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HBSP from 11-20 through 11-27



Hi Carolinabirders,
 
My family and I spent the week over Thanksgiving at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. This was our fifth week-long stay at Huntington, and as always, I enjoyed the park's fantastic birding. I spent most daylight hours (and a few at night as well) birding like crazy! I listed 140 species, 135 of which were at HB. A few of the more interesting experiences of the trip were:
 
-Getting Soaked at the Jetty. Early one morning, I set out for the Jetty. I didn't realize it, but with a full moon, the tide was VERY high. By the time I reached the jetty, I had already soaked my shoes -- the waves were crashing right against the dunes. I thought I would be OK on the jetty, though. Seeing two fishermen, I figured it couldn't be too bad, and walked to the end. As I went past one of the fishermen, I thought I caught the hint of a smile on his face. At the end, I set up my scope and began searching for the incredibly rare birds which had to be just offshore. In about 10 seconds, a huge wave crashed over -- completely soaking me from the chest down. Before I could retreat, another pounded me. I settled 1/3 of the way from the end, but things still weren't great -- several inches of water washed over the jetty every couple minutes, and my optics were soaked (the eyecups of my elites were both brim full of water!). After a half-hour of watching, I gave up and headed for land. The only birds I had seen were two Black Scoters.
 
-Return to the Jeddi. On my big day (more on that below), I had another great trip to the jetty. About halfway there, it began to rain. The sky didn't look dark, so I pressed on. When I reached the jetty pond, the skies opened up. I was dressed only in a t-shirt and jeans, and was totally unprepared for such a downpour. Cold rain was rocketed horizontally along the beach by a driving wind. Hoping that the rain would stop, I hunkered behind a dune. After a half-hour, the storm showed no signs of letting up, so I hiked back to the North Parking Lot -- fighting the wind the whole time. Finally, I made it -- drenched to the skin and shaking with cold. I later discovered that my non-waterproof scope had adsorbed a great deal of water. It is currently fogged-up and useless. Great.
 
-Big Day. Last year, I ran an all-Huntington big day and came up with 102 species. This year (on the 26th), I did another. Because of the lack of waterfowl, I never thought I'd break 100 again. When the storm (see above) hit, I was sure I wouldn't make it. At the end of the day, though, I counted my list, and it once again stood at 102!
 
-Birding with Phil and Sharon Turner. Mr. Turner and I birded HBSP and several other spots in the area. On another day, they both took me to see an exhibit of fantastic bird carvings at Brookgreen Gardens.
 
-Birding with Jack Peachey and Gary Phillips. We spent the 27th birding Huntington. Our good birds included Short-eared owl and CLIFF-TYPE Swallow (more on that below).
 
Here is a list of the more interesting birds I saw at Huntington:
 
Red-throated Loon            Outnumbered by Commons about 50 to 1.
Northern Gannet               All plumages
Great Cormorant       
AMERICAN BITTERN        Sandpiper Pond
Little Blue Heron        1 immature
REDDISH EGRET       
Green Heron                1 immature
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture               
SNOW GOOSE        1 Blue-phase bird flew over the causeway on the 23rd
Wood Duck            Sandpiper Pond
Northern Pintail            Flyover
Northern Shoveler        Sandpiper Pond
Canvasback            One female on Sandpiper Pond
Black Scoter                Also lots of "dark-winged" scoters way out over the ocean. Some were undoubtedly Surf.
Cooper's Hawk
MERLIN            One female bird was hanging around all week. On several occasions, I got stunning views from ~50 feet away. (I couldn't resist sketching this same bird twice!)
KING RAIL       
VIRGINIA RAIL        Heard only
American Oystercatcher
Common Snipe            Several
Purple Sandpiper         High count of 30 or more
Short-billed Dowitcher        I saw several which definitely looked to be Long-billed, but they never called, and I wasn't confident IDing them by plumage alone.
Black Skimmer             High count of ~160
Common Ground-Dove
Great Horned Owl        Heard almost every night (an advantage of camping!)
SHORT-EARED OWL
Red-headed Woodpecker        Only ONE the whole week... and I only heard it
White-eyed Vireo                Carriage Path
CLIFF(ish) SWALLOW        Two seen on the 27th with Jack Peachey and Gary Phillips. I never saw the head on either, but Mr. Peachey says that the one he got a good look at was an immature Cliff. Who knows, though... could one of these birds been a Cave Swallow? I have a feeling that that was the case... but have absolutely nothing to back up my hunch! I'm just frustrated that we couldn't tack down the ID on both of the birds. Anyone who visits HB should definitely be looking for these swallows. They cruised up and down the post-dune marsh between the Jetty and the North Parking Lot.
Brown-headed Nuthatch            Uncommon @ HB
Winter Wren                Several
SEDGE WREN            A single bird behind the secondary dunes a short distance north of the N Parking Lot. It was present all week.
Golden-crowned Kinglet        Lots
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Pipit                Many flying over
Orange-crowned Warbler
Savannah Sparrow                At least one very dark bird; _labradorius_ subspecies?
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow       
NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW            Jetty Pond. Either _nelsoni_ or _alterus_. Has it been determined which of these subspecies is more common in SC?
Seaside Sparrow
PURPLE FINCH                heard-only flyover; near new entrance
PINE SISKIN            hear-only flyover at causeway
 
--Ken Behrens (Age 17)
--West Mifflin, Allegheny County, SW Pennsylvania
--behrensp@ix.netcom.com