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Broad River WMA 10/8/2000



        
A trip to Broad River WMA in mid-morning found not a whole lot.  Still,
there were interesting birds to see, even if I did miss the Tennessee
Warblers that everyone else seems to have found.

There were two highlights today:  migrating Black Vultures and Palm Warblers
up close.  With the brisk wind this morning, the vultures were up early.
This was a kettle and for a while it looked as though they were migrating -
kettling, circling, riding a weak thermal up, and lining out.  But they did
this several times - kettle, circle, ride up, line out - in several
different directions, eventually heading off down the river corridor, which
points basically southeast from Broad River WMA.  This was a purely Black
Vulture kettle; there were no Turkey Vultures in this kettle.

The Palm Warblers (as well as a Brown-headed Nuthatch or two) greeted me as
I got out of the car.  The Palm Warblers landed in a nearby small plowed
area, allowing me excellent looks.  With the overcast light this morning and
these birds of the D. p. palmarum (the less yellow) subspecies, the yellow
undertail coverts were almost shocking in their color on the otherwise dirt
browm and buffy white birds.  

Nearly complete list of birds below:

Blue-winged Teal        2  the only ducks found, trees still too thick to
see         the "duck flats" very well 
Black Vulture           25
Turkey Vulture          5
Sharp-shinned Hawk      2 migrants, headed south, one being harassed by crows
Red-shouldered Hawk     1 youngster, yelling
Red-tailed Hawk         1 the resident, for a while yelling at me,
apparently         for flushing him
Osprey                  1 fishing over the river
Tree Swallow            3 apparently migrating, not an easy species to find
in         the Piedmont
House Wren              1
Carolina Wren           2 one singing for some time
Eastern Wood-pewee      1 answering the singing Carolina Wren
American Crows            no Fish Crows heard today at Broad River
Eastern Bluebird        3
Palm Warbler            8
blackbird sp.           26 not grackles nor Bobolinks, a silent flyover flock
Blue Grosbeak           1 a bit of a surprise at this late date
Song Sparrow            1 plainly heard
White-throated Sparrow  1 plainly heard

Among the non-avian pleasures today were ripe Persimmons for breakfast and
verifying the continued presence of the local Bobcat.  Oddly enough, no Wild
Turkeys were seen today.

In sum, it was a quiet day of small pleasures.

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"