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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, North Carolina rare bird alert, Out There with the Expert

A Sedge Wren encounter in Durham NC

By Sally Siko

It’s been a good winter of birding so far.
Bird number 180 for the year appeared this morning in the form of a sweet looking Sedge Wren in Durham county NC.
My friend Corie and I spotted it next to a field flitting around in the tangled undergrowth of a sharp thorned bit of scrubby bush.
This little guy was (as is the case with many species of wrens) very, very vocal which made him easy to locate in the dense tangle.
Yet, actually getting a clean look at it (much less a photo lol) was difficult at best.

The problem was that the bird hardly sat still for more than three seconds. Making matters worse, in addition to all of the twigs and leaves between my lens and the bird, the light was very harsh with dark shadows, and blown highlights.
I really tested the limits of my @canonusa R5’s animal eye focus detection lol!
It took us around 45 minutes of waiting for the bird to pop out of the center of the bush, and even then there was always a twig or a leaf partially concealing the view.
In the end I was satisfied with the photos I was lucky to snap and grateful for the opportunity to even see this bird at all.
Success lol!



Sedge Wrens are a winter resident of North Carolina in our eastern counties.
Here in central NC, they are considered a rare sight so spotting one in the Durham area was a real treat.
They are best found in transitional areas where marshes blend into open fields and especially where there are patches of brush for them to hide and stalk prey.

Once called the Short-billed Marsh Wren, these birds are similar looking to the Carolina and Marsh Wrens we’ve got in NC.
Measuring about 4.5in long, Sedge wrens are streaked with black and brown plumage.
They’ve got white bellies and throats, with soft brown buff coloring on the sides and breasts.
Their tails have a black barring pattern on the topside.
What really stands out though is that bill which is noticeably shorter than that of its relatives.
What a cutie!
If you’d like to see this bird for yourself, I’ve attached a screenshot of the birds location.
I hope that you get to see it too 🙂

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

Birdwatching News, North Carolina rare bird alert

Rare bird alert North Carolina- a Trumpeter Swan at Hanging Rock SP in Danville NC

By Sally Siko

Stoked to lay eyes on a Trumpeter Swan this morning while birding with my friend Corie @latta.ridge at Hanging Rock SP in Danville, NC!


Standing at nearly 4ft tall with a wingspan stretching 5.2ft, and a hefty weight topping 30lbs, Trumpeter Swans are both the largest and heaviest species of waterfowl native to the United States. They are much larger than our wintering Tundra Swans and easy to identify by observing that elongated face and low posture in the water.
I was surprised how curious this guy was as the swan casually swam over to get a look at me as I took these photos. At one point the bird was only a couple feet away though it remained calm and unbothered throughout the entire visit.
These large elegant birds are truly awe inspiring to see up close and I was delighted to encounter such a friendly swan out in the wild.



The other reason that I was thrilled to see this bird is because although the numbers of this species are increasing (currently estimated at 63,000 birds), Trumpeter Swans are a rarely spotted here in the mid Atlantic region of the eastern US.
These elegant birds originally graced wetlands across a broad region of North America from Illinois all the way up into northwest to Alaska.
Unfortunately though, throughout the 17- and 1800s, they were hunted relentlessly for their meat, skins and feathers.
That combined with habitat loss meant that by the 1930s, only 69 Trumpeter Swans remained in the lower 48 states, living in the remote Red Rock Lakes area in southwestern Montana.
Crazy!

Thanks to modern conservation practices, this species is recovering however their future remains uncertain due to continued habitat loss and lead shot poisoning.
We almost lost them but at least we’ve got a chance to today to ensure the survival of this magnificent bird.
If you’d like to go see the spread for yourself, here is a Google Maps pindrop of its location at the bottom of this post.
I don’t know how much longer this big boy will remain at the lake, but it’s probably worth a look if you’re anywhere in the area.

