Tag Archives: winter birding north carolina

Field Notes, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Hooded Mergansers in North Carolina

A wintertime visitor to North Carolina, the Hooded Merganser is a lovely sight to see gliding across the water.
These beautiful ducks are found in many of our inland lakes, ponds, marshes and reservoirs from November to about mid-April.
I’ve seen quite a few this year in locations ranging from the Pocasin Lakes NWR to Lake Betz in Morrisville NC.
They’re so beautiful and although they are relatively common, I always take the time to stop and appreciate them whenever I’m out birding in the field.



Hooded Mergansers are a species species of diving duck with a somewhat unusual diet in that they do not eat much plant material. Instead they prefer to snack on small fish, crawfish, and aquatic insects.

Check out this great Hooded Merganser video by my friend Mark at AviBirds! For more excellent bird videos, make sure you visit and subscribe to his channel HERE


In addition, they’ve got long serrated beaks which aid in the capture and consumption of their underwater prey.



I love the way we can easily pick out Hooded Mergansers in a mixed flock. The drake has a striking black head with a bright white crest, white breast, black back, and warm chestnut plumage on it’s side. The hens and immature birds are grayish brown color except for a beautiful reddish-brown crest.
These are indeed are elegant birds and are a always a treat to encounter when the weather turns cold.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Winter birdwatching: The Wild Turkey

While visiting the Pungo Unit, I encountered a pair of Eastern wild Turkeys making their way through a field as I drove along Canal D rd.
I watched them for several minutes as they strolled through the grass just before sunrise.
It was neat to see them out there in the open!



These large birds are constantly on the move, always on the lookout for a new snack (nuts, seeds, grains, insects and small fruits) to gobble down 😉
They’re most frequently observed foraging in the early morning hours around sunrise, and will also feed actively in the evening before darkness sets in.

A year round resident, the Eastern wild Turkey is found in nearly every county here in North Carolina. As a flock, they’re skittish birds which in my experience, are best found while driving around open fields.
I’ve seen hundreds of them this way but have never seen one while hiking through the woods.
These two didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a proper video, but it was neat to catch a glimpse (and a couple pics) of them before they beat feet back to the tree line.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes, Out There with the Expert

Wintertime birding Pea Island NWR: The Boat-tailed grackle

Here’s a couple of birds that I really love seeing and photographing whenever I’m on the coast of NC, Grackles!
I spotted these handsome guys last week while birding on the beach at the Pea Island NWR.



The male Boat-tailed and Common Grackles are covered in the most beautiful iridescent plumage I’ve ever seen. When the sunlight hits them at just the right angle, their feathers turn from glossy black to an array of purple, blue and green colors.


Boat-tailed Grackles (as seen in the first & second pics) have long, full “v” shaped tails which crease in flight, earning them their moniker “boat-tailed”.
I really enjoyed watching him hunting for a meal on the beach. The way this one moved methodically on top of the sand when foraging was neat to watch!

With that striking black plumage Common & Boat-tailed Grackles are easy to pick out from most other birds at the beach, yet I’m often stumped with species ID because this is an area where both birds live year round.
I do know that the easiest way to differentiate the two kinds is Boat-tails are larger than Common Grackles (16 inches long versus 12 inches long).
Plus, Boat -tails have a longer tail (relatively speaking) than that of the Common.
This is all well and good to know but it’s tough to tell sometimes when you don’t have the two species foraging next to one another.
Case in point…

The third and fourth photos below show what I believe to be a Common Grackle feeding on the sound side beach on Pea Island.


I watched him closely poking around in the sand and washed up seaweed for about 5 minutes.
To me, he appeared smaller/leaner than the Boat-tailed I saw on the ocean-side beach.
Sometimes his tail would fan out giving it a fuller appearance but not quite to the degree of the other bird.
Still, I’m not 100% sure if he was a small Boat-tailed or a Common Grackle.


What do you think?
If you have any thoughts on what the bird in the third & fourth photos may be, let me know in the comments below!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Late winter birdwatching: The American Wigeon at Pea Island NWR

One of my favorite ducks to make an appearance in North Carolina during the winter is the American Widgeon.
With that emerald green plumage reflecting in the sunlight, they are truly striking looking birds.



American Wigeons are often found feeding with Coots and diving ducks such as the Redhead, Scaup, and Canvasback, who are adept at rooting up vegetation from deep in the water.
The opportunistic Wigeon will watch the action below the water then snatch the food away from the divers as soon as they try to surface with a bill full of greens.


Preferring large open bodies of water away from the woods, large flocks American Wigeons are a fairly common sight in the eastern Piedmont regions and coastal areas of North Carolina.
Look for them in wide open freshwater marshes, lakes, rivers, ponds, brackish bays and estuaries from September through late March/early April.
Aren’t they gorgeous?

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Winter birding at the Pungo Unit: Tundra Swan Migration

One cannot write about a wintertime visit to the Pungo Unit at the Pocosin Lakes NWR in North Carolina without mentioning the vast numbers of Tundra Swans who spend the cooler months here.

During my birding trip last month, I was greeted by the sight of a huge flock of these large beautiful birds feeding in the wide open fields of the refuge.
It was neat to stand there listening to the swans calling out to one another on the cold December morning!

Arriving in N.C. in late autumn /early winter, Tundra swans, make their way to the the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR where the agricultural fields are filled with leftover grain which provides winter nourishment for the birds.
This crop management is the result of an agreement between the Wildlife Service and local farmers.

