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Lake Wateree CBC




or Extreme Birding, Southern Style 

We'll start with the bare facts as I recorded them:

Start Temperature: 9 degrees Farenheit
Open Water: Partly Frozen
Moving Water: Partly Frozen
Snow Depth: min: 5 inches 
            max: 8 inches
            avg: 7 inches

Weather: sunny, little wind (Beaufort scale 0 to 1)

Ten hours after the end of 31 consecutive hours of snow falling in Fairfield
county, we began the Lake Wateree CBC.  Despite my reservations about one
person teams afield given the dicey road conditions, we began the day with
two one person teams and one two person team.  One of the one person teams
quickly became a two person team, when Josh Rose joined me at the Lake
Wateree SP.  Due to the dangers of hauling a boat on icy roads, we didn't
field a boat party this year.  All teams had cell phones and pac boots and
more polarfleece than the legal limit.

The morning highlights were:

Working on foot in the Lake Wateree SP (Josh Rose, Donna Bailey): Pine
Siskin,  Red-winged Blackbird

Working by car from the Camden dam north and west (Lex Glover): Red-necked
Grebe(only a second county record), American Wigeon, Bald Eagle
  
Working mostly on foot between S-20-101 and S-20-418 (Steve Patterson, Buddy
Bailey): Wild Turkey, White-crowned Sparrow, Purple Finch

At noon we were joined by Heidi Hoerman, Robin Carter and Caroline Eastman.  

The afternoon highlights were:

Working by car south of S-20-5/S-28-3 (Heidi Hoerman, Robin Carter, Caroline
Eastman): Fox Sparrow, Barred Owl (a broad daylight flyover!), Eastern
Meadowlark

Working by car in far corners of two counties (Josh Rose, Donna Bailey):
Savannah Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Killdeer, Great Horned Owl

Working by car north of S-20-5/S-28-3 (Lex Glover): Lesser Scaup,
Red-breasted Merganser, Blue-headed Vireo

For this native Southerner who thinks West Virginia is "North", birding in
the snow was a different experience.  I've worked one CBC as cold as this
one but never one with snow on the ground.  My only hope for the day was
that we would best Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, who report one species for their CBC
- Common Raven.  Given the snowy surroundings, I would have been only
vaguely surprised to find Common Raven - or Red Crossbill, Common
Redpoll, Bohemian Waxwing or anything with "snow" in the common name like
Snow Bunting or Snowy Owl - on the Lake Wateree CBC.  What didn't surprise
me was that the "Extreme Team" pulled through.  We ended the day with a
preliminary tallying of 72 species, some great birds like Red-necked Grebe
and White-crowned Sparrow, and some good birds like Pine Siskin, Fox Sparrow
and Gray Catbird.  While the coverage and species totals may look sparse,
this compiler was thrilled with the results and the turnout!  Ending the day
with Bonaparte's Gulls winging their way to a night roost and the
low-pitched hooting of a pair of Great Horned Owls was just a bonus.  A
great big thanks to all who participated in the Lake Wateree CBC 2002!  

Donna SLyce Bailey
Lake Wateree CBC Compiler
Winnsboro, SC