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HBSP, SC - hummingbird, rails



Spent an unseasonably warm weekend in the Myrtle Beach, SC area and visited
Huntington Beach State Park (Georgetown Cty, SC) both days.  Today around
noon Tracy and I noticed a ruby-throated-type hummingbird flycatching from
perches near the new Nature Center.  The bird made two visits to the feeder
while we watched.  This one looks to be a RTHU, green head and neck, no tail
pumping at the feeder, primaries look right for ruby-throat, but I suppose a
bit of new jewelry and a check-up by an expert wouldn't hurt either.  Are
you busy this week Gary :-)

We noted big changes at the jetty area due to an ongoing dredging project in
Murrells Inlet.  A pipe runs right through the jetty pond and is dumping a
slurry of sand and water onto the beach a few hundred yards south of the
jetty itself.  While it may be argued that many dredging projects are not
good for wildlife, spoil from this one was dumped at the base of the jetty
to create 1-2 acres of "new" land.  The sand is already home to several
hundred shorebirds, and may replace the jetty pool as the hotspot for
wintering shorebirds.  It also looks great for Least Tern nesting in the
spring if someone can get out there and rope it off from marauding dogs and
picnickers!

Today we had the normal array of shorebirds including Piping Plover, Red
Knot, 4 terns, dowitchers, Dunlin, Western and Least SP and a few others.
The immature REDDISH EGRET was present yesterday in the same area.

The high lunar tides tended to force the Clapper Rails in the marsh onto a
few high hummocks.  One such spot is just to the north of the T at the end
of the marsh boardwalk.  Several were piled up there yesterday and today.
Over in the freshwater marsh along Mullet Pond we had a nice SORA at dusk
yesterday.

Always nice to spend a weekend at HBSP, and the rooms are cheap as well!
Thirty bucks gets you your choice along the strip in Myrtle.

Have a great week!

Steve Shultz
Apex, NC