[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Time for a new list! (long reply)



Hello y'all,
    This is sorta long, so y'all might just want to skip it. Thanks for the
kind words there, Mr. C, but my list did not turn out to be so awfully
impressive. While I felt that this Odyssey got off to a good start last
Jan., an unbelievably ridiculous situation precluded my being able to visit
the SC upstate in spring, and the only fall attempt that I could muster
failed miserably. Days off that I could have used for chasing SC birds were
banked to enable me to be trained to band hummers in AL, make a trip to NC
to work with Susan C., participate in yesterday's balmy L/PI CBC, and to
make a hummer trip to Louisiana later this month. Oh well.
    At any rate, first or only sightings occurred in 4 coastal plain
counties; Horry, Georgetown, Jasper and Williamsburg. Dropping Williamsburg
from the list, since that was my first Mississippi Kite sighting (later saw
them in Horry and Georgetown) in 3 counties I scraped up 277 species, with
some abominable misses.
    Cool stuff was finding 27 warbler species between Horry and G'town
counties, seeing 12 sparrow species in a field in G'town county, seeing 21
Swallow-tailed Kites cavorting about in the skies 7 miles from where I lay
my head at night, taking photos of a Bachman's Sparrow singing his head off
in a longleaf pine sapling 15ft. from the hood of my car, and finding a
treasure trove of breeding Neo-trop warblers (Swainson's, Hooded,
Prothonotary, Kentucky, Yellow-throated, N. Parula) in an area along the
Little Pee Dee where I spent a good bit of my adolescence hunting and
fishing while taking these tiny, brilliantly-colored feathered beings for
granted, and finally getting my SC state list over 300. The coolest thing of
all though was banding my first SC hummingbird in October, a perfect adult
male Rufous who as of today continues his winter reign at Pawleys Island.
    In summary, it was a helluva good birding year. This year's goal is to
become more intimately acquainted with Carolina hummingbirds, y'all. Have
trap, will travel.

Cheers,

;-)
gary

Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
 Zone 8
walela@sccoast.net
"Never has the earth been so lovely nor the sun so bright, as today..."
(Nikinapi)
-----Original Message-----
From: stephen compton <scompton@sc.rr.com>
To: steven.shultz@unifi.com <steven.shultz@unifi.com>;
carolinabirds@duke.edu <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Date: Thursday, January 03, 2002 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: Time for a new list!


>Dear Steve,
>
>How many birds did you have on your 2001
>list? I had 216 on my SC 2001 list. I know that
>Gary Phillips was going for a big total in SC,
>although I don't know his final tally, I can
>say that his number of 7 AM yesterday
>was impressive. I will leave it for Gary
>to announce the total.
>
>I would be interested in what other Carolinabirders
>tallyed on their year lists.
>
>>From icy Summerville,SC
>Steve Compton
>
>PS- birding in the snow on a SC Christmas
>count yesterday at Huntington Beach,SP
>was a first for me, and I have been on SC
>Christmas counts since 1979
>mailto:scompton@sc.rr.com
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <steven.shultz@unifi.com>
>To: <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 9:14 AM
>Subject: Time for a new list!
>
>
>> Now that 2002 had arrived we can close out the 2001 year lists and start
>> anew.  Tracy and I did some local birding yesterday morning to kick
things
>> off.  We tallied 52 species in a couple of hours birding the Mid-Pines
>Road
>> area and Lake Johnson in Raleigh.  Best birds were a pair of locally
>> uncommon Redhead ducks on a local pond, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch at
our
>> feeder.  In general the numbers of ducks are down quite a bit.  1010 Pond
>> has perhaps two dozen birds, Westlake Pond three dozen, and NCSU dairy
two
>> dozen.  In past years we have seen several hundred birds in these
>locations
>> at this date.  To add insult to injury our wintering group of 5 Tundra
>> Swans left Greenview Pond last week and has not be seen since.  However,
>> the chance to get out and bird is welcome anytime, ducks or not.
>>
>> Have a great week and good luck on your year lists,
>> Steve Shultz
>> Apex, NC
>>
>>
>>
>
>