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

Birdwatching News

Rare Bird Alert North Carolina: Vesper Sparrows at Mid Pines Rd in Raleigh

By Sally SIko

Here’s another uncommon bird I spotted this week while birding in Raleigh NC, the Vesper Sparrow.
I’d set out to find one of these beauties along Mid Pines road and was rewarded with some great close up looks as they perched on the fence line.
I’ve seen this species before in the same area but the only photos I’d ever managed to take were terribly lit and from below so it was nice to actually capture a couple shots at eye level.
I know sparrows don’t typically catch anyone’s attention but I absolutely adore these tiny birds.
Aren’t they sweet?

Although they do breed in the western counties of the Tarheel state, the Vesper Sparrow are an uncommon sight here in NC. Usually they are spotted during migration but unfortunately numbers of this species are in overall decline so seeing one is indeed a treat at anytime of the year.
As with many other sparrows, the Vespers favor weedy field habitats with sparse grass cover mixed with bare ground. Interestingly they seem to like hanging out with Song Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows so it’s worth double checking who’s who when ya encounter mixed flocks.
The easiest way to ID these guys is to look for a streaky breasted sparrow that has prominent white eye ring combined with white outer tail feathers which are most noticeable when they’re in flight.

These lovely feathered gems should hang out in central North Carolina until mid March.
If you’d like to find these birds at Mid Pines Rd, I’ve included a link below of their exact location.
I hope that you get to see them too!

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

Birdwatching News, North Carolina rare bird alert

North Carolina Rare Bird Alert: An Ash-throated Flycatcher at Alligator River NWR

By Sally Siko

Here’s a bird I was surprised to see while birding in eastern North Carolina yesterday, an Ash-throated Flycatcher!
The normal range for these little dynamos typically stretches from California to Texas so spotting one here on the east coast is a real treat.
I actually heard this bird calling out “ka-brick” before I found it so it was neat to zone in on that one patch of tall grass to finally get a photo after hearing it vocalize.



Aptly named, Ash-throated Flycatchers do indeed snack on flies. They’re also voracious eaters of all kinds of other insects such as grasshoppers, wasps, bees, cicadas, termites, moths, caterpillars, beetles, spiders and dragonflies.
As desert dwellers, water can be tough to find but that’s not a problem for them since they can get all the water they need from the insects which they consume. This unique dietary adaptation allows them to live in harsh dry environments where other species might not be able to thrive.
Here in NC, we’ve got plenty of water and insects which should carry this little one through the winter months if it chooses to stay.


Though the Ash- throated Flycatcher is not native to North Carolina, sightings of this “rare for the area” bird have been increasing in recent years.
It appears that a few individuals seem to favor the Alligator River NWR and the Pungo Unit as their winter destination of choice.
If I remember correctly, I think there were a pair of them sighted at the ARNWR back in 2022 which makes me wonder if this bird is one of the two which had visited before.
Generally, these flycatchers show up in late November with sighting reports dwindling by late February so my advice is to get out there as soon as you can to lay eyes on this feathered gem.
If you’d like to find bird for yourself, I’ve included a link of its exact location in this post.
Hope you get to see it too!

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, North Carolina rare bird alert

NC Rare Bird Alert: A Short-eared Owl encounter at the Guilford County Farm in Elon North Carolina

By Sally Siko

Yesterday Michael and I got up early and drove up to the Guilford County Farm in Elon NC to see if we could spot a Short-eared Owl.
I’d seen reports of one hanging out there and since I’d never spotted this species before, I figured it was worth the trip to try and this lifer to my list.
Once we arrived, we decided to walk through the fields to see if we could lay eyes on one sitting in the field.



Happily, it didn’t take but 15 minutes to spot one of these beauties taking off from the grass.
Although the Shortie was pretty far away and the photos I took aren’t the greatest it was a thrill to finally lay eyes on this beautiful bird!
But then it got even better as a second then third owl appeared swooping overhead!
Then things got really interesting as a flock of crows flew in and set off after the Shorties.
Diving and slicing through the air, the owls deftly out maneuvered the crows at every angle, eventually frustrating their pursuers into giving up.
That encounter is a good reminder in that if you ever want to find an owl, look (and listen) for a pack of angry crows!



