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TOS in SC, some great birds (LONG)



After a one-week postponement due to the weather, six birders made it
out for the 6th Annual Winter Foray of the Tennessee Ornithological
Society.  For the second year, we visited areas in South Carolina,
primarily Huntington Beach State Park and Santee NWR.  After a cold
start, we enjoyed nice weather and some great birding ending with an
as-yet unofficial total of 135 species.

This will be a lo-o-ong report, so I thought I would list some of the 
"boldfaced" birds we saw now before I lose your attention.  Each is
discussed more below.

Henderson Co., NC:  Short-eared Owl, Lapland Longspur
Santee NWR, SC: Tundra Swan, Snow Goose, Norhtern Bobwhite, Blue-grey
  Gnatcatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Fox Sparrow
Huntington Beach SP, SC:  Great Cormorant, Tundra Swan, Greater Scaup, 
  Peregrine Falcon, VIRGINIA RAIL, Sora, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, Purple
  Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Common Ground-Dove, Great Horned Owl,
  TREE SWALLOW, Eastern Meadowlark --- alligator, dolphin
Francis Marion NF, SC:  Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Buck Hall Campground, SC:  Merlin, Spotted Sandpiper
Dorchester Co., SC:  SANDHILL CRANE
Orangeburg, SC:  Horned Lark

David Trently, Chris Welsh and I (Dean Edwards) stopped by the Super Sod
Farm in Henderson Co., NC, on our way from Knoxville on Saturday morning
(5 Feb 2000).  It was absolutely FRIGID --- we estimated wind chill to be
well below zero (F).  We went to the Jeffress Road side first and quickly
located the flock of American Pipits and Lapland Longspurs.  We estimated
up to ten longspurs.  We also had the White-crowned Sparrow recently
reported here --- he was singing even in that cold!  We met up with some
local birders who had just came from seeing the Short-eared Owl.  They
were kind enough to brave the cold and take us out along the ditch where
we were able to flush him up.  Up to three Northern Harriers were also 
seen.

On to Santee NWR where we met up with Carl and Janice Chadwell from
Chattanooga and Jerry Campbell and his family from Clay Co., TN.  It was
much warmer here!  Highlights at the Bluff Unit included 3 Snow Geese,
Osprey, 1 Northern Bobwhite, 1 Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, 1 Blue-headed Vireo
and a few Fox Sparrows.  We also had a Spring Peeper calling --- it
wasn't THAT warm.  We ran by the wildlife drive at the Cuddo Unit before
sunset but didn't have enough time to cover it properly.  We had a
bazillion sparrows in the fields but were unable to locate either the
LeConte's or Henslow's that have been reported there.  We now know to
spend more time here.  We did have a Common Yellowthroat and Pine
Warblers and endless numbers of Savannah Sparrows as well as many Song,
Swamp, Field, Chipping and White-throated.  The refuge personnel had
told us that 31 Tundra Swans had been seen on the refuge earlier in
the week and, as we left the Cuddo Unit at sunset, we spotted a Vee of
16 Tundras flying over.

Sunday (6 Feb 2000) was spent at Huntington Beach State Park where we
had the best birding of the weekend including 6 species listed as rare on
the park checklist and a total of at least 103 species.  The ocean was
the calmest I believe I have ever seen, hardly any waves at all.

First the rarities.  We found rather good numbers of GREATER SCAUP mixed 
in with the Lessers including 2 in the Mullet Pond and several at the
jetty.  The ones at the causeway allowed especially great looks and we
were able to check off the field marks in direct comparison.  One or more
OSPREY were seen flying over at various times throughout the day.  One to
two TREE SWALLOWs were flying over the causeway every time we passed
there.  ROCK DOVE, ok, we cheated on this one, they were at the beach
houses in Garden City but we saw them from the jetty which IS in the park.

Now for the best.  We parked at the visitor's center and walked along
the Carriage Path towards the old entrance.  We met another group of
birders who had just seen a BOBCAT but we missed it.  As we approached
the old entrance, a Great Horned Owl responded to a screech-owl
immitation.  While jockeying to try to spot the owl, Chris spotted
movement along a puddle in the grass near the old fee stand and IDed
it as an AMERICAN WOODCOCK.  I thought he had succomed to exhaustion
but we were able to flush the bird from a bit of cover and get a good
look and listen.  We continued walking out the old entrance road,
across the causeway and back towards the parking lot.  In a small
wet area between the road and the campground, Chris struck again by
spotting a VIRGINIA RAIL.  David and I also got good looks before it
vanished into the vegetation.

