Day 17: January 17th - Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

Partly sunny, 68 degrees, calming winds

      As I wandered through cyberspace this morning, Googling new locations to bird around Hilton Head Island where we are stationed for the week, I realized that we were only 28 miles from another great National Wildlife Refuge, Savannah NWR.  I proposed the possibility of a visit to this site to our group, and with little hesitation, we packed the SUV and were ready to roll.

Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, Savannah NWR

     Upon arrival, we scout the area around the kiosk at the head of the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, a 4 mile gravel road around the impoundments of the refuge.  A few "LBJ"s (little brown jobs for you non-birders) are flitting around the trees, but we are anxious to get out onto the drive.
     We drive through the 4 mile drive in a blistering mile an hour pace.....that's right, 4 hours to complete 4 miles.  Harriers, kestrels, Red-shouldered hawks, and at least one Sharp-shinned hawk are patrolling the area as a nice collection of shovelers,  Blue-winged teal, Gadwalls, the omnipresent American coots,  Pied-billed grebes, Lesser scaup and others dotted the surface of the impoundments.  With all these on site to choose from, finding the "shot of the day" was going to be difficult.  That was until we ran into our first-of-the-year Logger shrike sitting out on an open limb in perfect lighting made its appearance.

Loggerhead shrike

       At day's end, we did manage to add 5 new "year birds" from the 40 birds we listed for the day.  Great weather for January 17th, an enjoyable productive drive around the preserve, and a nice visual images of some wonderful birds made for another fantastic day in the field.