On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Oops. I’m not going to name names, but someone forgot to schedule the OTR posts for this week. Yes, that would be me. Sorry about that.
Albatrossity takes us to North Carolina. Our lineup for the rest of the week is Munira, BillinGlendale, Steve from Mendocino, and JanieM, in that order.
Albatrossity
We interrupt your African Safari with a brief domestic interlude.
In late December 2022 we took an excursion, driving across half the country to visit with my brother and sister-in-law, who live in the lovely community of Carrboro NC. This trip was originally planned for October 2022, which is a better time for scenery viewing, but due to an unfortunate interaction between a deer and my vehicle in early October, we had to postpone that trip. We did not want to fly, since that seems like a very good way to catch COVID these days, so we loaded up the car and headed east. Sadly, I picked up COVID on the way back, even though our only times indoors in the company of strangers were VERY brief stops at rest areas and gas stations. Go figure. This current variant is one contagious virus, folks.
Nonetheless, the trip was good, and we spent several days relaxing in North Carolina, taking short hikes and watching birds in the warmer weather there. Here are a few of those.
I love seeing Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) when I am in the Carolinas, so that I can study them and listen to them just in case one ever wanders up to my part of Flyover Country (they are the expected chickadee species in southeastern Kansas right now). There are some plumage differences (less white on the wings, etc.) and their song is different from the Black-capped Chickadees who frequent my home feeders, but by watching them daily you can begin to get a feel for the behaviors and attitudes that are known by the unfortunate term “jizz” in birdwatching lingo. Just like you can recognize your friends at a distance by the way they walk and move, you can learn the unique styles of various bird behaviors to help you ID them from just a glance. Here is a fascinating look at the origin of this term, from British Birds. Enjoyable reading! Click here for larger image.
The other bird with Carolina in its name is the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus). There is no need for me to study these closely, since they are abundant at my feeders in Kansas, but they are loud and seemingly opinionated creatures, for sure. This one was scolding another wren who may have been taking too long at the feeder. Click here for larger image.
One of the birds I wanted to photograph is the Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus). This is a year-round resident in much of North Carolina, and numbers are augmented in the winter when birds from northern populations move south. I have heard them regularly in my brother’s wooded back yard, but have never been able to photograph one until this trip. It’s a start; the next time I’ll try to get one on a more photogenic perch. Click here for larger image.
I had better luck with my other target species, the Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla). This elfin busybody is a very common feeder bird in North Carolina, but their quick and jerky movements make them difficult to photograph. I got lucky with this shot. If you live in the western US, you might be familiar with its sister species, the Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea), and might indeed be wondering how to tell them apart. To which I would only reply, “Check a map”, since the plumage differences are very subtle indeed. Click here for larger image.
Another vocal year-round resident there, the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), is also found in my part of Flyover Country, but only as a summer resident. This male seemed to be gathering nesting material, in early January, which seemed somewhat premature to me. Maybe he had consulted with a wooly-bear caterpillar and learned that it will be a mild winter. Click here for larger image.
Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are familiar to birders all across the country, but are still fun to watch and photograph. This one was, uncharacteristically for this species, silent as it flew in to inspect the strange person with a long lens, sitting quietly in the yard. Click here for larger image.
House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) are also familiar backyard birds in much of the country even though they are only native to the southwestern part of the USA. Thanks to a release of a few birds from California from a New York pet store in 1939, they can now be enjoyed in North Carolina as well. This one, however, is not typical. It seems to be missing some pigment from its head region. Such leucistic individuals seem to be fairly common among House Finches. Click here for larger image.
The last two images are of a couple of migrants, who find the NC winters to be much more tolerable than the winters in Canada. This is a female Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus), a close relative of the House Finch above, and often confused with that species. This is a good example of how learning the jizz of a bird can aid in identification; I immediately recognized (and confirmed with this picture) that this was not one of the abundant House Finches at the feeders. Sturdier and shorter-tailed than the House Finch, and the dramatic white eyebrow on this female clinches the ID. Click here for larger image.
Another migrant from Canada and the US northeastern states, this White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is also familiar to most North American Birders. They come in two morphs, based on the color of the eyebrow stripe (tan, like this one, or white). Those plumage differences mask a large number of behavioral, endocrinological, reproductive, mating preference, and other differences. My friend Kenn Kaufman has a very good article explaining the quadruple personalities of this common backyard bird. Click here for larger image.