Luckily for birders and photographers alike, Shorties are one of a handful of species of owls which can be seen flying over our marshes, un-filled waterfowl impoundments and wet fields during daylight hours (especially morning and in the afternoon).
They are more numerously found in our coastal counties especially at the Alligator River NWR and at Phelps Lake but may also be spotted (usually in smaller numbers) inland in agricultural areas throughout the Piedmont region.

Though there have been sporadic reports of this species breeding in the Tarheel state, Short-eared Owls are generally wintertime residents of North Carolina. Look for these beauties from now through late March.
If you’d like to make a trip out to the Guilford County Farm to see these guys for yourself, I’ve included a Google Maps pin drop of their exact location in the fields between County Farm Rd and Howerton Rd. in this post.
Good luck and happy birding!

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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News, North Carolina rare bird alert

North Carolina Rare Bird Alert a White-fronted Goose in Wilmington NC

By Sally Siko

Yesterday I got up early and made a two hour and a half hour trip south to the coast of NC in search of two rare birds.
The drive paid off when I found the first species at Ft.Fisher, a Lark Sparrow. Then the cherry on top came in the form of this beautiful White-fronted Goose in Wilmington!



The goose had been reported to be hanging out with a flock of Canada geese resting on a pond on the grounds of a local a high school.
When my friend Corie and I arrived, we immediately jumped out of the car and grabbed our cameras to scan the shoreline of the pond in search of the goose.
As I swept the landscape with my lens, my heart sank. There were a ton of Canada’s snoozing and preening on the bank but no sign of the White-fronted.
Could it have left?
Not wanting to give up, I started walking around the pond to see if another perspective would help me spot the goose.
The pond had a steep shoreline on one side which meant anything roosting at its base would be obscured from view when standing on the flat ground above.
As I made my way around the east corner, a familiar chocolate, brown, and white face popped up from the downslope.
The White-fronted Goose!
Success!!!


Now you might be wondering why I’d care about seeing a single goose.
The reason is that White-fronted Geese are a rare winter visitor to NC.
Though their sightings appear to be increasing over the years, they are definitely not our “normal” wintertime birds.
Their typical range extends west of the Mississippi river north into Canada, Greenland, Alaska, Europe and Russia.

Although the numbers of visiting White-fronted Geese have been increasing in North Carolina in recent years, it is still a remarkable thing to see one!
Look for them hiding in plain sight within flocks of Canada Geese, Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese feeding in the agricultural fields or paddling around the freshwater waterfowl impoundments of our eastern counties from now through March.

@bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News, Instagram Birding

Snow Buntings are back in eastern NC

By Sally Siko

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

North Carolina Rare Bird alert- Dickcissle in Carrboro NC

By Sally Siko

Stoked to finally lay eyes on my first Dickcissle a couple of hours ago in Carrboro, NC!
Luckily this lifer wasn’t too difficult to spot as he was singing loudly in an open field of Blue Cornflowers across the highway from the Maple View Farm Ice Cream shop between the creamery and the farm pond.
It only took about 30 minutes to locate the bird once I was able to pick out his unique song of sharp sounds followed by a buzzy, almost hissed cisssssselll.
What a beauty!



The breeding range of the Dickcissle typically stretches across the great plains region of the United States. Strangely enough though, quite a few of them also breed east of the Appalachian mountains, including right here in North Carolina.
Though a certain number of Dickcissels call the East Coast home during the summer they are still considered a rare sighting here in the Tar Heel state from May through July.



The Dickcissel is the only living member of the “Spiza” genus, inside the family of Cardinals and were named for the male’s song.
As with other members of Cardinal family, during the breeding season, Dickcissels eat both insects and seeds. Insects include grasshoppers, caterpillars, termites, flies, wasps, beetles; they also eat spiders. During migration and in the winter months, they eat almost exclusively seeds including grasses, willows, and buckwheat as well as crops including rice and sorghum.

