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Cows on Vacation (and some SC Lowcountry birding)



Hi C-Birders,

Yesterday (Saturday, 24 June 2000) Caroline Eastman, Heidi Hoerman and I
drove down to Beaufort, SC to gawk at a few of the infamous Chicago cow
statues which are on display on the streets of Beaufort.  The cows were very
cool -- more interesting than I would have guessed.  We also did a little
birding on the way (of course).

Our first stop was at the Supersod sod farms at the US 301 exit of I-26 near
Orangeburg.  Nothing much happening.  The only shorebirds were Killdeer.
The most interesting species there were White Ibis and Cattle Egret.

Since Heidi was complaining that she had never seen a Painted Bunting, and
she had only had one fleeting glimpse of a Wood Stork, so we decided to stop
by the Buckfield Reserve, a White Ibis and heron rookery near Yemassee, SC.
Here we easily picked up a couple dozen Wood Storks, as well as numerous
White Ibis, Anhinga, Cattle Egrets, and even a Little Blue Heron.  When I
got out of the car at the viewpoint (which is along the public road, since
Buckfield Plantation is private property) I immediately heard a Painted
Bunting, but of course we could not spot it, since it immediately quit
singing.  We did see a nice Indigo Bunting, prompting Heidi to repeat her
refrain, "There are no Painted Buntings".

Our next stop was the Lowcountry Visitor Center, on US 17 at Point South,
right by I-95.  There was supposed to be one of the Chicago cows there, but
it had gone over to Hampton for the day, for the watermelon festival there.
Of course there was a Painted Bunting singing near the parking lot of the
visitor center, but we got only fleeting glimpses.

On to Beaufort, were we admired several of the cows.  We also stopped by a
local bird seed store where Caroline asked about Painted Buntings.  The
folks at the store said that the Broad River Seafood restaurant on US 21 on
the north side of town had feeders which attracted Painted Buntings between
5 PM and 6 PM.  Guess where we decided to have supper?  We stopped  at the
restaurant at about 5:30 (before the rush) and asked for a table near the
feeders.  This place has a great view out of a huge window overlooking a
salt marsh.  Within minutes we had killer looks at a male and female Painted
Bunting within ten feet.

On the way home we took US 21 rather than the interstate.  A quick stop at
Black Creek Road (4 miles north of I-95 along US 21) got us into a great
area of longleaf pine savanna.  The best birds there were numerous
displaying Common Nighthawks.  The Bachman's Sparrows were not singing, and
we missed the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, which are tough to find at this
site.

Caroline wanted to get Whip-poor-will for her Colleton County list -- a
tough bird in this coastal county where Chuck-will's-widows are abundant.
After sunset we cruised a few back roads.  We heard several Chucks, and even
flushed two from the road.  Finally, at a regenerating clearcut in extreme
northern Colleton County we heard a very loud Whip-poor-will singing just a
few yards from the road.  For you SC county listers out there this spot was
along Road 48, which parallels the Bamberg County line about a mile into
Collecton County.  We were about a half mile west of US 21, at about 9:30
PM.  So we had all three of South Carolina's breeding nightjars in Colleton
County in one evening, a first for me, since I had previous only found the
Whip-poor-will in fall migration.

Robin Carter
Columbia, SC
803-782-8820
rcarter@sc.rr.com