Tag Archives: north carolina rare bird

Birdwatching News

Rare bird alert NC- A pair of Scissor tailed Flycatchers have been spotted in Charlotte

By Sally Siko

Last month, I took a quick trip to try and find my first Scissor tailed Flycatcher at Ft. Fisher NC.
That lone fly catcher was a vagrant in the area and I certainly didn’t expect to lay eyes on another one until next year when I head out to Texas for my spring migration bird watching tour on High Island.

Scissor tailed Flycatchers in Charlotte, NC June 2nd, 2022



But as luck would have it, a pair of Scissor tailed Flycatchers have shown up in the Charlotte North Carolina area!
So on June 2nd, I met up with my friend Corie Latta to see if we could capture some better photos of this beautiful species.
This time I think I nailed it and am very pleased with how the photos turned out 🙂



The Scissor tailed Flycatcher’s normal range extends south from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, in areas of western Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, all the way down into Mexico and Central America.
This species is a rare sight indeed east of the Mississippi and certainly not a common bird to spot in North Carolina!
That being said, there seems to be an increase in sightings of the aptly nicknamed ‘Texas Bird of Paradise here in the Tarheel state which I find absolutely fascinating.

Scissor tailed Flycatchers North Carolina



The flycatchers appeared to be a bonded male & female pair which makes me wonder if they’ve got a nest in the area.
I’d learned that they prefer to nest in trees or tall shrubs, usually on horizontal limbs about 7 to 30ft above the ground so I did spend some time checking the trees in the area to see if I could locate a nest but to no avail.
I plan to revisit the spot in a couple weeks so perhaps I might get lucky and confirm a nest site then.
We’ll see I guess 🙂

Btw, if you’d like to see these birds for yourself, I’ve included a Google Maps pin drop of their exact location below.
Be respectful of the property owners though as the land the birds are on is actually an Amazon distribution center!
Best advice is to stay on the side of the road where the drainage pond is.

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

Birdwatching News, Out There with the Expert

North Carolina Rare Bird Alert: A Snowy Owl encounter in the Outer Banks

Each winter, a very special sort of tourist shows up in OBX of North Carolina, the Snowy Owl!


I’d seen reports two weeks ago that the bird was back in the Nags Head & Ocracoke areas so @isaacmcshanephoto and I hit the road to see if we could find this shy high Arctic visitor.
On our first trip we spent 4 days looking but came up empty.
I’ve had this bird on my target list for years but never seem to be in the right place at the right time to see it.
Once again I’d come up a day late and a dollar short on the Snowy Owl hunt.
Sigh…

Disappointed (but not unhappy because birding in the OBX during the winter is awesome owl or no owl haha!) Issac and I agreed that we’d try again to find it whenever it popped up again in NC.
I kinda figured that would be next year but as it turned out, we didn’t have to wait that long!
In fact, we were only home for about 24 hours when another alert was shared that the owl had been spotted near Pea Island again.
So, we repacked the bags (which had just been unpacked, lol!) and headed straight back out to Nags Head to try once more.
Day after day, we searched but with no luck.
Until the very last hour before heading home that is…

Finally, after a couple hundred miles of driving over two weeks, dozens of miles on foot hiking on sand, through snow, rain, wind and biting cold temperatures, our persistence paid off yesterday as our sweeping searching of the dune trail south off of Ramp 4 at Oregon Inlet yielded our first look at this elusive owl.


It was a real rush to be able to snap off a few photos of a bird I’ve been hoping to see for years. Although the encounter was brief, I’ll never forget twisting the barrel of my lens to zoom in on the birds white head poking up from behind a tuft of grass. That moment of realization that the search was over once the owls head was in focus was exhilarating.
It was also a tremendous relief to be able to exclaim out loud to Isaac, “I got it”!
Woohooo!



Special thanks to @apexbirdluver for the heads up 😉

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my beloved 50MP beast, the @canonusa #5Ds