Mike E
I heard a red tail calling and flying low in a residential Cary neighborhood near a lake, I’m going to assume it was a juvie.
AM in NC
OMG! Thank you for this amazing guide for the birds in my neighborhood! I got my first bird feeder as a Christmas present, and have had a number of the birds you featured here pay it a visit. And now I will be able to identify some new ones.
Wish I’d known you were going to be in the ‘Paris of the Piedmont’ – I’d have offered to buy you the beverage of your choice for sharing all of your beautiful photos and wealth of knowledge. Thank you!!!!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Your pics let me see beauty that I would otherwise be blind to. Just lovely
Jerry
Where in Cary are you? I live in the Edgehill Farm neighborhood. Old Apex and High House area
MisterForkbeard
I have an OT On The Road update of my own: I’m taking a short business trip to Austin today. Got to the airport and got a warning from Bank of America that someone had applied for a credit card in my name, woo.
Resolving this still, but it doesn’t look like they got anything and I’ve have a credit freeze in place for a couple years now. So likely minimal damage, if any. Can’t even be sure they got my SSN.
But still, a great way to start a trip >_<
ETA: I love these posts, btw. So lovely to see the birds.
Jerry
Hooray for Carrboro, my home in 1997. No AC! That was a brutal summer.
J R in WV
Great birb photos, as usual ~!!~
You know what I would like to see, tho? A photo of the camera apparatus used to create these wonderful photos!! Long lens, body, in the hands of the photog. Would be so kool to see the actual rig in action. I know, I’m weird, perhaps even strange… but it would be edumacational. And the traditional discussion of the innards of the rig, also too!
Thanks as always for the discussion and pix… a great start to the week!
Mike E
@Jerry: I’m in Raleigh proper but it was Cork Harbor off of the Pkwy, woodsy despite that town’s exponential growth.
frosty
@J R in WV: Agreed! Any info on gear and reasons for choosing it would be great. I’m looking into a longer lens for birds and wondering what to get.
cope
Uncommonly good pictures and descriptions of relatively common birds most of us have seen even if we don’t know which species they are. Thank you.
Having spent lots and lots of time watching birdseed feeders and hummingbird feeders, I can relate to the experience of seeing the same birds interact over time and getting a sense of their social hierarchies.
Thanks also for the link to the article about the origin of jizz as a birding term. I also learned the term “sewage-farm” while reading it.
JeanneT
Mockingbirds! Oh, that takes me back. When I was 16, I spent part of a summer at the Mississippi State College for Women. A bunch of high school students were there to learn about animal behavior and to do basic observation and data gathering for the profs in the program. I helped with a study on mockingbird wingflashes and spent many hours watching/recording them. My other study assignment was on cockroaches; not as elegant.
SteveinPHX
Wonderful photos as always! I remember seeing my 1st Carolina Wren in N. Florida many years ago.
Thank you.
munira
Beautiful as always. I like the color coordination of the white-throated sparrow and its perch.
CaseyL
Thank you for letting us get to know a bit more about the small, largely unsung birds we see everyday.
I think there is no one more patient than a bird photographer…
pieceofpeace
Listening to birds conversing outside my window as I view your collection today. Thanks, more please……..
mvr
Carolina Wrens are a favorite here on the edge of their range. And that is a nice photo of one.
I like the idea of using characteristic ways of moving to tell similar looking birds apart. I’ll have to see whether I can cultivate that skill. I do think I have part of it insofar as certain sorts of movement in my peripheral vision can sometimes present to me as this or that kind of bird.
Hope that you are by now over your covid episode and that all is well on that front!
Albatrossity
@J R in WV: (and frosty):
Not sure if this is edumactional, but here is a photo as requested, courtesy of my daughter-in-law. I often photograph birds from a low seated position, as I am tall (6’4″) and plus-sized. Birds are much less concerned about a stationary sitting human, I have found. And sitting is also key; it takes 5-10 minutes for the birds to sorta get used to me and get back to their normal behaviors. Being retired has its perks, and one of them is ample time…
The rig, as mentioned before in comments on previous OTR posts, is an Olympus body (in this case the OM-D EM1X) coupled to a zoom telephoto lens (in this case the 150-400mm Olympus Pro model). I’ve also had good results with the Olympus 100-400 and the Panasonic/Leica 100-400. Nearly all of my Africa shots were made with that Panasonic/Leica lens and the Oly E-M1MarkII body.
