Birds of Sunset Beach, NC

 

Surely the Town of Sunset Beach can consider itself "The Bird Capital of the World." In both the barrier island and portions of the mainland, Sunset Beach has birds, birds and still more birds. Folks come from throughout the country to see graceful wading birds in marshes, tide pools, mud flats, trees and roost sites. Many people colloquially call large birds such as egrets and herons "Shorebirds." Shorebirds actually are smaller birds such as sandpipers that dart at the edge of waves pecking for food.

The birds can be divided into the following seven groups. Here is a partial list.

Wading Birds
Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Reddish Egrets
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Blue Herons
Green Herons
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Glossy Ibis
White Ibis
Wood Stork
American Bittern
Roseate Spoonbill


Shorebirds

American Avocet
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Sanderling
Red Knot
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Ruddy Turnstone
American Oystercatcher
Common Snipe
Black-bellied Plover
Piping Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Wilson’s Plover
Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit


Swimmers and Divers

Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Northern Gannet
American Coot
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Common Moorhen
Purple Gallinule
Eared Grebe
Horned Grebe




Ducks, Swans and Geese
Gadwall
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
American Widgeon
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Redhead
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Wood Duck
Mallard Duck
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan
Canada Geese
American Wigeons
Ruddy Duck
Mottled Duck


Raptors

Bald Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
American Kestrel
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon
Merlin
Northern Harrier
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

 

Gulls, Terns and Skimmers
Bonaparte’s Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer



Land Birds/Passerines
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
American Crow
Fish Crow
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Purple Finch
Barn Swallow
Northern rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallows
Brown Creeper
Brown Thrasher
Hermit Thrush
Robin
Rufous-sided Towhee
Blue Jay
Carolina Chickadee
Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Juncos
Downy Woodpeckers
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern (yellow-shafted) Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Blue Grosbeak
Cedar Waxwing
Eastern Bluebirds
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Northern Oriole (Baltimore)
Orchard Oriole
Summer Tanager
Chimney Swift
Purple Martin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Cardinal
Chuck-will’s-Widow
Common Nighthawk
Blue-headed Vireo (or solitary)
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Wood-Pewee
European Starling
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Kingfisher
Loggerhead Shrike
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Red-winged Blackbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Yellow-billed Cuckoos
Carolina Wren
American Redstart
Black and White Warbler
Common Yellow-throat Warbler
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Yellow warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler
Yellow-throated warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Pine Siskin