Tu 4 Mar 2014
All,
It was cold and windy on Bulls Island today, but since I was birding it was all good. Thanks to Trisha for making the boating arrangements and to Greg for hauling me out to the island and back.
Today's waterfowl/shorebird survey yielded 48 target species, 71 species overall. My eBird checklist on the day's outing is appended below, FYI. Misses included Clapper Rail, Spotted Sandpiper, and the recently seen Northern Pintail and Canvasback. Hits include first for the survey (I think) Horned Grebe (HOGR) and Ring-necked Duck (RNDU). I routinely see HOGR in Bulls Bay's marshes while boating between Garris and Bulls, but I've never tallied one on the island until today (on Jack's). And not only did I tally RNDU for the first time on Bulls, I tallied them in three locations: Jack's and both Summerhouse Ponds!
Ducks continue in pretty good numbers excepting Redheads that dropped from a count of 70 two weeks ago to 2 today. The North Beach was, again, very slow today, and even the oceanfront marsh was slower than usual. The water level in Jack's has dropped a little (4.46 down to 4.18 on the Watermark scale) leaving fairly extensive mudflats and shallows around the margins and in the grasses, while Upper Summerhouse Pond has risen a little (3.16 up to 3.36 on its scale) yet retaining fairly extensive mudflats and shallows that are attracting shorebirds (Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Common Gallinule) and good numbers of waterfowl.
Other misses included American alligator (did I mention that it was cold today on the island?) and fox squirrel.
Looking ahead on the tide calendar suggests that the next most-favorable tides fall on Thursday 20 Mar 2014 (high tide predicted 4.8 ft) at 10:43 AM. Other possible dates include Wed 19 Mar and Fri 21 Mar. Stay tuned for final plans.
Regards,
David
Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, US-SC
Mar 4, 2014 7:45 AM - 3:45 PM
Protocol: Traveling
18.199 mile(s)
Comments: Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. Effort: 4.15 mi (one way) and 45 min by boat plus 12.0 mi and 2 hr by vehicle plus 2.1 mi and 5 hr 15 min by foot. Weather: cloudy, cold, and windy; temps 32 F to 35 F; winds NNE at 10 mph with gusts to 20 mph. <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3
71 species
Gadwall 20
American Wigeon 24
American Black Duck 12
Mottled Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 46
Northern Shoveler 22
Green-winged Teal 20
Redhead 2 Many fewer than counted on recent surveys.
Ring-necked Duck 21 First personal observation on the survey. Seen on Jack's Pond, Upper Summerhouse Pond, and Lower Summerhouse Pond.
Lesser Scaup 175
Black Scoter 25
Bufflehead 136
Hooded Merganser 49
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 76
Pied-billed Grebe 39
Horned Grebe 25
Double-crested Cormorant 23
Anhinga 2
American White Pelican 22
Brown Pelican 4
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 47
Snowy Egret 7
Little Blue Heron 2
Tricolored Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 18
Glossy Ibis 2
Turkey Vulture 6
Bald Eagle 1 1 imm
Common Gallinule 37
American Coot 251
American Oystercatcher 33
Grey Plover 6
Semipalmated Plover 14
Piping Plover 4
Killdeer 10
Greater Yellowlegs 56
Willet 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 6
Marbled Godwit 1
Ruddy Turnstone 9
Sanderling 16
Dunlin 955
Western Sandpiper 22
Short-billed Dowitcher 18
Wilson's Snipe 5
Ring-billed Gull 24
Herring Gull 3
Forster's Tern 52
Mourning Dove 8
Belted Kingfisher 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 4
Eastern Phoebe 3
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow 230
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 3
Cedar Waxwing 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 32
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 8
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 7
Northern Cardinal 23
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Boat-tailed Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17311701
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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