I used to shoot with Canon gear, but as I got older I became less fond of tripods, and as I contemplated a trip to East Africa I made the switch to this lighter system. I have now sold almost all of my Canon gear. This rig is handholdable, at least by me, and so I am tripod-free again. And that 150-400 lens, with an internal 1.25X teleconverter, is effectively a 1000mm lens due to the half-size sensor configuration of the Oly Micro 4/3 system. It is NOT cheap, but it is the best lens I have ever owned, and probably ever will own.
Hope that helps!
Mike E
Ooh, here’s another “bucket list” birding trip! Have you already been, or will you? https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/15/2141761/-Dawn-Chorus-The-Traveling-Birder-at-the-End-of-the-World
Spanky
Wow, you’ve given a pretty good overview of my feeder visitors, minus the ubiquitous red-winged blackbirds and squirrels hanging upside down from the crosstrees.
Our white throated sparrows are ground feeders, and seem to enjoy hopping right up to the porch doors, where three cats sit trying to wish away the glass.
Spanky
@Albatrossity: I got addicted to the 150-400 zoom 40 years ago, in my Spotmatic days. Now I still have one on my digital Nikon.
Albatrossity
@Mike E: Yes, a bucket-list place for many, and steamer ducks have been on the bucket list since I first heard of them! I’ve not been there, nor do I have plans to go in the immediate future. But it would be delightful, for sure!
Hoodie
Glad you enjoyed your visit to our neck of the woods. By coincidence, passed though your part of Kansas this last December on the way to my son’s graduation in Colorado. Stayed the night in Manhattan. Couldn’t stay long, but seems like a lovely town. The surrounding area is quite interesting, not what I expected in Kansas, but the first time I’ve ventured off I-70.
SkyBluePink
Maybe now I will be able to distinguish the birds at my NC feeder- thanks.
Interesting, though, the birds are often different at the other feeder 15 miles south. Lots of house/purple finches there in season.
StringOnAStick
Thanks again for more lovely photos. I learn so much from your posts.
The home we moved to a couple of years ago came with two nice bird feeder poles with the anti-squirrel upended bells on them, so they only get what hits the ground. I had never been a bird feeder before, but now I’m quite addicted; I love watching the daily antics outside my window when I sit at my desk. The cats tell me how much they love it too!
Albatrossity
@Hoodie: Glad you enjoyed Manhattan; indeed, it does not fit the stereotype of “Kansas” that most folks have in their heads. And venturing off 1-70 is one of the best ways to shake that stereotype. The interstate runs through a lot of flat and boring landscapes, since civil engineers and highway construction folks don’t like hills and valleys so much!
frosty
@Albatrossity: Very helpful! I have a Sony a6000 and I’ve been debating between 150-600 and 100-400. I like the second because it’s smaller and more manageable, so it’s good to hear that you’re using the same focal length. My current setup is an 18-200 which is great for travel and birds within about 30 ft, but doesn’t have enough reach for ducks swimming far out in a lake.
90% settled on the Sigma 100-400. I may have to sell a guitar to buy it though. :-)
Geo Wilcox
The only bird we don’t have here (SE IN) in your post is the brown headed nuthatch., All we have are white breasted and red breasted.
trollhattan
@Albatrossity: You managed to get your mitts on the 150-400? I bow in your general direction.
Have the 300 Pro and both MCs, plus the 40-150/2.8 Pro. The big white zoom is a bucket list item, but my sports shooting days will wane in another year, once the kid graduates, so perhaps not needed in the long run.
Nobody else makes anything like it.
Amir Khalid
Is there going to be a new post up someday?
Albatrossity
@trollhattan: Indeed, there is nothing else like it. I ordered it in Feb 2021 and rec’d it in late August 2021. Times have changed a bit, a friend of mine had only a 3 month lag between ordering it and having it arrive at his door.
Worth the wait, nonetheless!
trollhattan
@Albatrossity: I’ve been on the B&H watch list over two years. Every two weeks they diligently send me a “We regret it is not in stock” email. It’s okay, we’re replacing our HVAC system today. “A house is a thing you throw money at” has never seemed more true.
Albatrossity
@trollhattan: Hunh. My friend got his from B&H, I think. I’ll have to double-check that. I had a negative experience with them several years back and don’t order from them any longer. I deal mostly with Adorama these days.
But yes, throwing money at a house is something lots of folks can relate to…