22 November 2013

Fri 22 Nov 2013 survey

F 22 Nov 2013

All,

   Rich McCracken and I had a great day conducting today's waterfowl/shorebird survey. Coastal Expedition's Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Lonnie Ferguson hauled us over to the island along with several volunteer (Americorps?) workers (who spent the day clearing trails and roadways on the island). [Check out CEX's upcoming outings Sun 24 Nov 2013 10:00 AM and Sun 8 Dec 2013 10:30 AM  leaving McClellanville to look for Long-billed Curlews. I've been on several of their curlew trips and all have been great--not to be missed!http://www.bullsislandferry.com/index.php?page=CurlewTour] 

   Today day started with a light rain on the ferry ride over. That rain ended shortly after our first survey stop at Jack's Creek. The rest of the day was overcast to partly cloudy.

   Birding was good today. We tallied 48 target species for the survey, 74 species on the day. Our eBird report is appended below. Species of the day include first-of-survey observations (for me, at least) of American Avocet and Northern Pintail plus a late Black-necked Stilt still hanging around. There were good numbers of shorebirds, especially in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek, and fairly good numbers of waterfowl. We were enjoying the target species so much that we left little other time for woodland birding; I feel that we could have easily had 80 species if we'd spent 30 min birding around the house and picnic grounds. 

   Looking ahead at the tide calendar suggests that favorable tides for the next survey will be on Friday 6 Dec 2013 (6.2 ft high tide at 10:11 AM). Stay tuned for final details.

Regards,

David


Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, US-SC
Nov 22, 2013 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
17.15 mile(s)
Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Richard McCracken. Effort: 11.0 mi and 2 hr by vehicle on the island plus 2.0 mi and 5 hr 10 min by foot plus 4.15 mi (one way) and 50 min by ferry. Weather: temps 60 °F to 68 °F; AM overcast and early light rain; AM winds calm to vary light; PM was bright overcast to partly cloudy to mostly cloudy as the afternoon progressed; PM winds were E 5 mph with gusts to 10 mph.
74 species
American Black Duck  28     Very dark body, silvery underwings, no white margins along secondaries.
Mallard  2
Blue-winged Teal  14
Northern Pintail  1
Redhead  3
Lesser Scaup  78
Black Scoter  1000     Est. from several distant flybys over the ocean.
Bufflehead  56     Beautiful scope views of most.
Hooded Merganser  44     In two main different groups.
Ruddy Duck  105     Several clusters, mostly on Jack's Creek.
Common Loon  3
Pied-billed Grebe  15
Horned Grebe  2
Wood Stork  18
Double-crested Cormorant  73
Anhinga  1
American White Pelican  33
Brown Pelican  17
Great Blue Heron  18
Great Egret  18
Snowy Egret  12
Little Blue Heron  9
Tricolored Heron  18
Black-crowned Night-Heron  12
White Ibis  251     Scattered all over the island. Many mature and many immature.
Glossy Ibis  1
Turkey Vulture  7
Osprey  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Clapper Rail  6
Sora  1
Common Gallinule  6
American Coot  7
American Avocet  1
American Oystercatcher  150     Est. from one main group along an oyster shell bank along ICWW.
Grey Plover  18
Semipalmated Plover  52
Piping Plover  2
Killdeer  3
Greater Yellowlegs  33
Willet  56     In the marshes of Bulls Bay plus in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Whimbrel  1
Marbled Godwit  3
Ruddy Turnstone  53     Scope views along the North Beach and oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Sanderling  40     Mostly along North Beach.
Dunlin  1025     Mostly in oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Semipalmated Sandpiper  30     Scope views with comparisons to Western Sandpipers
Western Sandpiper  30
Short-billed Dowitcher  257     Mostly in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Wilson's Snipe  4
Bonaparte's Gull  12
Laughing Gull  7
Ring-billed Gull  9
Herring Gull  17
Forster's Tern  19
Belted Kingfisher  9
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  3
Tree Swallow  6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Grey Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  6
Eastern Towhee  1
Song Sparrow  6
Swamp Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  70
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15737519
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Fri 22 Nov 2013 survey

F 22 Nov 2013

All,

   Rich McCracken and I had a great day conducting today's waterfowl/shorebird survey. Coastal Expedition's Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Lonnie Ferguson hauled us over to the island along with several volunteer (Americorps?) workers (who spent the day clearing trails and roadways on the island). [Check out CEX's upcoming outings Sun 24 Nov 2013 10:00 AM and Sun 8 Dec 2013 10:30 AM  leaving McClellanville to look for Long-billed Curlews. I've been on several of their curlew trips and all have been great--not to be missed!http://www.bullsislandferry.com/index.php?page=CurlewTour] 

   Today day started with a light rain on the ferry ride over. That rain ended shortly after our first survey stop at Jack's Creek. The rest of the day was overcast to partly cloudy.

   Birding was good today. We tallied 48 target species for the survey, 74 species on the day. Our eBird report is appended below. Species of the day include first-of-survey observations (for me, at least) of American Avocet and Northern Pintail plus a late Black-necked Stilt still hanging around. There were good numbers of shorebirds, especially in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek, and fairly good numbers of waterfowl. We were enjoying the target species so much that we left little other time for woodland birding; I feel that we could have easily had 80 species if we'd spent 30 min birding around the house and picnic grounds. 

   Looking ahead at the tide calendar suggests that favorable tides for the next survey will be on Friday 6 Dec 2013 (6.2 ft high tide at 10:11 AM). Stay tuned for final details.

