HBSP, 1-26

["Gary Phillips" <axis1@sccoast.net>]

Hello y'all,
    Headed for HBSP this morning with a plan of sorts to get maritime
sparrows, then go back to Samworth to find that doggone Grasshopper sparrow.
Well, part of the plan worked. Ended up goofing around HBSP all day, mostly
behind the north beach dunes. Found a few interesting critters...

P-b Grebe
Brown Pelican
Great Cormorant
D-c Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
G-w Teal
Gadwall
Am. Wigeon
Redhead
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
TV
Bald Eagle - 1 adult
N. Harrier - 2 (m&f)
Cooper's Hawk
Peregrine Falcon - near the "plover pen"
Clapper Rail - 1 flushed while chasing sparrows
Sora - 1 foraging beside and under the Kerrigan Trail platform
Common Moorhen
Am. Coot
SANDHILL CRANE - 3 flying SE across Hwy 17 near Inlet Square Mall at
Murrells Inlet
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
Gr. Yellowlegs
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
S-b Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull (I vote to change their name. I've yet to see one with a
herring, let alone catch a herring. How about Clam Gull, Crab Gull or Oyster
Gull? Maybe Pogie Gull?)
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove - 2 (I believe I've found their hiding place.)
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
N. Flicker
E. Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Blue Jay
Am. Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren - 3 (Has the Sedge Wren been extirpated in north coastal SC?)
G-c Kinglet
R-c Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Am. Robin - ~50 under the oaks at the entrance booth
Gray Catbird
N. Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Loggerhead Shrike
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm W.
Common Yellowthroat
N. Cardinal - one bragging loudly about his appearance
Savannah Sparrow
"Ipswich"  Sp. - 1 near the "plover pen"
LeConte's Sp. - surprise!
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sp. - 3
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sp. - 1 (there were plenty of sharp-taileds about. I
quit counting when I found the Nelson's)
Song Sp.
Swamp Sp.
White-throated Sp.
R-w Blackbird
E. Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
    Other critters included a lazy Bobcat catching some rays and an ol'
'possum ambling along. Also a cpl of feral cats. Is cat season open now?
    Odyssey update: My goal for January was 150. After today's meandering,
my list stands at 134. Will I make it? (Probably not, if I don't get out of
Horry and Georgetown counties.)

Cheers,
Gary

Gary Phillips
Conway, SC
 Zone 8
axis1@sccoast.net
'"Oh frabjous day! Callooh, Callay!' he chortled in his joy." (Carroll)