Road Trip Birding
“Shorebirds, Warblers & Vagrants”
Fall on the Outer Banks, NC
October 7-10, 2023
Register by clicking the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order. This Venture is limited to 8 participants.
Cost of the Outer Banks of NC Venture: $1395 per person from the Outer Banks of NC ($285 Single Supplement) Price includes: Accommodations, all meals, entry fees, taxes, trip information, bird checklist & guide service throughout Not included: Transportation to the Outer Banks, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, laundry and other items of a personal nature.
The Outer Banks of North Carolina might just be the best place to bird in the Carolinas during the fall and winter. These long, thin barrier islands, jutting far out into the ocean, provide important foraging and stopover habitat for hundreds of species of birds throughout the year. Bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound on the other, the open expanse of sandy shoreline, ocean, bays, lakes and impoundments attract migrating shorebirds, waterfowl and gulls by the thousands.
We'll make the long trek across the state, birding along the way of course. We'll watch for Northern Harriers and waterfowl at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Snow Geese winter in the tens of thousands and we'll find an abundance of duck species on the impoundments on the Outer Banks at Pea Island NWR. Along the beaches and at places such as Cape Point we should see a selection of gulls and shorebirds and towards the end of our trip we should find a few Bald Eagles kicking around Lake Mattamuskeet. Because of the sheer number of birds that migrate along the Banks, quite a few rare species turn up every year, sometimes hidden in large flocks of common species (such as a Cackling Goose in a flock of Canadas, or a Ross's in a flock of Snow). We will keep an ear on the 'birding grapevine' and chase any rarities that are in the area if time allows.
Join Jonathan in this exploration of one of North Carolina's prime birding hotspots!
Some of the Birds We Hope to See
A wealth of waterfowl species including: Snow Goose, American Black Duck, Surf, White-winged and Black Scoters, Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers, Canvasback, Redhead, American Wigeon, Ruddy and Ring-necked Ducks, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal and more, plus gulls (Great and Lesser Black-backed, Bonaparte’s, Ring-billed, Herring), Terns, rails, and a selection of shorebirds and waders, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, American Kestrel, Merlin and Peregrine Falcon, migrant shorebirds, warblers and many more.