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Congaree Bluff on 7 Oct 2001



Hi C-Birders,

I spent a few hours today at the Congaree Bluff Heritage Preserve hawk watch
near Fort Motte, SC. (For directions see
http://www.columbia-audubon.org). Wonder of wonders, I actually saw a few
hawks. I had a nice diversity of migrants, if not very high numbers.

I counted the following as migrants, in addition to local vultures and
Red-shouldered Hawks:

Black Vulture -- 38
Turkey Vulture -- 6
Osprey -- 1
Northern Harrier -- 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk -- 7
Cooper's Hawk -- 1
Red-shouldered Hawk -- 4
Red-tailed Hawk -- 1
American Kestrel -- 1

Many people have been spooked away from visiting the preserve due to reports
of bad roads. Today I passed a parked road grader on Turkey Track Road. The
road was scraped yesterday or late Friday and is very good at present. Right
now there is no problem with loose sand.

Heads up:  Next Sunday, October 14, 2001 members of Columbia Audubon Society
will be sitting the Big Sit (sponsored by the New Haven, CT Bird Club). I
hope there will be someone on the observation deck just about all day long,
unless the weather turns stormy. This should be a great day to come on down
to the preserve, enjoy the view, watch some birds, and count migrating Black
Vultures! Actually we have so far found all expected species at the new hawk
watch except for four -- still no sign of Swallow-tailed Kite, Golden Eagle,
Merlin, or Peregrine Falcon.

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