Trip Report

Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge
Anson County, NC
August 9, 2020
Guide: Simon Thompson

We all met at the Visitor Center at the Pee Dee NWR around 8 AM under sunny skies. Thankfully it was very pleasant at this time of the morning and hadn’t started to heat up yet. A walk along the boardwalk gave us excellent views of several Red-headed Woodpeckers calling and flying amongst the dead trees; always a treat to see these spectacular birds. Other good sightings were a couple of Wood Duck that flew off the lake, 2 immature Little Blue Herons sat out on some dead limbs and a Mississippi Kite catching dragonflies overhead. Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings were still singing, albeit not as enthusiastically as earlier in the year and young Barn Swallows and Purple Martins were feeding around the picnic area. The woods were pretty quiet and it took quite a bit of effort to find any warblers, but we did manage Pine, Yellow-throated and Northern Parula. By about 11 AM it had started to heat up and stops at Arrowhead Lake and the canoe landing were quiet, although a non-singing Acadian Flycatcher was a surprise. A small party of Cliff Swallows was moving through and a singing Northern Bobwhite were also nice additions to our morning’s birding. Lunch was back at the Visitor Center where the shade and picnic tables were much appreciated as the temperature hit 90F. Despite this being August, we finished the day with an excellent list of 54 species for the morning. We will definitely be back.

Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge
August 9, 2020

Species encountered: 54 species

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Northern Bobwhite
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Killdeer
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Belted Kingfisher (Heard)
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (Heard)

Downy Woodpecker

    Pileated Woodpecker (Heard)
    Eastern Wood-Pewee
    Eastern Phoebe
    Great Crested Flycatcher
    Eastern Kingbird
    Acadian Flycatcher
    White-eyed Vireo
    Yellow-throated Vireo (Heard)
    Red-eyed Vireo
    Blue Jay
    American Crow
    Carolina Chickadee
    Tufted Titmouse
    Purple Martin
    Cliff Swallow
    Barn Swallow White-breasted Nuthatch

    Brown-headed Nuthatch (Heard)
    Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
    Carolina Wren
    Eastern Bluebird
    American Goldfinch
    Chipping Sparrow
    Eastern Towhee
    Red-winged Blackbird
    Common Grackle
    Common Yellowthroat
    Hooded Warbler (Heard)
    Northern Parula
    Pine Warbler
    Yellow-throated Warbler
    Summer Tanager
    Northern Cardinal
    Blue Grosbeak

    Indigo Bunting

Butterflies
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Zebra Swallowtail
Common Buckeye
Sleepy Orange
Cloudless Sulphur

    Dragonflies
    Common Whitetail
    Common Pondhawk
    Halloween Pennant
    Slaty Skimmer

    Mammals
    White-tailed Deer
    Eastern Gray Squirrel