MObirders:
Like Amy Hoffman, my holiday birding trip
was somewhat affected by tropical storms. My wife and I traveled to
Augusta, Georgia, to meet our son who is in graduate school at GHSU, his girl
friend and their two dogs for a weekend of R & R in Charleston, South
Carolina. I planned our stay so that I could get in a few early morning
hours of birding at local hotspots I had researched earlier. Low tide on
Sunday was 0726 so I left our hotel in Mt. Pleasant at 0700 and made my way to
the Pitt Street Causeway and was not disappointed in what I found there.
The causeway is the remnant of a bridge that formerly connected to Sullivan's
Island. The bridge was abandoned in favor of a new one to
the north and the causeway and a few of the bridge piers are now a
park. Hundreds of acres of marsh and tidal flats are easily viewed on
either side of the former roadway. Walkers, dog-walkers, cyclists,
fishermen, birders and photographers frequent the area regularly. I met a
couple of birder/photogs and we compared what we had seen. My interest
heightened when one fellow said he had been trying to photograph black rails all
summer without success. "Yeah," he said, "they're in there, but good luck
getting a look."
I scanned the numerous shorebirds, ibises,
herons, pelicans, gulls and terns and saw several clapper rails. I watched
a fisherman slog across the marsh to one of the natural
drainage channels to seine some bait fish. He flushed a little
black bird that flew about ten feet and dropped back into the grass. I
knew what it was, but all I had seen was a weak-flying little black bird - no
field marks. I knew I had to come back and find this bird.
After lunch with my bunch, Tom and Mia
wanted to find a place to exercise their dogs. Of course I suggested Pitt
Street (it was near high tide).
When we arrived the tide was more
than halfway in. The birding was totally different - many more ibises
and herons and very few shorebirds. When I reached the spot where I saw
the little black bird earlier that morning there was just a narrow strip of open
mud next to the marsh grass. Within a few minutes I saw one black rail
lurking just behind the stems of grass at the marsh edge. HOO-AH!!! A
minute later two more black rails came out in the open and pecked at the mud,
showing me their red eyes, rusty nape and speckled backs. I wish I had gotten
that guy's contact info so I could tell him "You'll never guess what I saw
walking around in the open!"
I spent so much time at Pitt St. that I
didn't get to Patriot's Point for land birding and Folly Beach County Park was
closed due to severe erosion caused by hurricane Irene.
We all had a great time, enjoyed the
seafood and a wonderful visit to an area rich in hidtory.
Here's a tip for birding in mixed company:
When your son's girlfriend asks you if you saw any good birds and your wife
nudges you with her elbow, just say yes and do not list your sightings.
:)
Here is a partial list of the good
stuff:
Brown Pelican 75
Great Blue Heron 10
Great Egret 30
Snowy Egret 6
Little Blue Heron 3
Cattle Egret 2
Tri-colored Heron 4
Yellow-crowned Night Heron 1
White Ibis 250
Black Vulture 4
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 1
Clapper Rail 7
BLACK RAIL 3
Black-bellied Plover 4
Semipalmated Plover 30
Piping Plover 1
American Oystercatcher 3
Willet 4
Marbled Godwit 12
White-rumped Sandpiper 6
Stilt Sandpiper 7
Long-billed Dowitcher 5
Wilson's Snipe 20
Laughing Gull 80
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3
Caspian Tern 4
Royal Tern 7
Sandwich Tern 1
Common Ground Dove 8
Belted Kingfisher 1
Fish Crow 25
Seaside Sparrow 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 40
Great birding, but great to be
home!
Don Hays
________________________________
Donald
R. Hays
Union, Franklin Co., Missouri