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The Quest for Redheads



        
Unable to find the time to get to Huntington Beach SP for yet another winter
weekend, I was limited to the Lower Piedmont in my search for Redheads.
Starting at Lake Oliphant in northern Chester county, I worked my way south
through Fairfield and Kershaw counties on the western shore of Lake Wateree,
ending at the Camden dam end of the lake.  Highlights are below:

Lake Oliphant:
Ruddy Ducks 5
Winter Wren 1
loud Carolina Wrens yelling at me 2
Northern Harrier (in fields on accesss road to Lake Oliphant) 1

The Harrier was nice.  I watched her "parachute" from a height of about a
hundred feet.  I had seen them drop from a height of several feet but not
one hundred feet.  The Ruddy Ducks were a bit of a surprise.

Lake Wateree SP:
Fox Sparrows 2

I didn't walk any of the trails at the park as I did at Oliphant.  The two
Fox Sparrows were together in the saplings beside the causeway where I was
sorting through a small group of Ring-billed Gulls.

along the road to the Camden Dam:
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 adult

It has been many years since I had such a good long look at an adult
Red-shouldered Hawk.


Camden Dam:
Lesser Scaup 40
Ring-billed Gulls many
Herring Gull 2
Bonaparte's Gull 40+
Redhead 2

Unfortunately, the looks at the Redhead weren't good. Two quick glimpses of
each drake through the scope, only long enough to think "Hey, that is a
Redhead!" followed by the thought, "Dang! I'm in Kershaw county."  I don't
keep a Kershaw county list.  But they were Redheads!  

Donna Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"