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Field Notes

Northern Parula at Yates Mill Park, Raleigh NC

One of our most colorful part time avian residents of NC is the Northern Parula.


These little birds are absolutely beautiful if you’re lucky enough to get a close up look at one. It isn’t easy though as Parulas tend to forage in the treetops during the summer months. That being said, once autumn arrives their behavior changes as they begin to hunt for their meals a little lower towards the ground.
I spotted this one at Yates Mill Park and was pleased that he stopped moving around long enough for me to grab a couple pics.



Measuring just 11.4 cm, Northern Parulas are one of North America’s smallest species of Warbler and due to their energetic habits they can be tough to see or photograph. Happily though, they do respond well to pishing and will sometimes swoop in close to you to get a better look at who’s making all that swoooshing noise.

Parulas breed across the eastern United States and north up into eastern Canada. They favor habitats in swamps and wooded wetlands where Spanish Moss is present as this is their preferred nesting material.
Though they can be tough to actually see in the dense leafy canopy’s of the treetops you can certainly find them by listening for their distinctive buzzy trill call from above.
The Northern Parulas will only stick around NC through early October so you’ve still got a little time to enjoy them before they head south for the winter.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty @canonusa
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A star of Yates Mill Park- The friendly Prothonotary Warbler

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Yellow-throated Warblers at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh

One of my favorite spring arrivals is the Yellow-throated Warbler. With that bold yellow, black and white plumage, they’re absolutely captivating to photograph.
I found this beauty at Yates Mill Park this past weekend. Happily he was hopping and flying at a lower level of the tree canopy so that I could get a good view.
Normally they tend to hang out much higher in the trees so it was neat to get a close up look at him 🙂



This species of wood warbler are one of a few which nests exclusively in the eastern part of the United States with a range that stretches from Missouri in Pennsylvania all the way down to Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Their open cup-nests are constructed almost entirely by the female from bark strips, grasses, and weed stems, and lined with plant down and feathers. The nest is usually placed in the canopy of a pine, cypress or sycamore tree on the end of a a horizontal branch well out from the trunk at heights ranging from 15 to 60 feet above the ground.



Happily these gorgeous birds will spend the summer raising their families here in the Tarheel state. They will stick around until late September (or early October in our eastern counties) so there is still plenty of time for us to enjoy them this year!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds

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Eastern Phoebe’s in North Carolina

While birding at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh this past weekend, I was delighted to see this sweet little Eastern Phoebe looking for a meal over the pond.
There were actually several of them flying around and I was able to catch one perching for a portrait as he rested between flights.



Though they are understated in appearance, Eastern Phoebes are easily ID’d by their behavior of pumping their tails up and down while at rest. They’ve also got a unique call which sounds like their calling out their name, “feeeee-bee” so their relatively easy to find by sound too.

Eastern Phoebes are a year round resident of North Carolina. During the breeding season, their best found in wooded areas near ponds, streams and lakes where they nest under bridges or beneath the eves of barns and other man-made structures which provide horizontal surfaces for them to nest on.

Although they’re not the showiest of birds out there, they are definitely one of the cutest and entertaining to watch hunt so it’s well worth taking the time to enjoy them if you can 🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
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Field Notes, Out There with the Expert

Indigo Buntings at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, NC

Check out this handsome fellow singing his heart out at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, NC.
It’s an Indigo Bunting!
This species is one of the most vibrantly colored birds we’ve got here in North Carolina.
They are normally spotted from April to October and can be found in wide open fields which contain a few tall trees with scrub brush mixed into the grass.



Indigo Buntings are named for their deep blue color that makes them look like they’ve been dipped in indigo dye, yet they are actually dressed in black plumage.
Though they may look colorful, it’s a trick of the light which gives them this boldly hued appearance.
How can this be?

The secret to their incredible colors lies in their unique feather structure which diffracts sunlight to show only a visible blue wave length.
And because the blue is a light show rather than true pigmentation, depending on the angle or quality of the sunlight the Buntings can appear to have several shades of the blue color ranging from aqua to cobalt showing in it’s feathers.
Pretty neat huh?
🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the badassssss full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds

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A rare Black billed Cuckoo encounter at Yates Mill Park, Raleigh NC

I had an excellent morning of birding last month leading a personal birding tour with Marilyn of @embrblissphotography !
We ticked 20 different species at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh during the tripwith the highlight of the day being this lovely Black- billed Cuckoo! I first spotted him in a willow tree along the Creekside Trail and was super excited to share this bird with Marilyn and other birder/photographers as we snapped about a zillion photos trying to catch this Cuckoo in good light.



Black-billed Cuckoos are caterpillar eating fiends! They have an uncanny knack for finding the juiciest caterpillars in the leaves which this case with the one featured in this series of photos. He gobbled up a huge white fluffy caterpillar in just a few seconds before finding one a few minutes later. If you look closely at the second pic in this post you can see the caterpillars green guts shooting out of it as it succumbed to the squeeze of the Cuckoos bill.
Lol, gross but kinda cool!



