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Lee County, SC on 3 Nov 2001



Hi C-Birders,

Today I skipped out on the hawk watch (too warm; no wind). Instead I did a
little birding and sound recording in Lee County, SC, which is about one
hour's drive east of Columbia, between Columbia and Florence. I spent a few
hours at each of three minor hotspots in this rather agricultural coastal
plain county. Much of the county is in cotton and soybeans, but there are a
few good natural areas. I visited Lake Ashwood Public Fishing Lake (on US 15
about 10 miles south of I-20), Lynchburg Savanna Heritage Preserve, and
Longleaf Pine Heritage Preserve. I did not visit the other good birding
spots in the county --  Lee State Park, the Lucknow area, and the
Bishopville sewage treatment plant ponds.

Lake Ashwood is a small lake with a 3 km trail around it. The trail goes
through a nice bit of coastal plains thicket, a bay head swamp. This is
usually not a great birding spot, but today I had a few Ruddy Ducks on the
lake, and large numbers of both kinglets, Hermit Thrush, and Brown Thrasher
in the thicket along the trail.

Lynchburg Savanna is a classic longleaf pine -- toothache grass savanna,
with a few swampy areas of pond cypress and pone pine thrown in. This site
is famous for its sparrows. There were quite a few in evidence today, the
best being a nice Lincoln's Sparrow. I may have seen a LeConte's, but I am
not sure. There were lots of Chipping Sparrows and Field Sparrows, but no
American Tree Sparrow (not yet, at least). (I have yet to see an American
Tree Sparrow in either of the Carolinas, but this might be the winter for
them).

I finshed the day at Longleaf Pine Heritage Preserve, which has a number of
Red-cockaded Woodpecker roost trees right beside a paved road. I finally
found my first RCW in Lee County, as a lone bird came in to roost at about
4:30 PM. This heritage preserve is huge (over 250 hectares), but it's best
to stick to the main paved road during deer hunting season.

Here is my species list for today at these three areas, all of which are in
southern Lee County, SC. (A = Lake Ashwood, L = Lynchburg Savanna, X =
Longleaf Pine ):

Turkey Vulture -- A, L
Canada Goose -- A
Ruddy Duck -- A
Northern Harrier -- A
Red-shouldered Hawk -- A, L
Killdeer -- A
Mourning Dove -- X
Eastern Screech-Owl -- A
Belted Kingfisher -- A
Red-headed Woodpecker -- X
Red-bellied Woodpecker -- A, L
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- L
Downy Woodpecker -- L
Red-cockaded Woodpecker -- X
Northern Flicker -- A, L, X
Pileated Woodpecker -- A
Eastern Phoebe -- A, L, X
White-eyed Vireo -- A
Blue Jay -- A, L
American Crow -- A, L, X
Carolina Chickadee -- A, L
Tufted Titmouse -- A, L
Brown-headed Nuthatch -- A, L, X
Carolina Wren -- A, L, X
House Wren -- L, X
Winter Wren -- A
Golden-crowned Kinglet -- A
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- A, L, X
Eastern Bluebird -- A, L, X
Hermit Thrush -- A, L
American Robin -- X
Gray Catbird -- A
Northern Mockingbird -- A, X
Brown Thrasher -- A, L
Yellow-rumped Warbler -- A, L, X
Pine Warbler -- A
Eastern Towhee -- A, L, X
Chipping Sparrow -- L
Field Sparrow -- L
Song Sparrow -- A, L, X
Lincoln's Sparrow -- L
Swamp Sparrow -- L
White-throated Sparrow -- A, L
Northern Cardinal -- A, X
Eastern Meadowlark -- L
Common Grackle -- A, X
House Finch -- A, X
American Goldfinch -- A, L, X
House Sparrow -- A

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