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

Little Blue Herons at Huntington Beach State Park

Check out these beautiful Little Blue Herons!
I spotted them last week while birding at the Huntington Beach State Park.
It was particularly nice to catch a good look at the adult bird because usually all I see out there are immature Little Blues.
Not that there’s anything wrong with enjoying time with the little ones lol, it’s just I’ve been wanting to get a photo of an adult all year and hadn’t had much of an opportunity to do so until then.



As seen in this photo below, the young birds are dressed in entirely white plumage (with a tiny tinge of grey showing on the tips of their primary’s) during their first year.


Immature Little Blue Herons are easily confused with other white colored wading shorebirds such as the Snowy Egret.
The best way to tell them apart is to check leg color (black/ Snowy Egret vs. greenish yellow Little Blue Heron).

If your unable to discern the color of the birds legs then body language & posture is a reliable way to tell the two species apart.
Snowy Egrets tend to be very active while foraging. They appear to walk erratically, raising their heads to stand fully upright often to scan the water surface, they are always on the move.
Little Blue Herons are methodical hunters. They walk deliberately with their heads pointed down towards the mud or water while moving at a slow pace, rarely standing upright for more than a second or two.


These elegant birds are permanent residents of North Carolina’s coastal counties. Although a small number of them spend the winter here, as a migratory species they occur more numerously in the spring and summer months.
Look for Little Blue Herons hunting at the edges of freshwater ponds, brackish marshes and on mudflats from March to October.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Instagram Birding

Spending time with Clapper Rails at Huntington Beach State Park

Field Notes

Night Herons at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet NC

Black crowned Night Herons are simply gorgeous creatures. I love the way those bright red eyes stand out from their charcoal and white plumage.


These lovely birds are found throughout the United States during the summer and are year round residents of North Carolina in our coastal counties.

North Carolina’s only true nocturnal Heron species, Black crowns are often spotted in marshy wetland areas hunting for a meal at dusk. They primarily dine on fish, frogs, small crustaceans and insects however they also eat carrion, small rodents and snakes. They’ll even raid the nests of other birds to eat the eggs if the opportunity arises.



Look for Black crowned Night Herons around ponds and marshes with a heavily vegetated shoreline. The brush and trees provide the perfect cover for the birds to stalk their prey unseen as well as providing cover for roosting during the day.
They’ve got a distinctive raven-like croaking call so it’s worth listening for them in their preferred habitats too if you’d like to find one.

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Instagram Birding

Breakfast with a Snowy Egret in the Carolinas

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

Green Herons at the Huntington Beach State Park

When birding near shallow bodies of water in the eastern Carolina’s it’s hard not to stumble on a Green Heron or two fishing at the shoreline.
Since they are so common they’re often overlooked but if the sunlight hits them just right, these little birds are absolutely beautiful!
Looking closely at their wings you can even see how they got their name.



As it goes with others in the heron family, Green Herons can be found walking in shallow waters stalking fish and small crustaceans.
When their prey is spotted, they’ll freeze and then strike like a dart into the water piercing the prey with their bill.
Interestingly, Green Herons also employ another tactic to catch a meal as they’re the only species of heron known to “bait” their prey.
These clever birds will use twigs, feathers, or insects to lure a fish within reach. When the fish comes in closer to investigate the object, the bird will strike.



While most of the Green Herons will soon depart from North Carolina for warmer locals during migration, a small population appears to spend the cooler months just a couple hours south at the Huntington Beach State Park in SC so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them there during the winter.
Aren’t they lovely?!
🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Clapper Rails at the Huntington Beach State Park

When looking for birds, timing is everything. Usually we think about things like migration or morning as being the best time to spot a new bird but hourly changes to a habitat are something to consider too.
Case in point- when the tide goes out, the birds roll in to the marsh at the Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet SC.



When the marsh is filled with water, the Clapper Rails stay hidden in the tall grass but once the water drains, these shy birds will wander out into the open mudflats to feed.
I found this one yesterday at Huntington Beach and was so happy to get a nice close up look.

Clappers are a year round resident of North Carolina and although they are very commonly found in the saltwater marshes along our coastline yet due to their secretive nature, they can be tough to actually see.
That being said, Clappers are not necessarily hard to locate because they are one of a few species of Rail which are vocal when the sun is up. These brown waders can be heard giving their laughing, cackle calls throughout the day. This means that you can verify that they’re in the area when seeing one in the tall marsh grass isn’t an option.

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Wood Storks in the Carolinas

Of all the birds I saw on a recent trip to the Huntington Beach State Park, the Wood Stork was my favorite.


It was thrilling to watch these large birds catching their prey. With so much action going on, I managed to photograph a nice series of pics of one trying to eat a Blue Crab which was pretty cool!
The bird would hold the crab in its mouth and shake its head, crunching down on the crabs shell. One by one the crabs legs popped off until only the cephalothorax remained.
Then the Stork swallowed the crab whole in one gulp without so much as a pinch of Old Bay seasoning or melted butter to wash it down with.



Wood Storks are best found in the eastern counties of the Carolinas from June through September. Our largest species of wader, they prefer to hunt for a meal in swamps, freshwater marshes and in shallow ponds.
Wood Storks are very particular about the depth of water that they’ll hunt for a meal in.
Preferring no more than a foot of water to rise up their legs, the flock actually waited until low tide before finally coming down from out of the trees to hunt in the rapidly draining marsh below.



Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5