Birding trip schedule.
Check out the calendar below and book your next birding adventure with me today!

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

Why are Northern Cardinals red?

By Sally Siko

The state bird of N.C. is the Northern Cardinal, a familiar backyard feathered gem boldly colored with a cheerful song.
Have you ever wondered what gives their plumage that bright red color?

The coloration in these birds comes from three naturally occurring chemical compounds: melanin, porphyrins, and carotenoids.
Melanin is present in humans, giving us our skin, hair and eye colors — and it’s what gives cardinals black, brown, and buff hues.
Porphyrin is responsible for reddish and brownish shades.
But it’s the carotenoids, which create yellow, orange, and red colors, that are perhaps the most important to the male cardinal’s striking red coloring.



These carotenoids are found in plants. Cardinals that are especially bright red, are most likely dining on a healthy diet of carotenoid-rich fruits and berries.
You can aid these gorgeous birds in their development of rich coloration by planting native berry bushes like raspberries and mulberries in your yard. Another excellent food source is the Dogwood tree as their berries are particularly favored by Cardinals.
In addition to offering black oil sunflower seeds, you can also mix in some safflower seeds into your feeder which will add a bit of extra carotenoids into their high protein diets.
Such a gorgeous bird!

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

By the way, I’ve added more than 80 new birding tour dates to my Best Life Birding trip schedule.
Check out the calendar below and book your next birding adventure with me today!

The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Loggerhead Shrikes in the Sandhills of North Carolina

By Sally Siko

A couple of weeks ago, I set out on a soggy Saturday morning to go birding at the Sandhills Gamelands in central NC.
Although it poured rain for the first two hours of the day, seeing these Loggerhead Shrikes made venturing into deluge worth it!
Normally Shrikes are difficult to approach (especially in open areas) but I think the birds were less inclined move due to the stormy weather.
It was neat to get a look at them from such a close range.


Aa predatory songbirds the Northern Shrikes diet consists primarily of mice, voles, grasshoppers and other insects. Like their cousin the Northern Shrike, they’ll occasionally eat other songbirds as well when the opportunity presents itself.
It gets crazier than that though!
Because they lack strong talons or claws, shrikes often impale food on branches, thorns or barbed wire fences to help them tear their prey into bite-sized pieces.
For this grisly meat hanging characteristic, shrikes have earned the moniker of “butcher birds”.
Though it’s indeed an unsettling means to a meal, it behavioral adaptations like these which ensure the Shrikes survival.


Their favored habitats include wide open, tall grassy fields, overgrown hedge rows and agricultural areas where their prey is found.
Usually they are spotted sitting on dead tree snags, on fence lines and power lines overlooking the fields, constantly scanning the ground below for a snack.

Interestingly, this is the third year in a row that I’ve encountered the pair of Shrikes at this location during early March.
I’ve since visited the Gamelands a few times during the summertime to see if they around but with no luck.
This makes sense because although
Loggerhead Shrikes may generally be found throughout the central and eastern regions of Tarheel State year round, the highest amount of recorded sightings annually occur just a bit further south closer to the SC border during the summer months.
It really was nice to catch an early glimpse of this tiny predator once again!

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

By the way, I’ve added more than 80 new birding tour dates to my Best Life Birding trip schedule.
Check out the calendar below and book your next birding adventure with me today!

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Spending time with Eastern wild Turkeys in western North Carolina

By Sally Siko

I’m looking forward to later this spring when I’ll visit western NC to go photograph turkeys again.
They are so entertaining to watch as the Toms strut their stuff during the breeding season!
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 guys 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.

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

Birding Trips and Birdwatching Tours in SC, Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birding trips at Cape May New Jersey, Birding Trips in New Jersey, Birding Trips in SC, Birdwatching News, Biridng Trips and Tours in SC

Warbler Spring migration bird watching trips in North Carolina, South Carolina and New Jersey

By Sally Siko

The grass is greening up and the flowers are starting to bloom. Spring is on the way and with it, new species of warblers will soon be arriving in the eastern United States.
Soon the woods and fields will be filled with chirps, buzzes, trills and tweets as the birds sing in search of a mate and to establish nesting territories.

Warbler vocalizations fall into two categories – songs and calls. In general, we define bird song as a structured, usually complex vocalization serving either or both of two purposes – to defend territories and to attract mates.
Most of the songs are sung by the males, though females do also sing territorially or for pair bonding, especially in the tropics.
Generally their calls are usually shorter and structurally simpler, serving a wider range of functions, including courtship, signaling alarm, or communicating a change in location.



Interestingly, almost no songbirds know their songs by instinct. Rather, most need to learn to sing.
Warblers begin learning songs as nestlings by hearing the songs of adults nearby. In this way, song traditions (known to biologists as “memes”) are passed down in songbird neighborhoods from year to year.
In fact many warbler species have area-specific dialects.
Makes me wonder if our warblers have a southern accent lol!



I can’t wait for spring migration to kick off! It’s so much fun to lead my birding tours, showing off these beautiful feathered gems to my guests.
I’ve got 80 new tour dates available for booking in the Carolina’s as well as in eastern New Jersey and coastal Maine.
If you’d like to join me to go birding this spring, check out the calendar shown below for location and date information.


Feel free to send me an email if ya have any questions about upcoming trips too!
Happy birding-
Sally

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News

Spring bird watching tours in North Carolina

By Sally Siko

The first signs of spring are showing up here in NC. The grass is turning greener, the days are trending warmer and the daffodils will soon be in bloom.
This means that migration is right around the corner and with that, tons of new birds flying in to spend a few weeks or months on the Atlantic coast.



I want to see ALL the birds and can’t wait to share these birding experiences with my guests which is why I’m excited to offer a greatly expanded bird tour schedule in 2024.
80+ dates are now open for you to book a birding trip with me this year in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine and New Jersey from now through late summer.



For details please check out the link below and if ya have any questions feel free to send me an email anytime!

Go Birding With Me: Best Life Birding Trips, Guided Group Birding Tours & Bird Photography Workshops


Happy birding,
Sally

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Tundra Swans in eastern NC

By Sally Siko

One of my favorite winter residents of NC is the Tundra Swan. Each November, thousands of them arrive in to spend the cooler months in our eastern counties.
They quickly fill up the impoundments and farm fields, hooting, honking and whistling, their calls can be heard from a mile away.



Tundra Swans nest in northern Alaska and in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northeastern Manitoba, northern Ontario, and northwestern Quebec.
Interestingly, Tundra Swans 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 for the swans in the Coleville River region of Alaska to make such a long trip east which spans the United States when a flight due south/west to California is quite a bit closer.
 Whatever the reason, I’m glad they are here!

These impressive birds will stick around eastern North Carolina for a couple more weeks before heading north so you’ve still got time to enjoy them if ya get out there soon.

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