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NAMC in Colleton Co, SC -- Walterboro & Bear Island WMA



Seeing Sharon Brown's report on her NAMC count in Colleton County, SC, which
covered Donnelley WMA and Edisto Beach, inspired me to write up our NAMC
results for other parts of Colleton County.  Caroline Eastman, Steve Dennis,
Heidi Hoerman and myself piled into our minivan at 5:30 AM in Columbia and
headed for the coast.  We entered Colleton County on I-95 at 7:10 AM and
first covered the wonderful mature longleaf pine forest along Black Creek
Road (from the side of the public road only), which runs east from US 21
about 4 miles north of I-95.  Here we picked up our target species --
Red-cockaded Woodpecker, plus a few goodies, including a calling Veery.  We
then drove to Walterboro for breakfast (Chimney Swifts!), and birded the
Colleton Trail (near the high school) and the airport, ticking off such
goodies as House Finch and Eastern Meadowlark.  Then it was on to Bear
Island WMA, where we got most of the expected species, but nothing really
rare.

We left Colleton County at 2:22 PM and finished the day birding our way to
Hunting Island State Park (thus doing a short NAMC in Beaufort County).  In
Colleton County we found 85 species, including some 27 species not reported
by Sharon.  We also found a road-killed armadillo near Walterboro, the first
I have seen in Colleton County.  (They're coming!)

Here is our Colleton County list for 16 Sep 2000.  (Species marked with *
were not reported by Sharon Brown). All species were seen at Bear Island WMA
(among other places) unless I note otherwise.

* Pied-billed Grebe -- 41  (This is a truly excellent count for this
species, emphasizing how import Bear Island WMA is for this species)
* Double-crested Cormorant -- 4
Anhinga -- 19
Great Blue Heron -- 9
Great Egret -- 23
Snowy Egret -- 10
Little Blue Heron -- 1
Tricolored Heron -- 9
* Cattle Egret -- 17 (along I-95 only)
* Green Heron -- 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron -- 1
White Ibis -- 6
* Glossy Ibis -- 3
Wood Stork -- 11
Black Vulture -- 37
Turkey Vulture -- 33
Wood Duck -- 1 (along I-95 only)
* Mottled Duck -- 8
duck (sp. ?) -- 11 (probably teal, but I am not sure; poor light)
Osprey -- 4
Bald Eagle -- 3 (2 adults and 1 immature; probably local breeders at Bear
Island WMA)
* Northern Harrier -- 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk -- 1
* American Kestrel -- 4 (mostly at the Walterboro airport; also en route)
* King Rail -- 1 (seen)
Common Moorhen -- 10
* Semipalmated Plover -- 2
* Killdeer -- 1 (Walterboro airport)
* Greater Yellowlegs -- 4
* Lesser Yellowlegs -- 3
* Spotted Sandpiper -- 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper -- 4 (way down from 2000 the week before)
* Least Sandpiper -- 4
peep (sp?) -- 21
* Dunlin -- 1
Laughing Gull -- 35
Caspian Tern -- 3
Royal Tern -- 7
Sandwich Tern -- 6
Forster's Tern -- 28
* Black Tern -- 4
Eurasian Collared-Dove -- 3
Mourning Dove -- 33
* Chimney Swift -- 12 (near the Walterboro Burger King)
Belted Kingfisher -- 3
Red-headed Woodpecker -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
Red-bellied Woodpecker -- 4
Downy Woodpecker -- 2
Hairy Woodpecker -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
* Red-cockaded Woodpecker -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
* Northern Flicker -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
Great Crested Flycatcher -- 1 (Walterboro)
* Eastern Kingbird -- 1
Loggerhead Shrike -- 2 (Walterboro high school and airport)
White-eyed Vireo -- 3
Yellow-throated Vireo -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
Red-eyed Vireo -- 1
Blue Jay -- 24
American Crow -- 33
Fish Crow -- 6
crow (sp?) -- 8
Tree Swallow -- 1
Carolina Chickadee -- 9
Tufted Titmouse -- 6
Brown-headed Nuthatch -- 14 (Black Creek Road)
Carolina Wren -- 6
Marsh Wren -- 1
Eastern Bluebird -- 6
* Veery -- 1 (Black Creek Road)
Gray Catbird -- 1
Northern Mockingbird -- 20
Brown Thrasher -- 2 (Walterboro)
European Starling -- 3 (Walterboro)
* Yellow Warbler -- 2
* Yellow-throated Warbler -- 2
Pine Warbler -- 19
American Redstart -- 9
Common Yellowthroat -- 4
Eastern Towhee -- 7
Northern Cardinal -- 16
Bobolink -- 7
Red-winged Blackbird -- 284
* Eastern Meadowlark -- 1 (Walterboro airport)
Common Grackle -- 1 (along I-95)
Boat-tailed Grackle -- 76
* Brown-headed Cowbird -- 4
* House Finch -- 3 (Walterboro city and airport)

Robin Carter
Columbia, SC
rcarter@sc.rr.com