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Late trip report



First let me thank all those who sent me suggestions on where to go looking
for birds in South Carolina last weekend. Thank you!!
Second...I must apologize for the delay in getting this report to
carolinabirds. We saw nothing unusual for the coast, so my delay should not
make anyone miss out on good birding opportunities. I'll try to do better
next time!

Jan 13-15, my brother Allan and I birded in South Carolina. We got a later
start than we had planned, and so had to change some plans and didn't get
to any of the recommended birding sites in and south of the Charleston
area. We didn't get to start birding until around 2:30 p.m. at Congaree
Swamp National Monument. There was not a lot of bird activity in the area,
but it looks like a place I'd like to go back to at a different time of
year. In this area we found:
adult Bald Eagle
2 Barred Owls
WINTER WREN (new for my SC state list)
Loggerhead Shrike - it is so nice to see so many of these birds...many more
than we get in east Tennessee.
White-eyed Vireo - I was surprised to find this one, but apparently a few
overwinter in the area.

From there, we drove to Pawleys Island for the night.

Jan 14
Huntington Beach State Park
We met Mr. Huntington Beach here - Jack Peachey. He already reported birds
for that day, and we didn't have much to add.

here are just some of what we saw:
Red-throated Loon (1)
2 Great Cormorants
SCOTER sp, non-White-winged
Canvasback
REDHEAD (also new for my list...)
Bald Eagle (1)
Cooper's Hawk
Tree Swallow (1)
Blue-headed Vireo
PALM WARBLER
SALTMARSH SHARP-TAILED SPARROWs - a lot! This was the first time I was on
the coast during high tide...it sure makes a difference in finding these
birds.

We lucked out on the weather. As it started to rain, we were back in the
car and headed up to look for EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVEs, and we found about
15 in, well, I'm not sure the name of the place...north through Murrells
Inlet and across to Garden City???
At a boat launch in Murrels Inlet we added a Little Blue Heron.
We heard an American Woodcock at dusk near Huntington Beach.

On Monday the 15th, we drove up to Conway where we added RED-HEADED
WOODPECKER at the Conway Sewage Treatment Plant. There we also had great
looks at:
Virginia Rail
C Snipe
House and Marsh Wrens
Palm Warbler


Out to Pawleys Island...across the southern causeway we stopped (again at
high tide :-) and had great looks at a Clapper Rail (even saw it fly!). The
highlight here were the ~4 SEASIDE SPARROWs!

It was around noon by now, and we had one more stop before the drive back
to Knoxville - Samworth WMA.

I hoped to add a sparrow or two to my state list...Staying on the road into
the WMA, we had great looks at 2 VESPER SPARROWs, and a beautiful
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW which stayed perched on a downed tree long enough for
us to get pictures. I finally got a look at an immature WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROW as we were leaving, for my 11th new state bird, bringing me to 207.

We got to see some wonderful places, weather was great (especially compared
to the snow falling outside as I write this...) and hopefully I'll get to
meet on future trips, some of the SC birders who helped us this time.

Thanks again,
David Trently
Knoxville, TN
dtrently@utk.edu