Tag Archives: pea island nwr

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Late winter birdwatching: The American Wigeon at Pea Island NWR

One of my favorite ducks to make an appearance in North Carolina during the winter is the American Widgeon.
With that emerald green plumage reflecting in the sunlight, they are truly striking looking birds.



American Wigeons are often found feeding with Coots and diving ducks such as the Redhead, Scaup, and Canvasback, who are adept at rooting up vegetation from deep in the water.
The opportunistic Wigeon will watch the action below the water then snatch the food away from the divers as soon as they try to surface with a bill full of greens.


Preferring large open bodies of water away from the woods, large flocks American Wigeons are a fairly common sight in the eastern Piedmont regions and coastal areas of North Carolina.
Look for them in wide open freshwater marshes, lakes, rivers, ponds, brackish bays and estuaries from September through late March/early April.
Aren’t they gorgeous?

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Redhead or Canvasback Duck?

The best part about wintertime in North Carolina is the arrival of interesting waterfowl to our state.
Two such gems are these handsome Redhead and Canvasback ducks.
They are incredibly beautiful creatures and I’m always excited to see them whenever I travel to the Pungo Unit or to the Pea Island NWR.

Though at first glance the two species may look similar to one another, there are ways that you can tell them apart, even at a great distance.



The Redhead drake featured in the first 2 photos has a blueish bill with a black tip, an orangey yellowish eye, and more rounded “traditional duck” head profile.
The most distinctive ID point when viewed from far away is their gray back.


The Canvasback drake featured in the photos below have a black bill, ruby colored red eyes, and a unique triangular head profile.
You can ID them easily from way across the water by their bright white backs.



From November through late March/early April, Redheads and Canvasbacks can be spotted paddling around in the shallow bays and marshes foraging for a an underwater snack of stems, seeds, and roots of aquatic plants: shoalgrass, pondweeds, and sedges at many of our coastal wildlife refuges.
There is plenty of time left for you to go see them this winter so get out there if you can!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Wintertime birding at Pea Island: Northern Pintail Duck

Check out these Northern Pintails! Aren’t they cool looking?




Pintails are unique looking birds and IMO are quite beautiful.
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 will stick around here until late April and will return next September once more to spend the winter in the Tarheel State.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Wintertime birding Pea Island: The redhead Duck

This sharp looking bird is called a Redhead Duck. As their namesake implies, they are quite easily identified among large mixed flocks of waterfowl sporting that crimson plumage.
I spotted quite a few of them here at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge swimming in the north pond near the visitors center.



Unlike many other species of diving ducks redheads more often spotted displaying dabbling duck behavior by dipping their head underwater or tipping up to feed on plants and small invertebrates.

During the winter, they can be found in slow moving or still bodies of freshwater,
foraging on plant seeds along the shoreline such as
tubers, grass, pondweeds, wild celery, bulrushes,
water lilies, and even wild rice under the water.



Their breeding range extends from central Alaska through southern Canada to the northern regions of the United States from Washington to Maine.
Many breed in the Prairie Pothole region of the northern Great Plains of North America.

In September, these ducks migrate to winter in the warmer climates found in central Mexico, along the coast of California to the Gulf and of course the Atlantic Coast including right here in eastern North Carolina.



You can find them in most of our southeastern coastal wildlife refuges through mid April. These handsome guys are well worth the effort to find them!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Wintertime birding in the OBX

Recently, I made the trip out to eastern NC to the Pea Island NWR, Pocosin Lakes NWR & the Alligator River NWR to see what kind of wintering birds I could find.

I was not disappointed!
From Tundra Swans, American Bitterns, White Pelicans, Bald Eagles and a nice variety of gorgeous ducks, it was a great time all around.

Here’s a video I made from the trip. Funny thing is that I didn’t even come close to including all of the birds that I saw. I’ll likely publish more on those birds in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned!
Thanks for watching & happy birding!
Sally Adams Siko

PS. I still have spots available for guests to come along on with me my return tour to the Pocosin Lakes NWR, Pea Island in 2021!
Check out the trip from the list below and book today before it’s gone.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

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

Wintertime birding: the American Wigeon

Here is a duck that I was pleased to see, the American Wigeon!
A dabbler and upland grazer feeding primarily on aquatic plants, seeds, waste grains, and small invertebrates, they prefer to roost and feed in shallow lakes, ponds and marshy areas which are surrounded by dry grassy fields.

