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Shorebirds at Cape Romain NWR




Hi C'birders,

1131 American Oystercatchers!
300+ Marbled Godwits!
Shorebirds by the barrel!

I was lucky enough to participate in a census of American Oystercatchers
at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (mid-coastal SC) last Thursday
with SC DNR biologists Mark Spinks and Felicia Sanders. As you may have
heard, various observers are concerned about declines in Am. Oystercatcher
numbers; hence the monitoring effort.  Cape Romain in winter hosts the
largest concentration of oystercatchers on the Atlantic Coast of N.
America (and maybe the world?  Nobody present knew the abundance of AMOYs
in S. America). During a boat trip of perhaps 5 miles along the
intracoastal waterway at extreme high tide, we counted oystercatchers
roosting on the shell rakes on either side of the waterway.

The first flock of American Oystercatchers alone probably tripled my
previous lifetime observations of oystercatchers - our total for the trip
was 1131.  This number is probably correct within +/- 20 birds, and is
almost certainly within 75 birds of the true total.  Other estimates
below, especially for dowitchers and godwits, are very rough (plus or
minus 10 to 50%) , and are for recreational use only.  Unfortunately,
viewing conditions and my relatively poor shorebirding skills did not
allow me to distinguish between the several species of Calidris seen.  
I've lumped them all as "peeps" below.

Thursday, 9/20/01, 9:30-12:30?
Cape Romain NWR; Intracoastal Waterway near Moore's Landing; from about
channel marker 89 (?) to channel marker 113
High (Spring) tide at about 11:00, height 6.8
Flat calm and partly cloudy/hazy.  Warm
Mark Spinks, Felicia Sanders, Chris Hill

98	Brown Pelicans
40	Double-crested Cormorants
1	Night Heron or Am. Bittern
10	Tricolored Heron
1	Little Blue Heron
1	Green Heron
15	Snowy Egret
27	Great Egret
8	Great Blue Heron
8	Wood Stork
2	Glossy Ibis
8	Clapper Rail
145	Black-bellied Plover
5	Semipalmated Plover
1131	American Oystercatcher (incl. about 148 immatures)
277	Willet
8	Greater Yellowlegs
3	Spotted Sandpiper
8 	Whimbrel
307	Marbled Godwit
79	Ruddy Turnstone
31	peep, sp.
1006	Dowitcher, sp.  
25	Laughing Gull
1	Herring Gull
9	Royal Tern
23	Forster's Tern
1	Least Tern
2	Belted Kingfisher
8	Barn Swallow
62	Red-winged Blackbird
7	Boat-tailed Grackle

Also:
3 sightings of Bottle-nosed Dolphins
3 gulf fritillaries
3 sulphurs
1 skipper, sp.

Cheers,

Chris Hill


Christopher E. Hill		
Department of Biology
Coastal Carolina University			Ph: 843.349.2567
P.O. Box 261954					Fax:843.349.2201
Conway, SC 29528				E: chill@coastal.edu