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FBC trip to Huntington Beach & vicinity



The Foothills Bird Club has just returned from it's annual trip to the South
Carolina coast.  The six of us had a great time and saw some wonderful
species.  We stopped by Sandhills NWR on the way down to the coast and
picked up our first migrant warbler of the year---a Yellow-throated Warbler
who was singing his lungs out!  We also picked up Wild Turkey there.

We stopped by Gary Phillips' home in Conway to see the Rufous Hummingbird
who co-operated VERY nicely and made number 298 on our life lists.  What a
treat!!!!  Saturday evening, we visited a small rookery near Murrell's Inlet
where we saw several hundred Great Egrets, Black-crowned Night-herons, White
Ibis, and a Little Blue Heron.

We picked up number 299 this morning at the Santee Coastal Reserve----a
Mottled Duck who flew in as we were about to leave.  So now, with number 300
looming large over our heads, we are wondering if we can pick up another in
our quest to get 300 in 3 years.  We still have until April 11th.  That's
just three weeks!!!!  We were really hoping for the Bachman's Sparrow, but
only came up with White-throated and Field Sparrows.  You can't win them all
I suppose!  We also had our first Northern Parulas of the season---they
seemed to be EVERYWHERE along the boardwalk.  Below are some more of the
highlights (all of which are at HBSP unless otherwise specified):

Horned Grebe (20+ in various stages of molt near the jetty--several in
breeding plumage)

Anhinga (25+ in a kettle at Santee Coastal Reserve)

Glossy Ibis (10+ feeding along the causeway)

Wood Stork (2 at Santee Coastal Reserve)

Bald Eagle (3--one adult who hovered almost "harrier" like for several
minutes before plunging down onto his prey------a female Red-winged
Blackbird!!!!!!!!  She was apparently sitting on a nest as she still had
grass clutched in her claws as he carried her off over the water.)

Piping Plover (10+ we counted 7 individuals at two different places near the
jetty but weren't sure if some were the same as several flew and resettled)

Purple Sandpiper (100+ at the very end of the jetty---we couldn't believe
how many there were!  I counted to almost 40 before they flew and there were
easily two to three times what I had counted)

Eurasian Collared Dove (2 on a powerline in front of the Litchfield Inn)

Common Ground-Dove (2 on the dune trail half way to the jetty)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (20+ both at HBSP and the SCR)

White-eyed Vireo (1 near the tent parking area in the campground)

Common Yellowthroat (2+ singing at Santee Coastal Reserve)

Pine Siskin (3 at the feeders at Sandhills NWR---we couldn't believe our
eyes!!!!)

*************************
Dwayne & Lori Martin
Foothills Bird Club
Claremont, NC
dlmartin@twave.net