Santee Coastal Reserve

["Earthlink" <nugentpc@earthlink.net>]

The following are highlights of a February 6, 2003 Charleston County Park
bird trip to the Santee Coastal Reserve on a cold rainy day.  69 species
were seen and/or heard.  The most interesting were;  60 Pied-billed Grebes,
300 White-Ibis, 20 Wood Storks, 1 American Kestrel 17 Gadwalls, 12 American
Wigeons, 9 Mallards, 4 Mottled Ducks, 50 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Northern
Shoveler, 20 Northern Pintails, 50 Green-winged Teal, 6 Ring-necked Ducks, 6
Lesser Scaup, 40 Hooded Mergansers, 5 first year Bald Eagles, 12 Caspian
Terns, 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 1 Hairy Woodpecker,
5 Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, 6 Pileated Woodpeckers, 3 White-breasted
Nuthatches, 15 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 1 Marsh Wren, 6 Eastern Bluebirds, 5
Hermit Thrushes, 200 Pine Warblers, 1 Palm Warbler, 2 Common Yellowthroats,
100 Chipping Sparrows, and 20 Rusty Blackbirds.  The most birds were found
in areas that had been burned over the day before and there were some logs
and stumps still burning.  Many Bluebirds, Thrushes, Chipping Sparrows and
Pine Warblers were feeding on the ground in the charcoal.  Warblers,
woodpeckers and nuthatches were feeding on the lower part of tree trunks
catching insects that had apparently escaped the fire by going up the
trunks.  Many species were very enthusiastically feeding in these burned
areas, perhaps because their food is more easily available.

Perry E. Nugent
Charleston, SC
nugentpc@earthlink.net