South Carolina Birding

Huntington Beach State Park

     We've made our annual trip down to Myrtle Beach to spend a couple of weeks birding and golfing with our friends from the New York "north country".  Each year, we join around a dozen folks....some who love to play golf, some who love to bird, some who love the beach and some who just love this part of the country.  Sharon and I usually come down a few days early and get some serious birding in at Huntington Beach State Park, one of the finest refuges in the state.  We found things much as we had hoped for with the reported Roseate spoonbill and Wood storks still on site.

Wood stork

Roseate spoonbill

       We also found a good number of waders and shore birds which took advantage of the extensive mud flats exposed during this new moon low tide.  Never saw the tide this low in Huntington Beach and we certainly had great numbers and varieties of the birds.....Baird's, Black-bellied and Golden plovers, Sem-palmated sandpipers and plovers, Spotted sandpipers, Dunlins, Dowitchers, Least and Western sandpipers, and more.   We were somewhat surprised to find a good-sized flock of avocets working in concert to scour the floor of the shallow fresh water impoundment.

     Plenty of herons (Great blue, Great egret, Tri-colored, and Snowy) as well as many Clapper rails which were heard, but only one seen.

Snowy egret

      We added a year-bird while visiting Brookgreen Gardens which are located across Route 17 from Huntington Beach.  Part of the gardens is a small but well maintained zoo.  As we were walking through the gardens, a fellow birder told us that he had come across a Barred owl tucked away in the forest near the Alligator pen.  We've often had good luck birding in zoos and today was no exception.  When we arrived at the gators, Sharon located the owl as described.  Nice opportunity to find the bird!

Barred owl

     Regarding songbirds, we found that the male Painted buntings had headed south, but there were still a few females around.  A beautiful Yellow-throated vireo as well as Yellow-rumped, Black and white, Northern parulas, Palm and other warblers were present but somewhat tough to find.   One of our most memorable sightings was late in the day while we were watching at least 200 dunlin all busily probing the mudflats.  Suddenly, they vacated the area with explosive activity.  We figured something had triggered this sudden movement and sure enough, a Peregrine falcon came soaring through the area about 3 feet above the water.  Not sure how he made out regarding his attempts to find an early dinner, but he certainly was making a gallant effort at doing so.  We still have a few more days here along the shore and we will add to our list for sure.  Great friends, great weather, great golf courses with a concern for keeping it "green", and great birds.  What more can we ask for?

Block Island

     Earlier this month, Sharon, friend Joe and I all had the pleasure of visiting Block Island, RI with Connecticut Audubon.  The island has a great reputation for birding during the fall migration and like the other islands we have birded, a lot depends upon the prevailing winds.  We left with our guides and fellow travelers from Port Judith on the last day of September and almost immediately had our first Common eider of the year.  The rest of the ferry ride over to the island was fairly tame with mostly cormorants and Herring gulls in view.  The forecast for the weekend was mostly cloudy with periods of showers and chilly temps.  The weathermen could not have called it further from the truth.  We had great sunny skies and warm temps in the 70's throughout most of the weekend.  Unfortunately, the winds were not what we had hoped for with fairly steady breezes coming up from the south.  Nonetheless, the birds were still plentiful even if we did miss the hoped-for "fallouts" of migrating warblers.  To describe the term "plentiful" as used here, I can only mention that at one point I had Cape May, Parula, and Blackburnian warblers all in the same bins view at the same time.

Yellow warbler    

       No complaints from this birder or any of the others in this regard.  One of our highlights of the trip was a reported Nighthawk called in from one of the other Audubon groups on the island.  Block Island is only 12 miles or so long, so when a report comes in, it's only a matter of minutes before we can be on site and in hot pursuit of the bird.  That being said, Nighthawks are masters of evasion and tend to "hide in plain sight".  The bird was doing what Nighthawks do during the mid-day hours......sleeping on the limb of a tree and blending in almost perfectly.

Common nighthawk

       Unless the bird moves, it will most often go undetected.  The bird is generally not be in any hurry to vacate his sleeping quarters during the daylight hours, and therefore we expected he should be pretty much in the location reported for an extended time.   Well, our directions to the bird were quite specific and we did eventually find the bird after more than a hour's search.

Nelson's sparrow

     Another target bird was either (or both) of the "sharp tail" sparrows.  Guide Andy knew of an area where the birds have been seen in the past and so we made a concerted effort to try and locate one of the birds.  Sure enough, after some serious searching, a Nelson's sparrow was located and we all had excellent albeit a bit distant looks.  Later in the trip the Saltmarsh was also found....two more year birds!

Yellow-billed cuckoo

     The final tally for our trip was a little over a hundred species with a nice Yellow-billed cuckoo, a number of raptors, and the warblers being the finest sightings beyond the Nighthawk.  Our leaders, Andy, Joe, and Priscila, provided us with expert sightings in a beautiful setting and we will surely return with the hopes of even better wind conditions.  Can't imagine it getting much better than what we had on this weekend!

Cape May, The Fall Migration

Sharp-shinned hawk

      Cape May, NJ is without question one of the premier birding hotspots on the east coast.  In the fall, hawks by the thousands fly overhead in an attempt to stay over dry land for as long as possible on their journey south.  Warlbers are also funneled down to this point of land which is the final dry spot before venturing out across Delaware Bay.  The birds will spend some time here, fattening up a bit and waiting for the perfect northwest winds to help carry them across the bay.  Even though the winds were not perfect on this beautiful warm fall weekend, the birds were still plentiful.  Warblers, vireos, raptors, thrashers, creepers, ducks of many varieties and more were all to be had for those who had do nothing more than look around.

Yellow-throated vireo

      We were up on each day before the sun rose in an attempt to get the birds when they first become energized after spending the night in the protection of the foliage.  When the sun rises and begins to warm the vegetation, the insects become more active.  When the bugs get going, so do the birds which feed upon them.  Warblers and sparrow can be found flitting along the ground, at mid-level of the trees, and up into the highest levels of the canopy.  In summer, the show usually quiets down as the morning wears on, but here in fall, the activity just keeps going as the birds seize the opportunity to get a free meal in preparation for the continuation of their journey to Central and South America.

Cape May warbler

     Our best spottings of the weekend were some birds who have traveled further than normally would be expected.  A fine Brown booby, a bird normally found around the extreme southern tip of Florida past the keys.  For whatever reason, this bird has found New Jersey and for the time being is quite content to spend some time with the other tourists.  The bird has been here for over two months now and nobody knows when the bird will head back down south.  For now, it makes for some rare viewing for us northern birders.

Brown booby

    A Cackling goose also showed up this weekend.  This smaller version of the Canada goose is distinguished from its larger relatives by size and by a small stubby bill.  Again, this is not a goose common to our area.

Cackling goose in front of larger Canada goose

     And finally, to add to the 115+ species we found at Cape May this weekend, a female Eurasian wigeon from the Old World has made a showing.  While these birds are now known to nest in North America, they do make an occasional appearance here in the US and today, we are privileged to be able to watch here swim among here American counterparts, the American wigeons.  All in all, the Cape has produced what she promised....three days of wonderful birding in wonderful warm October weather.