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

Birding By Kayak



Got a chance to do some birding from the kayak this evening in Murrells
Inlet, SC.  Specifically, I put in at the public shellfish area just north
of Huntington Beach State Park (HBSP) and paddled to the jetty.  Being high
tide, I especially wanted to check the jetty pool area.  Good numbers of
several species were found there.  I also paddled to the HBSP causeway.  In
all, forty species were noted.  (I've just estimated numbers for most of the
more numerous species.)  The list is as follows:

Red-winged Blackbird  (250)
Double-crested Cormorant  (30)
Mourning Dove  (6)
Short-billed Dowitcher  (200). identified by call. assume all were
short-billed
Bald Eagle  (1). adult
Great Egret  (20)
Snowy Egret  (65)
House Finch  (2)
Boat-tailed Grackle  (60)
Herring Gull  (3)
Laughing Gull  (75)
Ring-billed Gull  (1)
Great Blue Heron  (5)
Green Heron  (35)
Little Blue Heron  (1)
Tricolored Heron  (15)
White Ibis  (20)
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  (1)... around HBSP saltmarsh boardwalk
Osprey  (3)
American Oystercatcher  (8)... @ HBSP jetty pond
Brown Pelican  (15)
Black-bellied Plover  (20)
Piping Plover  (1). first I've seen since they left in the spring... @ HBSP
jetty pond
Semipalmated Plover  (75)
Wilson's Plover  (35). don't recall seeing this many before... @ HBSP jetty
pond
Clapper Rail  (20). most heard only, although I had one within four feet for
several minutes
Sanderling  (12)
Semipalmated Sandpiper  (20)
Spotted Sandpiper  (40). these were hidden all along the edge of the marsh
grasses and would flush as the kayak passed
Black Skimmer  (12)... @ HBSP jetty pond
Seaside Sparrow  (25). these were not nearly as wary of my presence in the
water as they generally would be when approached by land
Wood Stork  (1)
Barn Swallow  (15)
Caspian Tern  (4)
Forster's Tern  (5)
Least Tern  (1)
Royal Tern  (100)
Sandwich Tern  (25)
Ruddy Turnstone  (30)
Willet  (12)

Ritch Lilly
Myrtle Beach, SC
scbeachbums@hotmail.com