These handsome birds are best spotted singing from the tops of scrubby branches in open fields, grasslands and in agricultural areas throughout the midwestern states of the US from Texas to the Dakotas.
But as seen here, you never quite know where a pair of Dickcissles will show up so it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for them throughout the summer months.

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

PS. 10/10 recommend getting some ice cream at the nearby Maple View Farm Ice Cream ❤️

Birdwatching News

NC Rare Bird Alert: Update on the Pacific-slope Flycatcher at the Buckhorn Resivour

By Sally Siko

A couple days ago I shared some photos of what I thought was a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
I’d mentioned in that post that this bird is very very similar genetically to the Cordilleran Flycatcher.
In fact the two species are so closely related and easily mistaken for one another that I told ya that I’d provide an correction if my species assessment was proven incorrect.
Well here’s an update on this finding!

I’ve been keeping an eye on the N.C. eBird rare bird report all week and have noticed that the big brains over at Cornell had not verified ANYONES submission of the bird in question being a Pacific-slope Flycatcher!
That includes a huge amount of listings with observation details & great photos too.
I thought this was a bit weird so I reached out to some of my fellow birders (far smarter than I) and learned the following…

One- Unfortunately the only way to definitively ID this bird is either by measuring in hand or by DNA sample.
Photos and playback call response are meaningless.

Two- Luckily fecal samples from this Flycatcher at the Buckhorn Reservoir, were collected (thank you to whomever was smart enough to collect the bird’s poop!) earlier this week and taken to the N.C. Museum of Science for assessment.

Three- It is best (IMO) to list this bird as a Pacific-slope/Cordilleran Flycatcher (Western Flycatcher) on eBird at this time until the results of the DNA test come back.
Since I can’t say for certain what kind of bird that Flycatcher is, I have changed my tick from Pacific-slope to the more ambiguous description of Western.
Time will tell how that shakes out 😉

Four- North Carolina birder Andrew Thornton is a good dude.
As demonstrated in the conversation which I’ve shared here, he is supremely helpful when it comes to assisting others to bird with integrity.
I think that’s pretty cool 🙂



Going forward, I’ll keep ya posted on what this bird turns out to be either way.
Thanks to everyone out there who’s been following along on this journey.
Happy birding my friends!
-Sally



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

Location to see this Flycatcher shown below 🙂

Birdwatching News

NC Rare Bird Alert – A Western Kingbird in Cedar Grove

By Sally Siko

After being sad about barely missing out on seeing a Western Kingbird (literally was 5 seconds late to see that bird!) which had shown up in Raleigh North Carolina last month, today I finally laid eyes on this lifer!
I’ve seen reports that the Kingbird had been spotted yesterday in Cedar Grove NC and figured I’d try to catch a glimpse of the bird since it was less than a 2 hour drive from home.

Luckily when I arrived at the spot of it’s last reported location I did not have to wait too long before I spotted along with a fellow birder perched on a fence wire across a wide pasture.
Although the Western Kingbird stayed far outta the reach of getting a great photo (even on my 600mm lens) I was stoked to finally see this feathered gem for the first time!



The range of the Western Kingbird normally stretches from south central and western Canada, throughout the entire western United States and all the way down into south Central America. To have one show up as far east here in central North Carolina is pretty special!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Kingbird/maps-range#



As it goes with every Kingbird I’ve ever seen, the Western wasn’t too difficult to locate despite it being a super rare find.
The reason is that the behavior of most Kingbirds is predictable in that they always seem to prefer perching on power lines, fence posts, rails and wire fences.
Knowing this trait made spotting this bird relatively easy although there were quite a few fence lines at this spot to keep an eye on for a bit before the bird finally showed up.
So glad this little guy cooperated so nicely in the end 😉



By the way, I noticed that this Western Kingbird seems to have a piece of fly tape stuck to one of his legs.
Luckily, he did not seem to be encumbered by the tape. Hopefully he will be able to free himself of it soon!

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

Google Map pin drop to the Kingbird’s exact location below