Tag Archives: rare bird alert

Birdwatching News, Out There with the Expert

North Carolina Rare Bird Alert: A mountain Bluebird at Wrightsville Beach, NC

Are these the prettiest pics of a Mountain Bluebird you’ve ever seen?
Lol, nope!
Yet, these are the photographs of the first Mountain Bluebird I’ve ever laid eyes on so they are beautiful in my eyes.
Better still, since my mighty megapixel beast the 5Ds is out of commission and I’ve loaned out my R5 and 600mm lens, I took these photos with my old warhorse team, the Canon 5Dmkii & a Canon 200mm lens.



Due to the distance limitations of the 200mm, I had to crop the photos but could only do so much.
Yet, it surprising how well my aged gear holds up against my contemporary equipment in regards to image quality.
Goes to show ya that the best camera for the job is the one you’re carrying at the time.
On this day, it is the capturing of the memory which counts most and I could not be happier with the results 🙂



Mountain Bluebirds are typically found in the Rocky Mountains and in other areas of the western United States and Canada.
That’s why I was so excited to have an opportunity to photograph this one close to home in Wrightsville Beach North Carolina!
What this little blue feathered gem was doing all the way out here is anyones best guess.
Happily though, this Mountain Bluebird displays similar behavior to our friendly native Eastern species so it was quite amicable to having its photo taken at a relatively close range.

Special thanks to @wrightsvillesup for their hospitality in allowing me to photograph this bird on their property 🙌

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the the (alive and still kicking!) @canonusa #5Dmkii

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News

Rare Bird Alert North Carolina- Snow Bunting at Oregon Inlet OBX

This past weekend, I led a birding trip to the OBX and was pleased to show my guests a rare wintertime visitor to NC, the Snow Bunting!
It was such a joy to see how happy this bird made the people on the tour, so many big smiles, what a great way to cap off the day.

Snow Bunting at Oregon Inlet on Pea Island in the OBX, North Carolina



Dedicated cold weather birds, Snow Buntings breed in the high Arctic. They nest in the crevices and deep cracks of rocks which provide protection from the Arctic winds.
Though their nests are thickly lined with grass, feathers and tufts of fur, due to the extreme cold temperatures the female is unable to leave the nest so her mate is wholly responsible for feeding her while she is incubating the eggs.



Often seen with flocks of Longspurs and sparrows, Snow Buntings feed on the ground, foraging for a variety of seeds and buds as well as insects and other small invertebrates, including small marine crustaceans when spending time in coastal areas.
This particular bird spent most of its time either on the rocks overlooking the water or on the ground eating grass seed under the bridge along Oregon Inlet.



The Snow Buntings normal wintertime range extends from southern Canada down to Pennsylvania on the east coast, across the upper Midwest over to western Oregon.
They are also an infrequent visitor to the coastal areas of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.
Look for them hiding on the low dunes, short grass/ sand flats, and on rock jetty’s in the OBX from November through February.

@sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty 50 megapixel monster, the @canonusa #5Ds

Birdwatching News

Rare Bird Alert North Carolina- Ross’s Geese in Raleigh

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC

After finding the Ross’s Geese yesterday morning on Mid Pines Rd in Raleigh, I decided to take a trip back to the area that afternoon to see if I could grab a few extra photos of these beautiful birds.
Happily the decision paid off as I located the pair again swimming (and doing backflips lol!) on a nearby pond behind the Antioch Church off of Lake Wheeler Rd!

Ross’s Geese (morning shots with the Canon R5) Raleigh NC

The first set of photos shown above (morning) were taken with the Canon R5 and while they turned out pretty good, on my afternoon trip I brought my big boy, the 50MP Canon 5DS as I anticipated needing the extra large file size to allow for some post production cropping of the images. Check out those images below!

Ross’s Geese (afternoon photos) captured with the Canon 5Ds in Raleigh NC

*Geese can be kinda skittish so even when photographing them with a 600mm lens, I was still pretty far away so the ability that the 50MP Canon 5Ds offers to crop the photos without losing those feather details was important.

Ross’s Geese are an unusual sight in central NC as they typically migrate further to the east to spend the winter in our coastal waterfowl impoundment and marshes. Normally your best bet in seeing them is at Pea Island, Lake Mattamuskeet, and the Pungo Unit where they will hang out amidst flocks of Snow Geese.
Thus, seeing them in the Raleigh area is pretty special.
That being said, there have been growing numbers of sightings of Ross’s Geese further inland over the past 20 years so maybe this sighting is right on trend.

