[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Charleston county, 4/15 - 4/17





A trip to Charleston county occasioned in part by an impatience for spring
warblers was fruitful this weekend.  Among the places visited were Francis
Marion NF (mostly I'on Swamp and Waterhorn), Moore's Landing, Santee Coatal
Reserve, ACE Basin NWR, Caw Caw Interpretive Center on Tea Farm Creek.  We
missed a few target birds, like the Black-throated Green Warblers (members
of the "Wayne's Warbler" subspecies, I would assume), Red Cockaded
Woodpeckers (I think we were just there at the wrong time of day), Ruff
(which was just a "yeah, right" anyway), but we got the biggest and best
target bird in aces. Highlights below arranged by places seen:

Francis Marion NF - I'on Swamp
Prothonotary Warbler - I lost count!
Yellow-throated Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Eastern Kingbird
Painted Bunting - I lost count!
Bachman's Sparrow - find a clearing filled with bracken and ringed by
longleaf pine saplings and there was the neat little song of the Bachman's
Sparrow

Moore's Landing
Common Tern - two apparently courting birds
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - a flock of about 30 birds flying overhead at
sunset - are they day or night migrants, does anyone know?
American Oystercatcher - not that hard to see but always a neat bird to see

Santee Coastal Reserve
Ruff - *no*
Black-necked Stilt - a bird I had seen only in Florida makes the SC list

Ace Basin NWR
Cape May Warbler - not an easy migrant to find in Charleston in spring and
we had excellent looks
Worm-eating Warbler - now officially on the SC list as I don't count
rehabbed birds - what a persistent singer!
Ovenbird - on territory and suffering from testosterone overload!
Hooded Warbler - I could count the number of "normally singing" HOWA I
encountered this weekend on one hand but I lost count of the oddball singers
this weekend - I heard the alternate Hooded song and every imaginable
variant of the alternate song you can imagine - and yes, we ran down a few
of the alternate singers just to be sure
Yellow-rumped Warbler - a small flock, eating like migrants, singing
occasionally and looking sharp! 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - a couple of these, actually, singing - seems late,
especially in the Coastal Plain
Wood Thrush - singing - a number were also heard in nocturnal listening,
along with a couple of unidentified songbirds (most likely warblers) - there
was a nice movement of Wood Thrush this weekend

Caw Caw Interpretive Center on Tea Farm Creek
Rat Snake - a really nice looking "black striped on gold" fellow - handsome!
Carpenter Frogs - on the "rice farm" impoundments
Swallow-tailed Kite - the end of a seven year jinx and good riddance to it!
- another bird moves from the Florida only list to the SC list - we watched
this fellow sail through a blue blue sky accented by large high white
cumulus clouds, stopping once to wiggle those extravagant tail feathers and
dive to the treetops for a moment (chasing green tree snakes?) - my looks
were so good that I can now truthfully say that yes their back is somewhat
iridescent - this was the biggest and best target bird of the weekend

heard at various places
Mississippi Kite - unfortunately not seen
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl - a youngster begging for food, so pitiful I had to resist the
urge to catch a mouse for him

All in all, an excellent weekend!

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"