During the day, the swans move throughout the refuge flying from Pungo Lake to the farm fields in search of food.
In the the large shallow ponds created by flooded out fields, the birds graze on the submerged vegetation below the waters surface.
It’s in these fields that the birds are best observed up close vs. trying to view them paddling in the water over the vast expanse of Pungo Lake.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos & video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes

Wintertime birding at Pea Island: Northern Pintail Duck

Check out these Northern Pintails! Aren’t they cool looking?




Pintails are unique looking birds and IMO are quite beautiful.
The drakes are easy to identify when swimming amongst large mixed flocks with their chestnut colored heads and namesake pointy tails.

The Northern Pintail boasts the widest range of any other duck seen in the United States. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and are known to winter and breed on all continents except for Australia and Antarctica.


During the wintertime, large flocks of Pintail can be seen at many of our coastal refuge regions here in North Carolina, such as
Bodie and Pea islands in the Outer Banks,
Lake Mattamuskeet, Pungo Lake, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, and parts of Pamlico Sound.



A surface feeding duck, they dine on aquatic plants, seeds, grass, small aquatic animals, and insects. Their long elegant necks enable them to reach deeper than other dabbling ducks for seeds, roots and tubers of underwater plants. During the wintertime, they’re also commonly spotted in eastern North Carolina feeding on the leftover grains found open farm fields situated near water.

They will stick around here until late April and will return next September once more to spend the winter in the Tarheel State.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Out There with the Expert, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Wintertime birding in eastern North Carolina

I had an excellent time this week birding in the OBX! Spending 3 days straight, I saw thousands of beautiful birds from Cape Hatteras, to Pea Island, Pungo Lake and the Alligator River NWR.



Of all the birds, my favorites were the American Widgeon, Pintails and Redheads. Those ducks are simply gorgeous!
It was an incredible sight to see thousands of waterfowl all in one spot. So much squeaking and quacking, these large flocks are pretty noisy once you get close.

With pictures like these, you might ask why is eastern North Carolina such a duck magnet?
The answer is that the majority of the waterfowl here in North America breed in Canada’s Prairie Provinces and the United States’ upper Midwest, particularly in the area known as the Prairie Pothole Region.

Every autumn, ducks and geese funnel down the Atlantic Flyway to the farm fields, ponds, lakes and rivers of eastern North Carolina to spend the winter in our temperate regions where there are vast quantities of food still available throughout the colder months.
Pretty neat, huh?
I’ll have a ton of photos and new videos coming soon from the trip so stay tuned…

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina

Yellow rumped Warbler-Winter birding Tour at Yates Mill Park

I had a wonderful time yesterday morning leading a birding trip at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh N.C.
We found 30 species of birds including the unexpected sighting of a Northern Harrier. (photos coming soon!)
It was absolutely awesome to connect with my fellow bird lovers who adore these feathered gems as much as I do 🙂



One of the highlights of the day was an encounter with this handsome Yellow-rumped Warbler. He put on quite a show, flying in very close to land on a sapling about 4-5 feet away from our vantage point.


At times he would gulp down a dried berry or two and pick at the leaves for a six legged meal, others he simply sat there in the warm sun calmly watching us.



Yellow-rumped Warblers are one of my favorite wintertime birds. They are curious little creatures who are likely to come say hello to ya if you softly pish at them.



Soon the leaves will have fallen from the trees and the landscape will become a study of varying shades of grey and brown.
This means these little birds will have to blend in perfectly with their habitats so during the cooler months, they’re dressed in “drab” winter plumage of soft greys, charcoal, white and yellow.
Their muted color palette aids in camouflaging the birds from predators in the woods and brush. Nevertheless, if you swipe to the last photo in this post, you’ll see why the nickname of “butter butt” fits them nicely all year round lol!
😉

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
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Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

White-throated Sparrows are back in North carolina

Nothing says cooler weather is on the way during early autumn in central N.C. like the appearance of the White throated Sparrow.
I spotted my first one of the season this week while birding at Lake Betz in Morrisville, North Carolina.
This makes me very happy because I’m soooo done with the warm temperatures lol!

These gorgeous little birds breed in the northern boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. Each September, they gather in large flocks to fly south to their wintering grounds along the eastern seaboard of the US.
White-throated Sparrows are known to migrate at night and depart at sunset at each leg of their southward journey.


Did you know that there are research studies which suggest that they use the patterns of stars in the sky as a means of navigation?
That being said, cloudy skies can hinder this method so they are thought to also utilize polarized sunlight cues near the horizon at sunrise and sunset as a means to recalibrate their inner magnetic compass along the way.
Pretty amazing huh?

Photo by Sally Adams Siko
Lake Betz
Morrisville, NC

Field Notes, Out There with the Expert

Early morning Cardinal observation in North Carolina

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC

I know they are a common bird here in central North Carolina but I cannot help but smile and grab my camera when ever I see a Northern Cardinal.


I especially love to photograph them in the wintertime on dark rainy days. Somehow I think they just look even better in seemingly “adverse” weather related photography conditions.
That crimson plumage just pops in this dim silver light 🙂 I’ve noticed that the Cardinals around here tend to come out of the woods along my property line just before sunrise and again at sunset to visit my feeders. During the rest of the day, they tend to stay in the forest.
The exception being on rainy days where they appear out in the open all day long.
Have any of you out there ever noticed this behavior?
Let me know in the comments below.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
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