By Sally Siko
Tag Archives: obx birding tour
Wintertime Purple Sandpipers in North Carolina
By Sally Siko
Finally saw my first Purple Sandpiper last month while birding in the OBX.
It was so exciting to get a great look at this lovely little bird as it hunted for a snack on the pier abutments next to the cove of Oregon Inlet.
Purple Sandpipers are not a common sight along our coast. I’d been trying to see one for years but just hadn’t been at the right place so laying eyes on this one felt really good!
Purple Sandpipers breed farther north than any other birds that stay on the shore in the winter.
In the winter, they are found from the coast of Quebec and Newfoundland in Canada to the coast of New England, and as shown here as far south as the Carolinas.
They are even found along the eastern coasts of the Great Lakes in the central US.
Outside the Americas, their breeding range extends through Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and from northern Norway to southern Belgium. They also live in parts of Europe, including Faeroe Islands, Britain, Ireland, Norway, eastern Russia, the coast of the Baltic Sea, Denmark, western and northern Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Unlike other North Carolina shorebirds they are found exclusively on wave-washed rocks and bridge pilings.
This makes them a little easier to rule out an ID from a distance if you’re viewing a similar looking species on the beach.
Yet, because their habitat is restricted to a handful of jetty and rock pile sites along several hundred miles of our coastline, it is believed that only 30-60 individuals are found in the state each year.
Some of the best locations to spot a Purple Sandpiper in the Carolina’s include the basin pond at Fort Fisher, the rock jetty’s and pier at Oregon Inlet, Ft.Macon SP in NC and the jetty at Huntington Beach SP in SC.
They’ll stick around from now through early April so you’ve got plenty of time to see one
Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5
Spending time with the American Wigeon in eastern NC
By Sally Siko
One of my favorite visitors in NC are the American Wigeons.
I absolutely love their plumage patterns featuring that striking mix of bright green, white and warm brown feathers.
They are fun to photograph too!
These guys have boisterous personalities, constantly stirring up trouble in a mixed flock in an effort to snatch a meal from their rivals lol!
I captured these images last year while birding in the OBX. It’s been a long year waiting for December to roll in and I can’t freak’n wait to get back out there next week to enjoy these beautiful feathered gems again 🙂
A wintertime resident of the Tarheel State, the American Wigeons breeding range extends from the state of Alaska south through Canada’s Prairie Provinces and down through the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region.
Each autumn they fly south to spend the cooler months in Mexico and the Caribbean Islands as well as locations along the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts here in the United States.
Preferring large open bodies of water away from the woods, large flocks American Wigeons are a fairly common sight in the eastern Piedmont region and coastal areas of North Carolina.
Look for them in wide open freshwater marshes, lakes, rivers, ponds, brackish bays, impoundments and estuaries from now through late March/early April.
Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5
Spending time with Northern Pintails in eastern North Carolina
By Sally Siko
One of the best things about living in NC are all the interesting and beautiful ducks which arrive to spend the winter.
We’ve got Gadwalls, Black Ducks, Widgeons, Teal and Ruddy Ducks too but few can match the elegance of the Pintail.
They are truly unique looking birds and IMO are among the most visually striking ducks one can see here in the Tarheel State.
I’ve spotted a bunch of them this year while birding in the OBX and always look forward to showing them off to my tour guests whenever they make an appearance.
The drakes are easy to identify when swimming amongst large mixed flocks with their chestnut colored heads and namesake pointy tails.
The Northern Pintail boasts the widest range of any other duck seen in the United States. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and are known to winter and breed on all continents except for Australia and Antarctica.
During the wintertime, large flocks of Pintail can be seen at many of our coastal refuge regions here in North Carolina, such as Bodie and Pea islands in the Outer Banks, Lake Mattamuskeet, Pungo Lake, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, and parts of Pamlico Sound.
A surface feeding duck, they dine on aquatic plants, seeds, grass, small aquatic animals, and insects. Their long elegant necks enable them to reach deeper than other dabbling ducks for seeds, roots and tubers of underwater plants. During the wintertime, they’re also commonly spotted in eastern North Carolina feeding on the leftover grains found open farm fields situated near water. They’ll stick around here until late April and will return next September once more to spend the winter in eastern NC.
Aren’t they lovely?
Want to see these gorgeous ducks too?
I still have tour dates available for booking this year so if you’d like to join me for a birding trip in eastern NC, check the calendar for reservation and tour info.
Photo by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5
Marbled Godwits in eastern NC
By Sally Siko
Pleased to spend time with a resting flock of Marbled Godwits last week while birding in eastern NC.
I’d been scouting the area for newly arrived migratory waterfowl when I discovered this sleepy group snoozing on the shore of a large pond.
I ended up just chilling on the sand next to them for about 30 minutes taking in the nice view and of course a few photos too.
Marbled Godwits are an autumn and wintertime resident of North Carolina and found mainly looking for a meal on the mudflats in the shallow water tidal marshes and impoundments of our coastal counties.
Their diets mainly consist of marine worms and small crustaceans but they’ll also eat insects and other invertebrates when the opportunity arises.
When feeding, they’ll move slowly probing for food underneath the mud with their sensitive bill. If a Godwit finds prey deep down they’ll insert their entire bill into the mud, sometimes submerging their entire head if it means coming up with a snack.
Yes, muddy headed Godwits are a thing lol!
Standing at around 18 inches tall, these attractive cinnamon colored birds are relatively easy to ID in a mixed flock of smaller shorebirds such as sandpipers, Willets, Dowichers and plovers.
They’ll stick around the coastal counties of NC through late March so you’ve still got plenty of time to see one for yourself this year.
Aren’t they beautiful?
Photos & video by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5