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Breeding Bird Survey - Newberry county, SC



Given the somewhat slow, lackluster migration season, it wasn’t with high hopes 
that I departed from Lexington county at 4:15 AM on Sunday morning to work the 
first of my Breeding Bird Surveys routes in Newberry county, a route that 
begins in southern Newberry county, winds through the town of Little Mountain 
and ends in extreme northern Lexington county.  I arrived at the unremarkable 
designated spot near the top of Lake Murray on time and heard the first birds I 
usually hear, a nearby Purple Martin colony chirting their dawnsong, right on 
time and as expected.  But from that point on, little was as expected.

It was one of the noisiest mornings I have ever worked a BBS.  It seemed that 
every bird present was singing, calling, or chipping.  The list of species for 
which I recorded what seems to me to be high numbers of individuals includes 
Brown Thrasher, House Finch, Grasshopper Sparrow, Northern Bobwhite, Yellow-
breasted Chat, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Wood-pewee, Wild Turkey, Ruby-
throated Hummingbird, Acadian Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak.  I heard Wild Turkey 
calling at three stops, highly unusual given my previous experience on this 
route.  I heard the Bobwhite and the Yellow-breasted Chat at their usual stop – 
and several other stops before and after the usual stop as well. In some cases 
I recorded more birds than usual but the increase is small.  I usually record 
one Louisiana Waterthrush and one Hooded Warbler on this route.  This year I 
encountered a vocal battle between two male Louisiana Waterthrushes in one of 
the creekbottom stops along the route and was surprised to hear a Hooded 
Warbler calling at a stop where I had not previously detected them as well as 
the usual stop.   The species for which I seemed to record low numbers were Red-
eyed Vireo, Summer Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark.  Usually, the 
power lines around some pastures on the route are loaded with Eastern 
Meadowlarks.  While I recorded good numbers of Meadowlark this year, the 
numbers are not as high as usual.  Among the least surprising events on the 
route this year was the most surprising bird when I first worked the route.  
Though I missed him last year, this year I found the Worm-eating Warbler at the 
usual stop.  

Three species were new to this route this year and one will be reported as a 
migrant.  Among the breeders new to the route this year are Blue-headed Vireo 
and Red-tailed Hawk.  The Red-tailed Hawk was dining on a dead opossum in the 
road as I drove slowly by.  The migrant was so surprising that I suspended the 
count for a few moments to verify the identity of the singer – a Rose-breasted 
Grosbeak.  

The fun mammal for this BBS was Eastern Cottontail.  I found several pairs of 
the rabbits performing their courtship (or is it territorial?) dances in the 
road – the “leapfrog” jumping over each other.  

If anyone would like directions to any of these birds, please contact me off-
list. 

Donna Slyce Bailey
Lexington, SC



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