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Annual Tibwin Spring Migration Count



The annual spring migration count at Tibwin on the Francis Marion
National Forest will be held Saturday May 10 beginning at 7am at the
parking lot of South Tibwin, marked by a Forest Service sign on the east
side of Hwy. 17, approximately 2 miles south of McClellanville, SC.
This is a relatively unknown birding hotspot in coastal SC.  Records
have been kept since the early 90's from here and the total bird species
list is at or over 200 species.  As I have stated in the past, and prior
to previous counts (for CBC, spring and fall counts), you can expect to
see 75-100 species in about 3/4 day.  This past Friday, May 2, forest
service biologists and myself did the 3/4 day count and we observed 86
species.  Most notable were large numbers of shorebirds of 13 species
(about 2000, this is high given that the shorebird habitat is mostly
restricted to the impoundments), including stilt sandpiper (stilt
sandpiper, all 3 peeps, killdeer, semipalmated plover, solitary and
spotted sandpiper, dunlin, greater and lesser yellowlegs, and willet).
A lone Bonaparte's gull was also observed, as were good numbers of
gull-billed terns.  All of the wading birds expected to be found were
observed except white ibis and yellow-crowned night heron;
swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites, and large numbers of
shrub/scrub-early successional species (indigo and painted buntings,
yellow-breasted chat, blue grosbeak, white-eyed vireo, eastern towhee; 7
warbler species.  We could have easily reached 100 species or more, but
we missed other warblers, many raptors, and other lingering migrants.
Steve Lohr and Danny Carlson of the USFS will lead the trip.  If you
plan to attend, please bring food and water, insect repellent, boots,
and there are no restroom facilities.  Access is easy so you can
basically leave anytime you wish.

This area has longleaf pine, loblolly pine, mixed pine hardwood, swamp
hardwood, freshwater ponds, brackish impoundments, salt marsh, and
mature-shrub/scrub maritime forest, thus, accounting for the number and
diversity of species.


Craig Watson
Mt. Pleasant, SC
(843)881-2652