Things You'll Need:
- Bird watching guide
- A spotting scope or binoculars
- Sunscreen
- Water
- Notebook
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Step 1
Begin bird watching on the North Carolina Bird Watching Trail, which has more than 100 birding sites on the coastal plain region. Birders can start on the Outer Banks for some spectacular shore bird viewing and work across the Albermarle Peninsula towards Roanoke or one of North Carolina's coastal plains.
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Step 2
Visit the Morrow Mountain State Park in Stanly County. The state park has over 170 bird species, and is home to such species as Black-and-white, Prothonotary Warbler and American Redstart. Spring Neotropical migration and the fall waterfowl migration periods are the prime times for bird watching.
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Step 3
Explore any one of over 90 Important Bird Areas (IBA) in North Carolina. These areas are designated as having the greatest habitat value; they either support significant populations or have an excellent diversity of birds. These IBA's offer birders a road map of sorts to the bird watching hot spots across North Carolina.
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Step 4
Travel over to Sunset Beach for some outstanding birding. This area provides a wealth of habitat types including ocean, coastal inlets, coastal flats, salt marsh, the Intracoastal Waterway, floodplain forest and cypress swamp. The bird species in the area are similarly diverse.
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Step 5
Print out the various maps, guides and species checklists for the specific area of North Carolina (see Resources below). North Carolina has dozens of great birding hot spots to explore.
