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Curlew Sandpiper Update



Hey Carolina Birders,

Since the Curlew Sandpipers were reported each of the last two days two
hours prior to high tide at the Huntington Beach State Park (HBSP) jetty, I
made the trek up the beach this afternoon to wait my turn.  (Lets see...
high tide would be 4:09 pm... that meant I needed to be there from 1:00
until 3:00 just to be sure... even though I was certain the bird would
appear at 2:09 pm EDT just as it should.)

When I arrived, I found Tim Kalbach and Gary and Nancy Sowell camped out and
eagerly anticipating the bird's arrival.  (Tim, it was a pleasure to finally
meet you.  Gary and Nancy, it was great to see you both again.)  We checked
each bird carefully but were seeing nothing that looked suspicious to that
point.  Nathan Diaz and David Abbott joined our gang after a bit and we
continued to scope the birds for quite some time.  Gary and Nancy soon threw
in the towel and headed out.  Nathan and David followed shortly thereafter.
Guess what showed up only moments after Nathan and David left.  That's
right... the Honicks, two more area birders.  We continued to watch and
wait.  Soon Tim packed it in.  The rest of us abandoned our watch right
around high tide.  Curlew Sandpipers were not seen today at HBSP.  (Don't
you wish I had just said that to start with?)  In fact, we even failed to
turn up a Dunlin.  Even so, we enjoyed a beautiful day.  There are things
much worse than an October day on the South Carolina coast.

Good Birding!
Ritch Lilly
Myrtle Beach (Horry County), SC
scbeachbums@hotmail.com