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Santee NWR, 2/5/2000




Sharon Brown and I birded the Cuddo and Bluff units of Santee NWR yesterday.
After birding some of the sparrow fields in the Cuddo unit with Tim Kalbach
and others for the Santee CBC and learning how to properly work a sparrow
field, I thought we should go in search of sparrows.  That is what we did
and we were not disappointed.  Highlights below:

LECONTE'S SPARROW - These birds were still in the same field we found them
in during the CBC.  They were very cooperative, allowing us both binocular
and scope looks.  The one we managed to get in the scope was indeed a
beautiful little bird.  Ammodramus sparrows must hold the patent on that
peculiar orange, as I've seen it on Sharp-tailed Sparrows, too.

We also looked for the HENSLOW'S SPARROWs but can't say as positively that
we found them.  We had glimpses of a bird who crept through the grass, a
darker bird who flew low, etc. but nothing that conclusively said to us we
were looking at a Henslow's.  We spent some time yesterday chasing a sparrow
who refused to fly and instead ran through the grass.  When the bird finally
flushed and sat up on the grass for a moment, it was a Savannah Sparrow, a
Savannah Sparrow obviously having an identity crisis of some kind.

Savannah Sparrows - lots and lots of these, in all kind of colors, some that
were almost all black-and-white, some with lots of yellow in their face,
some with no yellow in their face, some with a sage (green) yellow in their
face, some darker, some lighter, some with small breast spots, some without.

Swamp Sparrows - In a different field, we found many Swamp Sparrows.  As we
stood looking at the first Swamp Sparrow there, I said, "You know, I never
find more than one Swamp Sparrow at a time."  We then proceeded to see at
least fifty Swamp Sparrows.   

Canada Geese - I list these only because there were three geese there with
"safety orange" neckbands.  How and to whom do I report these geese?

Snow Geese - three birds, one adult, two juveniles.  A state bird for me.

Brown-headed Nuthatch - these guys just aren't as easy to find as they used
to be so I was glad to see them.  We kept hearing what we thought was a
White-breasted Nuthatch, too, but we weren't lucky enough to find it.

Orange-crowned Warbler - at long last I got a leisurely look at an
Orange-crowned Warbler.  This one, a member of the lutescens subspecies, was
fluttering from one dead leaf cluster to another dead leaf cluster in a
sweetgum tree, finding small prey in the dead leaves.  It is nice to have
"warbler neck" in the winter.

Black-and-white Warbler - actually, we found two Black-n-whites - a male and
a female.  We watched the female for the longest time as she worked her way
up  and down the deciduous trees in front of us.

We ended the day with four warblers, if you add the Common Yellowthroat who
flew across in front of us, rattling the whole while, and the ubiquitous
Yellow-rumps "chek"ing their way through life.  I thought that was not too
bad for early February.

A fun day, despite the cool breezes!



 
Donna Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey/audubon	
    "Columbia Audubon Society"