Santee Coastal Birding

["Ritch Lilly" <scbeachbums@hotmail.com>]

With the beautiful weather along the coast today, I spent a little time
birding at Santee Coastal Reserve in the northeastern corner of Charleston
County, SC.  Although the entrance road and adjacent woodlands were
extremely quiet early in the day, the birding did pick up as the day went
along.

Several Yellow-throated Warblers were seen with even more being heard.  They
were especially thick around the Washo Reserve boardwalk.  An adult female
Merlin was seen on a dead snag on the left side of the road just as I
reached the first impoundment on the left.  Several species of ducks were
seen although the numbers were down considerably from two weeks ago.
Several hundred (possibly up to 1000) Northern Pintails were seen.

The highlight however was a nice size flock of Snow Geese (although maybe
not by Outer Banks standards).  At least 200 very vocal birds were seen
overhead just beyond the maintenance area.  The birds were heard well off in
the distance before they were ever seen.  They were flying, more or less, in
a northerly direction.  When I reached the impoundments (to the east) some
45 minutes later, I soon heard geese again.  After searching the skies for a
brief time, I finally saw the flock.  They flew directly over the
impoundments.  These birds could be heard for over twenty minutes.
Eventually the group disappeared to the south and west of the impoundments.
I'm assuming this was a single flock seen at two different times.

In all, 83 species were located.  Included were:

Anhinga
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Bluebird
Bufflehead
Northern Cardinal
Gray Catbird
Carolina Chickadee
American Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
American Crow
Fish Crow
Mourning Dove
American Black Duck
Mottled Duck
Ring-necked Duck
Bald Eagle
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Northern Flicker
Gadwall
Snow Goose
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
Pied-billed Grebe
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Great Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Blue Jay
American Kestrel
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Merlin
Northern Mockingbird
Common Moorhen
Brown-headed Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Osprey
Great Horned Owl
Brown Pelican
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Pintail
Lesser Scaup
Northern Shoveler
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Wood Stork
Tree Swallow
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Brown Thrasher
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Towhee
Blue-headed Vireo
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
American Wigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Sedge Wren
Greater Yellowlegs
Common Yellowthroat

Incidentally, I met Dennis Forsythe leaving the Reserve as I was arriving.
He said his group had seen a male Purple Martin in with a bunch of Tree
Swallows.  I wasn't able to find this guy.  I'd also hoped to possibly find
a Northern Parula, Swallow-tailed Kite or Bachman's Sparrow today.  No luck
there either.

Great day to be out just the same.

Good Birding!
Ritch Lilly
Myrtle Beach, SC
scbeachbums@hotmail.com