Red Shoveler is indigenous to Argentina, but there is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park. It has beautiful plumage, which is light copper or light rusty and speckled with moderately sized black spots. The male has a pale gray head with pale yellow eyes and a “red” body with black spots. The female is mottled brown overall, but note the white sides to the pointed tail and big black bill.
Argentine Red Shoveler
Whistling ducks are a distinctive group of about eight species of brightly colored, oddly proportioned waterfowl. The Fulvous Whistling Duck is a mix of rich caramel-brown and black. It is a long-legged and long-necked creature found in warm freshwater marshes across the Americas, Africa, and Asia. These ducks are notable for their distinctive squealing sounds when taking off and their loud, shrill whistles during flight.
Here is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park.
Fulvous Whistling Duck
Fulvous Whistling Duck Profile
The Laughing Kookaburra is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large, robust kingfisher with a whitish head and a brown eye stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown, but there is a mottled light-blue patch on the wing coverts. A kookaburra is also known as the laughing jackass. It got its name from its distinctive laugh, which can be heard at sunrise and sunset.
Here is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina.
Laughing Kookaburra
Mandarin Ducks, at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, are native to Eastern Asia (Siberia, China, Japan). They were introduced to other parts of the world, including Europe and North America, and some populations established themselves. Mandarin ducks are sexually dimorphic—the males are elaborately colored, while the females have more subdued colors.
Mandarin Duck
Mandarin Ducks
Saddle-billed Stork is a tall, lanky, black-and-white stork with a unique red, yellow, and black bill. The male has dark-brown eyes, and the female has yellow eyes. It is named after the yellow “saddle” across their multi-colored bill.
Here is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, North Carolina.
Saddle-billed Stork
The American wigeon, at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, also known as the baldpate, is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. American Wigeons are medium-sized, relatively compact ducks with a short bill and a round head.
Wigeon
American Wigeon
Toco Toucan is the largest species of toucan and has a distinctive appearance: a black body, a white throat, chest, upper tail covers, and red undertail. Toucans are native to the Neotropics, from southern Mexico through Central America, into South America, and south to northern Argentina.
Here is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, North Carolina.
Toco Toucan Side Look
Toco Toucan Looking Away
The roseate spoonbill is a social wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family. It is pink due to the carotenoid pigments it ingests from its diet of shrimp and other crustaceans. These pigments, which are also responsible for the color of many fruits and vegetables, are absorbed into the bird’s feathers, giving it its distinctive pink coloration.
There is one sitting on the sign at Sylvan Heights Bird Park depicting that they are the residents of South America.
Roseate Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill on Sign
A parakeet is any one of many small- to medium-sized parrot species, in multiple genera, that generally have long tail feathers. The two basic parakeet color types are green and blue.
Parakeets at Sylvan Heights Bird Park are in a small protected enclosure where visitors can feed them, and the birds sit on the visitors’ hands or heads.
Parakeet
Parakeet Grooming
Budgerigar or Parakeet
The golden pheasant, also known as the Chinese pheasant, and the colorful rainbow pheasant is at Sylvan Heights Bird Park. In Chinese culture, the golden pheasant is considered the ancestor of the phoenix and represents auspiciousness. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the robes of high-ranked bureaucrats were emblazoned with images of the golden pheasant as a symbol of their power and authority.
Golden Pheasant
Golden Pheasant Closeup
Two ducks, unlike each other, are sitting at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, Scotland Neck, North Carolina
A new study reveals that flamingos are not passive filter feeders but active hunters of prey. Instead of chasing their diverse diet, they create disturbances in the water that force the food items to come to them, a much more efficient approach.
Here is one trying to create a disturbance in the water at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, but instead has colorful reflections.
Adult American flamingos are smaller on average than greater flamingos, but are the largest in the Americas. The American flamingo is about 42 inches tall and has a wingspan of about five feet. It has a large hooked bill with a black tip curved down.
Here is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina.
We visited Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. It has nature trails through manicured woods, gardens, and wetlands, home to flamingoes, parrots, and toucans.
A flock of American flamingos takes center stage in this aviary featuring waterfowl worldwide. American flamingos are one of the largest species of flamingo.
Flamingos Together
Flamingoes with Company
The largest birds in the world are at the North Carolina Zoo. The ostriches stand nearly seven feet tall and weigh close to 300 pounds. Despite their size, ostriches’ brains are not very big. Their eyes are bigger than their brain.
Striding Ostrich
Ostrich Walking
This is a superb restaurant location by the seashore, overlooking the ocean. Birds enjoy the ocean, too.
By the Seashore
The University of Kentucky Arboretum is home to a sculpture commemorating the Comair Flight 5191 crash victims. A 17-foot tall sculpture of 49 stylized silver bird figures sweeps heavenward in a rush of energy and movement: the number of birds corresponds to the 49 souls lost in the Flight 5191 tragedy.
Flight 5191 Memorial Plaque
Flight 5191 Memorial
Flight 5191 Memorial Other Side
When we were in Raleigh in July, we got the opportunity to visit a sunflower field. will be posting images from there.
First planted by the City of Raleigh’s public utilities department in 2010, a beautiful five-acre batch of sunflowers blooms yearly in July at Dorothea Dix Park, where approximately 100,000 seeds were planted in early May. The sunflowers serve a purpose beyond just acting as a photography hot-spot—for a number of years the City of Raleigh would harvest the sunflowers to create thousands of gallons of biodiesel, which was then processed into fuel to run tractors, trailers and farm equipment. Now the flowers are left to be excellent pollinators for birds and other wildlife.
Dix Park Sunflowers
Field of Sunflowers
Sunflowers on a Field
In addition to flowers at Sarah P. Duke Gardens, we spotted a heron.
Heron is a long-legged, long-necked wading bird with a long, tapering bill and large wings. Herons are in the Ardeidae family and are found all over the world, but are most common in tropical regions. They feed by quietly wading in shallow water, catching fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals.
Heron in a Pond
The Black Swan, as its name suggests, is mostly dark purplish-black, but the bright red bill or beak noticeably adds color to the bird. This swan is a regional symbol of the English town of Dawlish.
Red Beaks of Dawlish Black Swans