Regards,

David


Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, US-SC
Nov 22, 2013 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
17.15 mile(s)
Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Richard McCracken. Effort: 11.0 mi and 2 hr by vehicle on the island plus 2.0 mi and 5 hr 10 min by foot plus 4.15 mi (one way) and 50 min by ferry. Weather: temps 60 °F to 68 °F; AM overcast and early light rain; AM winds calm to vary light; PM was bright overcast to partly cloudy to mostly cloudy as the afternoon progressed; PM winds were E 5 mph with gusts to 10 mph.
74 species
American Black Duck  28     Very dark body, silvery underwings, no white margins along secondaries.
Mallard  2
Blue-winged Teal  14
Northern Pintail  1
Redhead  3
Lesser Scaup  78
Black Scoter  1000     Est. from several distant flybys over the ocean.
Bufflehead  56     Beautiful scope views of most.
Hooded Merganser  44     In two main different groups.
Ruddy Duck  105     Several clusters, mostly on Jack's Creek.
Common Loon  3
Pied-billed Grebe  15
Horned Grebe  2
Wood Stork  18
Double-crested Cormorant  73
Anhinga  1
American White Pelican  33
Brown Pelican  17
Great Blue Heron  18
Great Egret  18
Snowy Egret  12
Little Blue Heron  9
Tricolored Heron  18
Black-crowned Night-Heron  12
White Ibis  251     Scattered all over the island. Many mature and many immature.
Glossy Ibis  1
Turkey Vulture  7
Osprey  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Clapper Rail  6
Sora  1
Common Gallinule  6
American Coot  7
American Avocet  1
American Oystercatcher  150     Est. from one main group along an oyster shell bank along ICWW.
Grey Plover  18
Semipalmated Plover  52
Piping Plover  2
Killdeer  3
Greater Yellowlegs  33
Willet  56     In the marshes of Bulls Bay plus in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Whimbrel  1
Marbled Godwit  3
Ruddy Turnstone  53     Scope views along the North Beach and oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Sanderling  40     Mostly along North Beach.
Dunlin  1025     Mostly in oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Semipalmated Sandpiper  30     Scope views with comparisons to Western Sandpipers
Western Sandpiper  30
Short-billed Dowitcher  257     Mostly in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Wilson's Snipe  4
Bonaparte's Gull  12
Laughing Gull  7
Ring-billed Gull  9
Herring Gull  17
Forster's Tern  19
Belted Kingfisher  9
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  3
Tree Swallow  6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Grey Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  6
Eastern Towhee  1
Song Sparrow  6
Swamp Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  70
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15737519
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

07 November 2013

Th 7 Nov 2013 survey

Here's my eBird report on the day's outing.

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, US-SC
Nov 7, 2013 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
16.8 mile(s)
Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. Effort: 4.15 mi and 1 hr by ferry plus 11.7 mi and 2 hr by vehicle plus 1.0 mi and 5 hr by foot. Weather: temps 65 °F to 75 °F; AM overcast and muggy; AM winds calm; PM was bright overcast to partly cloudy to mostly cloudy as the afternoon progressed; PM winds were SW 5 mph to 10 mph. The annual archery hunt for deer has been ongoing since Sunday 3 Nov 2013; there were several tent camps set up at the picnic grounds on the island. The hunters were hunting only at daybreak and sunset.
73 species (+1 other taxa)

Blue-winged Teal  5
Green-winged Teal  2
Lesser Scaup  8
Black Scoter  33
Ruddy Duck  21
Common Loon  2
Pied-billed Grebe  10
Wood Stork  3
Double-crested Cormorant  74
American White Pelican  2
Brown Pelican  21
Great Blue Heron  11
Great Egret  14
Snowy Egret  28
Little Blue Heron  5
Tricolored Heron  17
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
White Ibis  36
Roseate Spoonbill  2     Have been seen regularly over recent weeks.
Turkey Vulture  19
Osprey  1
Northern Harrier  1
Bald Eagle  4
Buteo sp.  1
Clapper Rail  6
Common Gallinule  21
American Coot  9
American Oystercatcher  39
Grey Plover  90     In large mixed flocks of shorebirds.
Semipalmated Plover  150
Piping Plover  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  17
Willet  105     On dock along ICWW and scattered around the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Lesser Yellowlegs  9
Marbled Godwit  2
Ruddy Turnstone  62     Tallied at several beach locations.
Sanderling  1055     Two flocks of 55 along the North Beach plus estimated 1000 resting along dune line at oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Dunlin  1443     Estimate from two main flocks along the North Beach and Jack's Creek. Likely many more not fully identified resting on a dock along the ICWW (bills tucked).
Semipalmated Sandpiper  20     Peep in large mixed flock of shorebirds. Straight bill. Direct comparison to Western Sandpipers.
Western Sandpiper  10
Short-billed Dowitcher  115     Most resting in oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.
Wilson's Snipe  6
Laughing Gull  4
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  8
Caspian Tern  5
Forster's Tern  31
Royal Tern  30     Most gathered at North Beach.
Sandwich Tern  2
Mourning Dove  3
Belted Kingfisher  10
Red-headed Woodpecker  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3
Eastern Phoebe  5
Tree Swallow  24
Marsh Wren  1     Worthington's
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Grey Catbird  1
Brown Thrasher  1
Northern Mockingbird  3
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  14
Eastern Towhee  2
Savannah Sparrow  2
Nelson's Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  16
Song Sparrow  1
Swamp Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Eastern Meadowlark  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  11

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15612169

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)