Another commonly seen wintertime bird here in NC is the White throated Sparrow. I spotted this one at the Prairie Ridge Ecostation in Raleigh a few day’s ago. There were a ton of them there hanging out in the low brush and thickets throughout the property.
During winter and migration migration periods, they forage on the ground in large, loose flocks. They will be here in central N.C. to about the first or second week of May before they head out to their breeding grounds in New England and Canada.
I watched a group of about 20 birds flitting in and out of the bushes, rustling the leaves and chattering to one another. The Prairie Ridge Ecostation seems to host the perfect habitat needed to feed such a sizable flock!
White-throated Sparrows seem to be quite adept at scratching and are able to find seeds deeply buried in leaf litter.
Their winter diet consists mainly of seeds and fruit when available. They are also quite fond of red and white millet seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, and cracked corn offered in our feeders.
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds
Happy Birding!
-Sally
Photos captured with my mighty Canon 5DS. If you are interested in getting shots like these with this 50 MP beast of a camera, please check out the link below to Canon USA.
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