Other notables at HBSP (note that some are from an East TN perspective):
-- Red-throated Loon, good numbers, maybe up to a dozen
-- Northern Gannet, great looks as they fed within 100ft of shore.
-- Great Cormorant, 3 on the marker at the end of the jetty
-- Snowy Egret, 1, causeway
-- Tricolored Heron, 3+, causeway
-- Black-crowned Night-Heron, 1 adult and 1 immature, causeway
-- White Ibis, 130+ adults flew in to the marsh about 7:30 am
-- Tundra Swan, 1 immature, Mullet Pond
-- American Black Duck, about 10 flushed from the marsh
-- Canvasback, 6+, Mullet and Sandpiper Ponds
-- Greater Scaup, 10-20+, Mullet Pond and north jetty, over 100 hundred
        scaup sp. were seen flying in the distance but we couldn't
        get a good look 
-- Ruddy Duck, up to 20, Mullet and Sandpiper Ponds
-- Osprey, at least one seen several times
-- Bald Eagle, 1 adult from causeway
-- Northern Harrier, several
-- Sharp-shinned Hawk, at least 3 seen in one tree from causeway
-- Cooper's Hawk, 1 near main campground
-- Red-shouldered Hawk, 2 at causeway
-- Peregrine Falcon, 1 adult F. p. tundrius seen from the jetty
-- VIRGINIA RAIL, 1, along road near campground (see above)
-- Sora, 1, Sandpiper Pond, heard him and saw the water and reeds move
               but couldn't spot him
-- Common Moorhen, 2 or more, Mullet Pond
-- American Coot, lots, how often do you get a four-rail day?  If only
        we could have gotten Clapper
-- Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover, lots, beach and marsh
-- Piping Plover, 10 to 20 near the jetty pond
-- Killdeer, a few in the marsh and one brave, adventurous soul on the
       beach, I had never seen a Killdeer in the ocean.
-- American Oystercatcher, 4 or 5, north jetty
-- AMERICAN WOODCOCK, 1, old entrance (see above)
-- Purple Sandpiper, at first we thought we had missed them but then a 
       huge flock of up to 50 flew in to the north jetty as the tide went
       out
-- Ruddy Turnstone, several
-- Sanderling, Western and Least Sandpipers, Dunlin, Short-billed
        Dowitchers,  all too numerous to count.
-- Laughing Gull, several in with a HUGE feeding group of gulls, pelicans,
        gannets, loons, etc. along the beach south of the north beach
        parking area
-- Great Black-backed Gull, 2 or 3 at various places on the beach
-- Common Ground-Dove, 2 (or 1 seen twice) along the boardwalk to the
        beach from the north beach parking area.
-- Great Horned Owl, 1 heard, old entrance
-- TREE SWALLOW, at least 2 seen throughout the day at the causeway
-- Grey Catbird, 1, near the new entrance
-- Hermit Thrush, Brown Thrasher, 1 each, main campground
-- Loggerhead Shrike, 3, 1 at north beach parking area, 2 at Atalaya
-- Blue-headed Vireo, 1, on the trail from the main campground to 
        Sandpiper Pond
-- Palm Warbler, 2, along the trail behind the dunes
-- Yellow-rumped Warbler, all that exist in all of Creation
-- American Robin, ditto, a typical conversation went like this: 
        "What's that?" 
        "(without looking) A Yellow-rump."
        "No, it's bigger than a yellow-rump."
        "Then it's a robin."
-- Field Sparrow, 1, Shorebird Pond trailhead, north beach parking area
-- Eastern Meadowlark, 1, in the dunes on the way to the jetty
-- Common Grackle, at least 1, main campground

-- alligators, 3, Mullet Pond
-- dolphin, several playing and jumping close to shore, best look I've
        ever had, one was harrassing a loon

On Monday (7 Feb 2000) we birded our way back to Tennessee via the scenic
route.  We found 3 or 4 Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in the Francis Marion
National Forrest.  Also present were several Brown-headed Nuthatches,
Pine Warblers, and 2 Blue-headed Vireos.  A quick stop at Buck Hall
Campground near McClellanville netted us a Merlin, Spotted Sandpiper and 
a near-adult Bald Eagle.  We added two more Bald Eagles while on the road
near Charleston.  

While driving along I-26 in Dorchester Co., we spotted a flock of ten
SANDHILL CRANES flying low, just alongside the road.  This was somewhere
around mile 175 I believe.

We made a quick stop at the SuperSod Farm in Orangeburg, SC, since we
hadn't had time to do so on Saturday.  We found at least a half-dozen
Horned Lark here before heading back to Tennessee.

A personal highlight for me was the large number of Loggerhead Shrikes
seen everywhere we went in SC.  Nowadays you have to work for a shrike 
in East TN.  Good to see they're doing well in SC.

We missed a few species that we had hoped for such as scoters, Anhinga,
American Bittern, Clapper Rail, Marbled Godwit, Red Knot, Black Skimmer,
Red-headed Woodpecker and LeConte's, Henslow's, Seaside and Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed Sparrows and we would have liked to have gotten more
warblers.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to hit Moore's Landing, the
Horry Co. Landfill or to make runs to look for the Calliope Hummingbird at
the Webb's in Greer, SC, or the Long-billed Murrelet at Fishing Creek as
we had hoped; but, hey, no complaints from this crowd.  Thanks to all
those who helped plan our itenerary either directly or by your posts to
Carolina Birds.  And to all those who have stuck it out to read this
entire post I can only ask "Why?  Are you as bird-crazy as I am?"

Off to bed now to dream of more birds,

Dean Edwards
kde@utk.edu


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
K. Dean Edwards
Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

kde@utk.edu
Phone --  865-974-7358
Fax --  865-974-5274