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)
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
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