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Waites Island, 11-17-01



Hi y'all,
    Yesterday, 11-17-01, Chris Hill and I co-led a Waccamaw Audubon field
trip to Waites Island, located between Little River and Hog (Cherry Grove)
inlets in the northeastern tip of SC. The site is restricted access, as the
southern third of the island and upland area were bequeathed to the Coastal
Carolina University Education Foundation a few years ago for conservation
and university research. The northern portion remains under private
ownership.
    The weather could hardly have been any finer for the twenty or so WAS
members in attendance, with clear skies, a light breeze, and temps that
quickly climbed into the mid-70's. While I took the group down the beach to
the southern end of the island to check out the "beach birds," Chris opened
a few mist nets that he had set up the night before in hopes of offering the
group a brief banding demonstration along with *in hand* views of some of
our fine feathered friends.
    A few of the birds observed:
N. Gannet
Brown Pelican
D-c Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
White Ibis (seen by Chris afterwards)
Black Scoter - large raft, several fly-by flocks. Year bird! ;-)
Surf Scoter (seen by Chris afterwards)
Hooded Merganser - fly-by flock
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
N. Harrier
Clapper Rail - heard
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Willet
Gr. Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull
Sandwich Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer - 200+
Mourning Dove
Boat-tailed Grackle

    After the beach walk, we strolled back to where Chris had a few "bagged
birds." There the group had the opportunity for close-up views of Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed and Seaside sparrows (among others) as Chris demonstrated the
banding process. The fleeting glimpses birders normally get of these
saltmarsh denizens certainly do not do them justice. A few WAS members no
longer consider them to be "little brown jobs."
    And fittingly for a day of Carolina birding, a bird whose proper (or
"scientific") name translates as "little one of the thorns of Carolina"
(Dumetella carolinensis) allowed itself to be caught, and then held court
for awhile as several WAS members got an upclose look at this handsome but
normally shy songster of dense thickets.
    Read that 'em 'ar garnet-and-black chickens in Columbia had a pretty
good day yesterday, too.  ;-)

    Odyssey update: 276.

Cheers,
gary


Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
 Zone 8
walela@sccoast.net
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get
better. It's not." (Dr. Seuss, "The Lorax")