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probable Trumpeter Swans at Bear Island, SC



Yesterday, 2 Feb 2002 Caroline Eastman, Heidi Hoerman, and myself spent a
wonderful day birding at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Colleton
County, SC. While there we ran into Donna Bailey and Sharon Jones, among
others, also spending the day at Bear Island.

Back in Columbia last night I got a telephone call from Donna Bailey. Donna
said that late in the day she and Sharon were studying a large unidentified
gull which may have been some sort of hybrid (Glaucous x Great Black-backed
??). I have nothing to report about this gull since we did not see it. But
Donna also said that Sharon was going over the pictures she had taken of the
gull and noticed that one of the swans in the background appeared to be a
Trumpeter Swan. Donna agrees with this assessment.

This morning I have just finished downloading the digiscoping pictures that
we took of the swans in Marys House Pond, right at the entrance to the WMA.
We had a few fair pictures of the swans. Most were definitely Tundra Swans,
but two -- one adult and one juvenile, seem to be Trumpeters. I hesitate to
say too much, but I have the pictures. I am certainly no expert in swan
identification.

We had a great day in the field. Here is our list for Bear Island WMA and
other places along the Bennetts Point Road, including Social Hall Creek and
Bennetts Point village. The numbers of Pied-billed Grebes, White Ibis,
herons, egrets, Eastern Towhees and Fish Crows were staggering! These
numbers are conservative estimates, not actual counts.

Pied-billed Grebe -- 200
American White Pelican -- 5
Double-crested Cormorant -- 1
Anhinga -- 1
Great Blue Heron -- 8
Great Egret -- 200
Snowy Egret -- 350
Little Blue Heron -- 300
Tricolored Heron -- 200
Black-crowned Night-Heron -- 4
White Ibis -- 3000
Wood Stork -- 10
Trumpeter Swan -- 2
Tundra Swan -- 150
Snow Goose -- 80
Canada Goose -- 20
Green-winged Teal -- 500
American Black Duck -- 4
Mottled Duck -- 10
Mallard -- 5
Northern Shoveler -- 50
Lesser Scaup -- 50
Bufflehead -- 10
Hooded Merganser -- 6
Black Vulture -- 25
Turkey Vulture -- 50
Osprey -- 1
Bald Eagle -- 4
Northern Harrier -- 15
Red-tailed Hawk -- 4
American Kestrel -- 6
Common Moorhen -- 10
American Coot -- 300
Black-bellied Plover -- 4
Killdeer -- 30
American Avocet -- 12
Greater Yellowlegs -- 100
Lesser Yellowlegs -- 100
Dunlin -- 1
Short-billed Dowitcher -- 4
Long-billed Dowitcher -- 10
Common Snipe -- 1
Bonaparte's Gull -- 3
Ring-billed Gull -- 20
Caspian Tern -- 20
Forster's Tern -- 20
Mourning Dove -- 20
Eurasian Collared-Dove -- 2
Belted Kingfisher -- 12
Red-bellied Woodpecker -- 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- 1
Downy Woodpecker -- 1
Northern Flicker -- 10
Eastern Phobe -- 4
Tree Swallow -- 50
Blue Jay  -- 20
American Crow -- 10
Fish Crow -- 5000
Carolina Chickadee -- 30
Tufted Titmouse -- 15
Carolina Wren -- 5
House Wren -- 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- 20
Eastern Bluebird -- 15
Hermit Thrush -- 1
American Robin -- 5
Northern Mockingbird -- 6
Brown Thrasher -- 2
Loggerhead Shrike -- 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 500
Pine Warbler -- 2
Common Yellowthroat -- 3
Northern Cardinal -- 30
Eastern Towhee -- 40
Chipping Sparrow -- 30
Song Sparrow -- 2
White-throated Sparrow -- 10
Red-winged Blackbird -- 5000
Eastern Meadowlark -- 20
Boat-tailed Grackle -- 1
Common Grackle -- 2000
Brown-headed Cowbird -- 1
American Goldfinch -- 3

Robin Carter
Columbia, SC
rcarter@sc.rr.com