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 winter in Mexico and the Caribbean Islands as well as locations along the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts here in the United States.

A large population of these gorgeous birds spends the cooler months right here in eastern North Carolina.
Pea island, the Alligator National Wildlife refuge and Pungo lake are great places to find them throughout the winter.
They will be here until early April so there is plenty of time for you to get out there and see them for yourself.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Out There with the Expert, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Wintertime birding in eastern North Carolina

I had an excellent time this week birding in the OBX! Spending 3 days straight, I saw thousands of beautiful birds from Cape Hatteras, to Pea Island, Pungo Lake and the Alligator River NWR.



Of all the birds, my favorites were the American Widgeon, Pintails and Redheads. Those ducks are simply gorgeous!
It was an incredible sight to see thousands of waterfowl all in one spot. So much squeaking and quacking, these large flocks are pretty noisy once you get close.

With pictures like these, you might ask why is eastern North Carolina such a duck magnet?
The answer is that the majority of the waterfowl here in North America breed in Canada’s Prairie Provinces and the United States’ upper Midwest, particularly in the area known as the Prairie Pothole Region.

Every autumn, ducks and geese funnel down the Atlantic Flyway to the farm fields, ponds, lakes and rivers of eastern North Carolina to spend the winter in our temperate regions where there are vast quantities of food still available throughout the colder months.
Pretty neat, huh?
I’ll have a ton of photos and new videos coming soon from the trip so stay tuned…

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

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

Juvenile shore bird ID in the OBX

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Just a couple of teenagers hanging out around the pond. Here is a White Ibis on the left and a Little Blue Heron on the right. I photographed them last week at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. They hunted together for about 10 minutes, never more than a few feet apart from one another. You may be asking why this particular bird is called a “little blue heron” when he’s clearly not blue. The color doesn’t fit does it? Well the reason is that this is actually a juvenile Little Blue Heron. The young ones are dressed entirely in white plumage during their first year, often showing splotches of gray-blue by their first spring The White Ibis? He’s brown. That makes no sense lol! Thats because this is a juvenile White Ibis. He’s covered in a mottled brown and tan feather pattern. From a distance it’s easy to mistake a juvenile White Ibis like this little one for a Glossy Ibis. The main thing to look for is that a Glossy Ibis lacks the white patch on the back (best seen during flight) and belly is entirely dark colored, not white or patchy tan. Swipe through the last two photos to see the adult White Ibis and an adult Glossy Ibis for comparison 🙂 Adult White Ibis’s are white birds with pink bills and legs. They’ve got Carolina Blue eyes and black tips on their wing feathers. While viewing from far away or in poor lighting conditions, the adult Glossy Ibis appears to be dressed in all black but if your able to get a closer look at one, you’ll see that they are actually a beautiful reddish-brown color with shiny iridescent bottle-green wings. Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa #5Ds

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

Nags Head birding success

I had an excellent trip this past Thursday & Friday leading a private birding tour in the OBX. With 11 checklists in 2 days, it was an absolute blast getting out to the coast to see some interesting birds.



Here’s a shot of two of the most common species we saw, a Willet and a Sanderling.
I spotted these two dodging the waves on Pea Island. It was interesting to watch them hunt for tiny crustaceans in the sand. They are so quick!

Wether your an experienced or novice birder, the Pea Island offers excellent bird watching opportunities all year round. The refuge is home to over 400 species of resident and migratory species of birds ranging from raptors, warblers and sparrows to ducks, swans, herons and shorebirds.

I’m looking forward to making a return trip here this November to catch some cool new waterfowl which will stop here during autumn migration.
Wanna join me?
Here is a link with the tour details and booking info below 🙂

https://birdwatchingnc.com/birdwatching-n-c-trips-birding-in-north-carolina/birding-the-obx/

Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa
#5Ds