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another Grand Strand duck; Common Tern



As an addition to Rich Lilly's posted list of ducks, on Saturday morning
Jane Chew and I had a female Red-breasted Merganser at HBSP.  We were
birding the Carriage Road about 9:00, and the bird flew into the pond that
lies between the Carriage Road and the causeway.  It was quite close to the
Carriage Road, giving us clear views.  By the time we came back up the road
an hour later, the bird was gone; we didn't see it (or another of its
species) the rest of the day.  I assume 2 November is a bit early.

As a curiosity I note that on Friday we had a late Common Tern on a sandbar
in Murrells Inlet, seen from the end of the jetty.  The bird had lots of
black on the back of its head, a black bill, and a dark carpal bar.  It was
hanging around with several Sandwich Terns and lots of Royals and
Forster's.  Having looked later at Sibley, I would call it a first-winter
bird.  Our other notable HBSP birds were a Peregrine perched on a lower
stanchion of the channel marker in front of the south jetty (Friday) and a
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow in the causeway saltmarsh (Saturday).

Jim Edwards
jim.edwards@furman.edu