rare bird species nc | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

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

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching N.C.

Spotted a small group of Sandhill Cranes preening among a flock of Tundra Swans yesterday morning at Pungo Lake in the Pocosin Lakes NWR.
I’ve never seen one in the wild before so it was thrilling to finally have a chance to photograph them. So awesome to get another lifer!

Scientists believe that ten million years ago, birds similar to these were found to be structurally the same as modern Sandhill Cranes. Today, these beautiful birds are found throughout in North America. Their range extends from Mexico, through the United States and as far north as Siberia.
Despite the widespread occurrence of the species in the Western Hemisphere, they are not commonly found here in North Carolina.
It was wonderful to add one more “rare” bird species to my eBird list as the year draws to a close 🙂

Sandhill Cranes are omnivorous and will dine on items such as lizards, small rodents, frogs and insects, as well as vegetables, such as bulbs, roots, grains and seeds.
The ones I photographed here seemed to split up their time between preening and foraging for food in the mudflats along the shoreline.

Six Sandhill Cranes preening at Pungo Lake, N.C.

This small flock of birds may have hit the jackpot by choosing to spend a few weeks this winter here at Pungo Lake.
In addition to hosting a variety of small lizards and rodents on site, the lake is surrounded on all sides by wide open fields of cut corn stalks, with plenty places available for the Cranes to feed on spilt grain on acres of vast agricultural fields.
I hope they stick around for a little while longer so that my fellow N.C. birders have the opportunity to see them before they head out!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds

Here is a map showing where the Sandhill Cranes were sighted in a small flooded out field on the western side of the lake…