During the summer, these handsome birds are typically found throughout the upper midwestern and northeastern United States, south in the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Tennessee.

We were lucky to catch some great views of this one who was likely making it’s way through North Carolina along its southern migratory route towards the Yucatán Peninsula and other wintertime destinations in South America.
The Black-billed Cuckoos will pass through the Tarheel State during migration in late April and early May month so get out there and see them this spring!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

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A White eyed Vireo at Yates Mill Park- Raleigh, NC

This past Monday, I made a quick birding trip to Yates Mill Park in Raleigh NC to see what was flying around in one of my favorite spots along the wetlands trail.



Happily, one of the first birds I saw was this handsome White eyed Vireo!
I was sitting on one of the benches on the bridge making very quiet whistling noises and he flew in and landed about 4 ft away at the top of a bush.
I slowly raised the camera up to put a focus on him as he sat there and watched me. At the sound of the first shutter click, he cocked his head at me and flew in even closer, just a couple feet away or less!
I froze because he was now too close for me to take his photo so I just sat there and smiled.
We stared at one another for a minute and then he took off again and landed a bit further away in another bush. Still, he was watching me with those lovely pale eyes which allowed me to grab a few more portraits before he finally took off across the marsh.
So cool!



White eyed Vireos are typically spotted in open areas containing dense brushy patches near water which exact describes the habitat where I was sitting with this one. They are quite noisy and are best found by listening for their distinctive calls of “cheeeek-of-the-village” emanating from the bushes.

They’ll be heading out of North Carolina shortly to their wintering grounds in the southern US as well as Mexico & the Caribbean.
Get out and see them while you can soon because they won’t return to the Tarheel state until March!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty full frame DSLR, the @canonusa
#5Ds

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A Ruby throated Hummingbird encouter at Yates Mill park

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Behold the roundness of this Ruby throated Hummingbird in all it’s floofed out glory lol! I photographed this little one while birding along the Creekside Trail at Yates Mill Park last week. This tiny unit sped back and forth between feeding in the patch of blooming Jewelweed below and it’s perch in the Maple tree. Watching it preen on it’s perch, it appears that it was happy and well fed. What Ruby throated Hummingbirds lack in size, they make up for with in large appetite. Their diet is mostly liquid nectar with a high sugar content —and these birds get plenty of exercise with all that zipping around just to get from sip to sip. The hummingbird’s need for lots of calories is due to its high heart rate and small body size in relation to the high level of foraging activity needed to fuel that metabolic fire. Astoundingly, these tiny dynamos need to consume between 3.14 and 7.6 calories a day. That may not seem like much, but if we humans had the metabolism rate of a hummingbird, we’d would have to consume approximately 155,000 calories in a single day just to keep from wasting away. Pretty amazing huh? Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa #5Ds

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An Indigo Bunting landed on my hand at yates Mill Park in raleigh N.C.

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I had such a good time birding with Myra Murphy on my trip to Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, NC this morning! After a week of rain, it was wonderful to get outside again. Everything was as green and fresh as could be, just gorgeous 🙂 Together we ticked 18 species along the way as we hiked west along the Creekside Trail including a White-eyed Vireo, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, an Eastern Kingbird, Great crested Flycatcher and more. One of the coolest parts of the trip was when an Indigo Bunting landed on my hand after I called him. It only happened in a split second but wow was that an incredible moment! Here’s a picture of this brave blue wonder. I’ve found that some birds are more responsive to pishing calls then others. Chickadees, Northern Parulas and Red-eyed Vireos are particularly inquisitive little ones who will often fly in for a very close look when calling them. To try a pish call yourself, just make a loud shhhhhh noise but start with a p instead of an s. Although I’ve experienced this behavior many times, I’m still amazed that pishing at birds actually works. Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the @canonusa #5ds

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A great Indigo Bunting sighting at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, N.C.

Had an excellent morning of birding at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, North Carolina with a (wonderful!) photography client of mine @heather_lynne7 !
We saw some beautiful birds and took some nice pictures along the way .

Indigo Bunting



This is a male Indigo Bunting that we spotted along the wetlands trail. Lol, we spent about 15 minutes trying to get a clear view of him as he fluttered overhead in and out of the canopy of wet leaves. It was a real challenge for sure!



These brilliantly colored birds are somewhat common here in central NC. A familiar summertime resident, they can be found singing in both dark deciduous forests and sunny open fields alike.
Although their main diet consists of insects, they absolutely adore eating nyjer and thistle seeds. Adding these seed ingredients to your bird food mix may entice them to come dine in your own backyard.

They will stick around here in the Piedmont area until around the second week of October so there’s still plenty of time to see them if you can!
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
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