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Birdwatching News, North Carolina rare bird alert

NC Rare bird alert: Lark Sparrow at Ft.Fisher

December 22, 2023 admin

By Sally Siko

Happy to spot a Lark Sparrow at Ft.Fisher in NC last week!
My friend Corie and I made a quick trip to the coast to see if we could find this little guy and were rewarded with some great looks for the effort.
*ok yeah it is a 2 1/2 hour drive south for me but these days anything less than a 5 hour drive to see a bird is local drive in my book lol!

These guys are considered a rarity in NC so when I first put this bird into focus on my lens it was pretty exciting! The reason why is because the Lark Sparrow’s range stretches from primarily the Great Plains and west to the California coast. Year-round populations also occur in Texas and northern Mexico too. That being said a very, (very!) small population of Lark Sparrows breed right here in North Carolina. Usually those birds are found during the breeding season in isolated spots within the Sandhills region (central part of the state) so it was incredibly cool to find one here at Fort Fisher during the winter.

When Lark Sparrows do show up in the eastern counties of NC during the colder months, they prefer to forage in areas of wide sandy-scrub patches. The dry dunes and field habitats here on Ft.Fisher are just perfect for them. Unfortunately these beauties won’t be here for much longer as most will head south for the winter but if you missed them this year, the Lark Sparrows will return to the Tarheel state next April.

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

Birdwatching News

NC Rare Bird Alert: A (possible) Pacific-slope Flycatcher at Buckhorn Reservoir in Wilson, NC

December 14, 2022 admin

By Sally Siko

After seeing several reports on the NC Rare Bird Alert for a Pacific-slope Flycatcher being seen within an hours drive of my home, I decided to go see if I could spot it.
As a bonus my daughter came along for the ride which was pretty awesome!

We arrived at the Buckhorn Reservoir in Wilson, NC yesterday around 4 PM.
Unfortunately the pinned map locations provided by the other eBirders weren’t accurate so finding this little bird proved to be a challenge!

The first location I tried (near the mudflats) was a no go.
The second spot (a marina parking lot) was a dud and I quickly realized that the bird I was looking for wasn’t going to turn up where the pin locations had said it would be.
I scanned the tree line around the lot and played a couple calls but had no luck.
At this point the sun was getting low in the sky and I decided that I probably wasn’t going to find the bird so I might as well enjoy the sunset sparkling over the water.

Walking down onto one of the long docks, I looked to the left shoreline and noticed that there was a large area of exposed mud which look like it might be drive-able.
So acting on a hunch, my daughter, and I got back into the car and drove out over the levee and onto the mud flats.
At this point, the only clue I had to the birds whereabouts were some eBird comment notes about the Flycatcher being near a red flag.
And lo and behold, flapping in the breeze attached to a low branch was a marking flag tied to a low branch on the muddy beach.
Then….something small and yellow colored fluttered out of the corner of my eye into a bush. I quickly searched for the bird in Merlin and played the single note call of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
To my amazement, out popped the Flycatcher who flew immediately up onto a nearby low hanging branch!
Success!!!

Well, I think it was successful.
My sighting still hasn’t been officially confirmed in eBird as the Pacific-slope and Cordilleran flycatchers are pretty difficult to tell apart from one another.
Even with photo verification the conformation might take a few days.
I’m calling this a win though because the bird responded so quickly to the single note call (a Cordilleran typically uses two note calls).
I’ll update this post if I’m proven wrong.
Either way, this was a fun bird to find.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty 50MP monster, the @canonusa #5Ds

Google Maps pin drop to the exact location to this bird shown below…

Birdwatching News

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

June 4, 2022 admin

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

February 11, 2022 admin

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 I hit the road to see if I could find this shy high Arctic visitor.
On our first trip I 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!) I figured that I’d try again to find it whenever it popped up again in NC.
I kinda assumed that would be next year but as it turned out, I didn’t have to wait that long!
In fact, I was only home for about 24 hours when another alert was shared that the owl had been spotted near Pea Island again.
So, I repacked the bags (which had just been unpacked, lol!) and headed straight back out to Nags Head to try once more.
Day after day, I 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, my persistence paid off as my 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 “I got it”!
Woohooo!