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Western Kingbird, Brant, etc. at Bull Island in SC



Burton Moore III, John Cottingham, Trip Smith and I
covered the north end of Bull Island, parts of Bull
Bay and the Intracoastal waterway yesterday (12-5)
during the Charleston Christmas Bird Count.  I thought
I would pass along some of the noteworthy birds we
encountered in case someone is considering a trip to
Bull Island in the near future.

The most unexpected find was on Bull Island just after
mid day: an adult Western Kingbird at the intersection
of Sheep Head Ridge Road and the trail/road to
Moccasin Pond.   We got photographs from 10 meters and
scope-filling views from 15 meters for over 30
minutes.  The bird's white outer tail feathers were
still very apparent (not worn down).

We had 6 Brant that came flying around the Northeast
corner of Bull Island and south along the Island
halfway between the breakers and our position.  At the
time, we were near the outer count circle limit (about
3/4 mile offshore), so we got to look at the birds
without the rising sun in our face.  We saw the birds
around 7:45am, a couple of hours before high tide.

We also had 180+ Canvasbacks in Jack Creek, 5 Piping
Plovers along the northeast corner of Bull Island, a
huge flock of mixed shorebirds (mostly Western and
Least Sandpipers) that was nearly 2 miles long at the
north end of Bull Island (at high tide), far more
Red-throated than Common Loons, and good waterfowl
variety.  


Nathan Dias,  Charleston SC.


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