Here’s a familiar sight found on North Carolina’s beaches, the Black bellied Plover. I spotted this one looking for a snack in the sand along the shoreline of a small cove near Oregon Inlet in the OBX. It was quite amicable to my presence and walked up to me a couple times which allowed for some good close up photo opportunities.
The bird featured here is likely a juvenile or non breeding adult due to the streaky pattern on it’s breast and overall spotty appearance. Adult male Black bellied Plovers display jet black plumage on their face, running down the front of their necks and down across their breast and belly. The adult females look similar to the males but showing less contrast in their appearance.
Black bellied Plovers are a wintertime visitor to coastal areas of the Tarheel State. That being said, a small population of non-breeding birds will spend the summer months here too. They are best found on our beaches but also in tidal mudflat areas and on short grass lawns searching for a meal. They’ll stick around until April before heading north to their nesting grounds in the tundras of Alaska and Canada so we’ve got plenty of time to enjoy these sweet birds for the season ahead.
Back home after my trip to the Alligator River NWR & the OBX this past weekend and thinking about the importance of pre-bird tour groundwork. Because nature is somewhat unpredictable, I’ve found it useful over the years to do a little location scouting a day or two before my tour dates. This time allows me to check the conditions of the trails and routes plus be able to confirm that all of the seasonal bird species are where I’d expect them to be. Most of the time it’s all good but in this case, yikes! Thank goodness I headed out to the Alligator River NWR earlier in the week before my guests where scheduled to arrive because apparently the impoundment areas were bone dry.
Dry as a bone at the Alligator River NWR
Normally the fields are flooded in October to provide safe haven for migrating waterfowl over the winter but due to dry conditions, a shortage of workers, and a beaver dam stopping up the pumps, they were unable to start the pumps to flood the fields this year. Thus, aside from a small flock of Tundra Swans, a half dozen Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles, there were hardly any birds to be found along the first stop of my tour. Not exactly the best conditions to start off a birding trip…
Red-tailed Hawk at Alligator River NWR
So, I contacted my guests before the tour day and explained the situation on the ground. My new plan was to spend less time at the Alligator River NWR and add an extra stop at the end of our tour on to find a rare species of bird (a Snow Bunting) on Pea Island. I don’t like to have to change things last minute but I always want to make sure that my guests are getting in the most birds (and the most fun!) out of the time we spend together so this felt like the right move.
Black Bear at the Alligator River NWR
As it turned out, Alligator River NWR was still worth the short visit as there were plenty of opportunities for my guests to spend time photographing the resident Black Bears which was pretty cool!
It was such a joy to see so many happy bird loving photographers getting their first ever shots of a bear. Plus, I got to show the group a family of Bald Eagles hunting Swans in the fields.
All in all, not a bad way to start the day 🙂
Thankfully our next stop on Pea Island came through with thousands of ducks and swans to see swimming on the ponds in the refuge.
American Wigeon at Pea Island NWR
There were Redheads, American Wigeons, Ringnecks, Scaups, Pintails, Gadwalls, Black Ducks, Mergansers, Buffleheads and more including American Avocets, Clapper Rails, Godwits, warblers and sparrows! Plus uncountable numbers of Tundra Swans, geese and American Coots to round out the day’s list which you can see in the photos below.
Lesser black backed Gull
Common Merganser
Savannah Sparrow
Hooded Merganser & Bufflehead
Clapper Rail
Black Duck
Red winged Blackbird
White Ibis
Redhead Ducks
White Pelicans
Pintails, Redheads & Gadwall
American Avocets & Godwits
Tundra Swans
American Coots
Pintail Duck
American wigeon
Assorted Waterfowl
Yellow- rumped Warbler
Ruddy Turnstone
Black bellied Plover
Oh and yes, I was able to deliver that Snow Bunting too (a new lifer-bird for every guest!) which was a total cherry on top.
Snow Bunting at Oregon Inlet
All in all and despite an unexpected start, a wonderful day 🙂 I can’t wait to get back out there for the next tour later this month!
All smiles on the OBX!
If you’d like to join me this winter on a birding trip, click on the dates shown in green on the calendar below for tour availability, locations and booking info.
PS. Shout out to my friend John Carter who completed his goal to go birding in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties!
He say’s that he is now officially retiring from birding (to focus on his Raleigh - Durham Real estate career) and that his last bird of the year was the Snow Bunting we found on this trip 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS JOHN! Hope you come out of bird retirement again someday. Never say never my friend 😉
This past weekend, I led a birding trip to the OBX and was pleased to show my guests a rare wintertime visitor to NC, the Snow Bunting! It was such a joy to see how happy this bird made the people on the tour, so many big smiles, what a great way to cap off the day.
Snow Bunting at Oregon Inlet on Pea Island in the OBX, North Carolina
Dedicated cold weather birds, Snow Buntings breed in the high Arctic. They nest in the crevices and deep cracks of rocks which provide protection from the Arctic winds. Though their nests are thickly lined with grass, feathers and tufts of fur, due to the extreme cold temperatures the female is unable to leave the nest so her mate is wholly responsible for feeding her while she is incubating the eggs.