Since the Ross’s Goose and Snow Goose look so similar, it can make for a tough ID in the field.
The best way to tell them apart is that Ross’s Geese are smaller and lack the broad black edges of the bill (known as a “grinning patch”) that Snow Geese show.
They’ll stick around the Tarheel state until late February so if your winter birding plans lead you to our coast this winter, you should have a good opportunity to enjoy them for a few more months.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty twin dragons, the Canon R5 & the 50 megapixel monster, the @canonusa #5Ds

Birdwatching News

Rare Bird alert North Carolina- Say’s Phoebe in Gibsonville, N.C.

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC

After missing out last weekend, I finally got this morning to see the Say’s Phoebe that’s been hanging out at the Guilford County Farm in Gibsonville, NC.
Rarely seen on the east coast of the US, the Say’s Phoebe’s normal range extends from Alaska, throughout the western United States and down into Mexico.
The fact that this bird somehow ended up in central North Carolina is pretty cool!

This bird looks similar to the Eastern Phoebe except that it has a grey breast and a salmon colored belly. It even behaves in a similar way with tail flicking which I thought was pretty cute 🙂
Although I hadn’t seen one until today, I know that Phoebes prefer to hunt for insects at the edges of open grassy areas so when I set out to search for it I had a pretty good idea of where it would likely be.
It took about two hours of searching when the bird finally showed up in the corner of a field near one of the farm sheds.
Success!

Coincidentally, there was another large group of birders on the farm that day. While we didn’t interact with each other, I assumed they were searching for this bird too.
I quickly grabbed a few photos of the Say’s and then jogged up the fence line to see if there was anyone still hanging out from that group who’d like to see this bird.
Unfortunately, all of the birders had left the farm except for one guy (Hi Keith!) so he was the only one who got to view the Say’s with me.
Oh well, I tried. Lol, even when I’m not leading a tour I can’t stop myself from sharing my happy bird-nerd moments with others!

This particular bird has been hanging out at the farm for around 3 weeks so it’s likely that it’ll still be there for a few more days. It seems to prefer that field along northeastern corner of the bob wire fence line.

By the way, the Guilford County Farm park is public property and there is a public parking lot on-site so no worries about hiking around the grounds.
If you’d like to find it too I’ve included a Google map showing the exact spot where I found it below.

Happy birding!

-Sally

Birdwatching News

Rare Bird Alert South Carolina- Limpkins in Conway

Birdwatching News

NC Birding News Rare Bird Alert: Greater White- fronted Goose at Yates Mill Park Raleigh, N.C.

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC

Greater White-fronted Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

This morning was actually one of the best birding days I’ve had in a while! I got up early and drive out to the Mid Pines Road area because I’d heard of reports that said that there was a White fronted Goose hanging out in the fields of NCSU farms.

It was super cloudy and kind of dark when I arrived at 7:45. I drove up and down Mid Pines Rd anyway scanning the vast landscape for signs of the Goose. I had no luck! This bird was nowhere to be found.

By now, it was around 8am so I thought I’d try looking for the Goose at nearby Yates Mill Park. On my way out to Yates Mill, I got lucky and spotted a Peregrine Falcon sitting in a tree just north east of the Mid-Pines dog-leg. Wow! That was freak’n awesome!!! You can read about that encounter HERE.

As I pulled into the parking lot of Yates Mill, I could see a huge flock of Canada Geese sitting on the water through the trees. Now, I was getting excited! I’d had a hunch that the White fronted Goose would be likely to be found in the company of other geese. Now, it was time to see if this idea paid off.

Canada Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina
Ruddy Duck at Yates Mill Park, Raleigh N.C.
Mallard drake, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

Making my way to the boardwalk, I could hear the geese honking and splashing. As soon as the flock was in sight, I took out my camera and started searching for the White- fronted Goose (WFG) on the water. This was not easy! There were so many Canada Geese, Mallards, and Ruddy Ducks here that picking out the WFG in this loosely mixed flock was proving to be difficult.

Then, there it was!

Greater White-fronted Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

I was so happy that I finally spotted it! the White fronted Goose was much smaller than the Canada Geese . Yet, he/she seemed to fit right int with the rest of the flock.

Greater White-fronted Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina
Greater White-fronted Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

Who is watching who? Lol!

Greater White-fronted Goose & Canada Geese, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

I spent about an hour watching the WFG and taking photos. I think this is remarkable sighting because this Arctic tundra-nesting species normally spends it’s winters in the western half of the United States. So cool to think that this little Goose had somehow ended up here in central North Carolina…and I’m standing here looking right at it.

Greater White-fronted Goose, Yates Mill Park Raleigh North Carolina

As I made my way back to my truck, I smiled at the wonder of finding a Peregrine Falcon and a Greater White fronted Goose in the same day. One bird was found by research, & instincts, the other by pure luck. I think that both kinds of encounters are a joy to experience in equal measure.

Happy Birding!

-Sally

Here is a map of Yates Mill Park. The Greater White fronted Goose was seen in the northern part of the pond.