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nocturnal migrants, Santee SP 9/2/2001




A banner night/morning for nocturnal migrants.  Only once before (9/18/1999
- when the species were predominately Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes)
have I tallied thrush numbers this high.  For 75 minutes (5:15 am to 6:30 am
or until "first cardinal") of listening this morning, I tallied:        

Wood Thrush - 28
Swaison's Thrush - 12
Veery - 7
Whip-poor-will - 3
Great Horned Owl - 3(!)
Barred Owl - 3
Eastern Screech Owl - 5(!)
Warbler sp. I - 2
Warbler sp. II(?) - 1

Both the Warbler sp. I were, interestingly enough, apparently traveling
together.  Warbler sp. II was a rather emphatic voice with buzzy overtones
and perhaps not a warbler at all, reminding me most of some of the calls of
the Black-throated Blue Warblers.                

And lastly on the subject of nocturnal migrants, do anybody know if
Pied-billed Grebes migrate at night?  About 5:30 or so, I heard a splash on
the pond.  When first light came, I found a single Pied-billed Grebe
paddling around on the end of the pond where the splash was heard. 

Since the rocket club was meeting this afternoon at the Orangeburg Super Sod
sod farm, Sharon Brown, Mike Aldenderfer and I headed for Santee SP.  Before
the deluge came, we found some nice birds, including Forster's and Caspian
Tern, Ring-billed and Laughing Gull, Osprey, American Redstart and Wood
Thrush.  We got excellent looks at the Wood Thrushes, an adult and an
apparent fledge who was still being fed by the adult.  I have only one
record of a fledge still under parental care in September (not counting the
cardinals at the feeder), a Yellow-billed Cuckoo fledge complete with a 3/4
inch long tail who popped out to inspect me as I stood in my favorite
warbler spot in the creekbottom and who was followed immediately by the
custodial parent on September 5 of one year. We capped the day off with an
immature Bald Eagle viewed through wet binoculars.

A really nice day of birding all totalled, despite a little rain!

  
Donna Slyce Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"