Often seen with flocks of Longspurs and sparrows, Snow Buntings feed on the ground, foraging for a variety of seeds and buds as well as insects and other small invertebrates, including small marine crustaceans when spending time in coastal areas. This particular bird spent most of its time either on the rocks overlooking the water or on the ground eating grass seed under the bridge along Oregon Inlet.
The Snow Buntings normal wintertime range extends from southern Canada down to Pennsylvania on the east coast, across the upper Midwest over to western Oregon. They are also an infrequent visitor to the coastal areas of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Look for them hiding on the low dunes, short grass/ sand flats, and on rock jetty’s in the OBX from November through February.
Finally colder weather has arrived and with it, new birds are making their way to North Carolina to spend the winter. I’m so excited because this means my favorite time of year is here, weird duck season lol!
These are some of my favorite birds from my trips to the OBX last year. As you can see it’s mostly about waterfowl like Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Redheads, Tundra Swans, Pintails, Eiders and Scaups but there’s also giant American White Pelicans, Coots, American Avocets and more to find too! And oh yes, there are LOTS of them out there. The barrier islands of the OBX in eastern NC offers superb habitat conditions for visiting migratory waterfowl with large, shallow freshwater ponds and brackish water marshes for the birds to feed in. Every autumn, thousands of ducks, geese and swans arrive to settle in these areas which offers excellent viewing and photographic opportunities for birders and bird photographers alike to get up close to these gorgeous feathered gems.
This means that starting on November 28th, I’ll be making several trips to the coast to lead birding / photography tours in the OBX at Pea Island NWR and the Alligator River NWR from now through February 2022. These trips are an opportunity for us to connect with like-minded bird loving photographers who enjoy the chase as much as we do. On a personal level, I mean where else can I hang out with groups of people who actually want to hear more random bird facts along with chatter about F stops and shutter speeds? Do you know how hard it is to find people like you IRL off of the net? Talk about a “rarity”! Lol! At the end of the day, it’s just nice not to feel alone in this pursuit and incredibly rewarding to know that I can help others move forward on the journey with me. Yeah it’s corny to say out loud but it’s how it is haha 😉 Anyway…if you’d like to join us out there check the calendar below for the Birdwatching NC tour schedule. Book your date today before space is gone.
I’m looking forward to meeting you to go birding this winter!!!
It’s always a delight to catch a couple photos of a Field Sparrow. I caught a glimpse of this little gem on Friday afternoon at Mid Pines Rd in Raleigh. This species has that prominent white eye ring making them easily identifiable which is a very good thing when trying to figure what kind of sparrow you’re looking at. Plus the white feathers around their eyes give them a sweet faced look that never fails to make me smile whenever I encounter one.
Field Sparrows are a year round resident of North Carolina, yet here in the central part of the state they appear to be found more numerously during the autumn and winter months. Although they are known nest across the state, the numbers of Field Sparrows sighted in the breeding seasons have been in steady decline over the past 20 years. The exact reasons for the dip in are still unclear but the downward trend seems to follow a similar path to the decline in Bobwhite numbers which I would suppose has to do with the loss of rural & agricultural habitat that both species rely on.
As you’d expect, Field Sparrows are found in tall grassy open areas, overgrown fields, hedge line brush and maritime thickets. The roadside fence line along Mid Pines Rd. adjacent to the cow pastures is the perfect place to spot these guys. Grass seeds make up less than 50% of their diet in the summer, but more than 90% in the winter. In the summer they also take adult and larval insects and spiders. Field Sparrows forage on the ground, but look for flocks of them in the grass near some form of plant cover where they can quickly fly into if they need to hide.
Can you feel it? The cool breeze seeping in under the still warm sun and crisp blue skies. The leaves starting to lose those vibrant greens in the west, fading ever so gently into muted tones soon to blaze red & gold into brown. Yes. Autumn is here in the Carolinas and following on its heels, the most wonderful time of year… Weird duck season!!!
Today we’re all concentrating on the fall migrational movements of Warblers and other songbirds but in my opinion, winter will bring my favorite feathered gems to North Carolina. Redheads, American Wigeons, Green winged Teal, Blue winged Teal, Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, Canvasbacks, Eiders, Pintails, Northern Shovelers and more waiting to delight us once the weather turns cold.
I’ve made the decision to spend as much time as I can this winter traveling to our coastal counties this winter to photograph and share as many duck species as I can from November to February. Although I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I can expect to find out there, there’s always the potential to be surprised and delighted by something new floating out there in the water (or something furry hiding in a cornfield, lol!).
Wanna join me? After all, birding & bird photography is better with friends! Birders / Photographers of all skill levels are welcome and I’ll be sharing plenty of tips along the way. Check out the link below for my winter tour schedule to book your date.
When bird watching in NC, one of the most instantly recognizable species is the male Northern Cardinal. A familiar sight both in our yards and in the woods, these vibrantly colored birds are found in all 100 counties across the Tarheel State. I spotted this handsome fellow at the NC Museum of Art Park yesterday morning hiding on a shady bough.
As the end of the nesting season draws near, the Cardinals will start to molt out their feathers which will be replaced by bright new plumage. Some of them even lose all the feathers on their head all at once! This one appears to have started the process as he’s looking a little rough around the edges.
The Cardinal’s signature crimson red colored feathers are a product of the birds diet of plants, fruits and seeds rich in carotenoids. Although there are plenty of options for them to snack on in the wild, you can grow plants right in your own backyard to help your local Cardinals keep their bright color. These guys love fruit like raspberries, blackberries and strawberries as these fruits are packed with the carotenoids the birds need. That being said, if you really want to impress your flock of Cardinals, plant a a Dogwood as those red berries produced by this flowering tree are by far and away their favorite backyard treat.
One can hardly hike more than a few minutes in the woods here in central NC without hearing the cheerful call of the Summer Tanager. This was the case when I spotted this male singing in the trees at the Pee Dee NWR in Wadesboro NC last week. He was easy to find with that bold red plumage, especially when he landed on the bare branches of a dead tree near the shoreline of the lake. Such a gorgeous bird!
Did you know that the Summer Tanager is the only entirely red colored bird found in the United States? Northern Cardinals and Scarlet Tanagers come close however both of those species also have black feathers on their bodies. All three species get their bold red hues from carotenoid compounds which produce the red (and sometimes yellow) colors seen in the birds feathers. These are acquired through their diets (mainly through fruit), and are then processed in the body into pigments that are deposited in the growing feathers.
Summer Tanagers are generally spring and summertime residents of North Carolina. They arrive in April and hang out until September before migrating south to Mexico, Central and South America. That being said, there are small but growing numbers of Summer Tanagers that stick around for the entire winter in the eastern part of the state provided that they have a reliable food source available to them via a feeder. Pretty cool huh? 🙂
Oh btw, I’ve posted new birdwatching tours to the Pee Dee NWR (where I photographed this Summer Tanager) here on this website. Wanna join me? Check out the link below for booking details.
One of my favorite birds to see when visiting the coast are the American Oystercatchers. With those bright orange eyes and red bill set off by that gorgeous brown, black and white plumage they’re one of the sharpest looking birds on the beach.
I was happy to see a couple of chicks zipping around the dunes and was pleased when one of the little ones stopped running long enough for me to grab a quick portrait. Isn’t he cute? 🙂
American Oystercatchers are a year round resident of North Carolina. During the summer months they are found nesting in our dunes. Although the breeding birds are a familiar sight along our beaches (like this one on Wrightsville) they’re most often spotted hunting for a meal in coastal areas where oysters are present such as on sandbars, tidal mudflats and along the rocky areas near jetty’s.
Oystercatchers feed almost exclusively on shellfish and other marine invertebrates including mussels and clams of many varieties, limpets, sea urchins, starfish, crabs, worms and of course oysters (shocking, yes I know haha!). One of the most striking feature of these handsome birds is that bright red bill. More than just a pretty facial feature, it’s actually the key tool they use for getting a meal. Wading through shallow waters over oyster beds, they’ll locate the oysters which are partially open. Once they spot one, they’ll stab at it, inserting their long knife-like bills into a mussels partially open shell, quickly severing the powerful adductor muscles before the shells can close. Then in proper ‘raw bar fashion, down the hatch the soft parts go. Makes me wonder if they ever have a hankering for a beer to wash it all down with lol!
One of the things I enjoy most about birding is the research done ahead of time that’s often needed when pursuing a new species. The first place to start is to learn about the kinds of habitats the bird favors and pick someplace on the map where these places exist. From there it’s time to turn my attention to the season at hand and match up the habitat requirements with the month and location. Then it’s off to try and find out more about the birds diet, migratory movements, seasonal plumage changes and nesting habits. Once those things are locked in, off I’ll go to see if I was right in understanding the data. While I’ve come up empty on numerous occasions, just often enough (lol) I am able to find the bird I’ve been looking for. While it’s thrilling to see and photograph something new, I am so in love with the learning process done ahead of time and in the field that adds an extra layer of fun to the experience.
Case in point, this gorgeous Northern Parula I recently spotted at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington NC. This feathered gem’s favorite nesting material is Spanish Moss growing on trees in places near water. Here in the far southeastern region of NC, we’ve got plenty of that (plus tons of tasty insects for them to eat) so it’s reasonable to expect to find one or two in this area on any given day during the breeding season. In fact, my group and I saw a few of them during our trip which was just wonderful!
Another thing I noticed about the Parulas (for the first time actually) is how perfectly suited their yellow, white and grey plumage is for blending in with the sun dappled and shadow foliage of the Magnolia trees on a sunny summer day. Freak’n gorgeous! The first shot above shows what the scene looked like from a wide view. The second and third photos below give you a closer look at this handsome little bird.
Who knew such boldly colored plumage could serve as the perfect camo pattern? I sure didn’t so it felt like I learned something new about a bird I see every year. The glimmers of understanding are why I keep getting after this birding life.
By the way, I’ll be heading back to the coast again on July 12th 2021 to lead another trip to share these stunning birds with my guests. I can’t wait!
Want to join me?
Click on the Ft. Fisher bird watching trip link below to reserve your spot on the tour!
