How do you know it's Christmas in Awendaw? And some ducks are back on Bulls despite the rather warm temperatures.

Wed 16 Dec 2015

   It's been a month since my last survey, and I was beginning to get irritable. I started to calm down on the morning drive when I noticed that the Christmas season has come to Awendaw. Most of the roadside mailboxes on Sewee Road were decorated for Christmas. Seems they had their annual Christmas parade this past weekend and decorated their mailboxes for the parade and the season.

   Wil Christenson joined me for today's survey. Thanks to the USF&WS maintenance folks (Greg, Alex, and Alan) for putting us in the water in one of the whalers. The dredging effort at Garris Landing continues; they've nearly competed the dredging at the basin and plan on leaving a channel paralleling the dock up to the ramp that will be 6 ft deep and 30 ft wide at low tide. Wil and I had the island to ourselves today, and I grew calmer every time I remembered that.

   The water level at Jack's Creek has dropped quicker than I suspected it might. The staff gauge is now left high and dry above the water, the new dike is once again prominent, and extensive mudflats now edge Jack's Creek. If they can keep the water falling this quickly they may soon start back the dike construction. Jack's had good numbers of both waterfowl and shorebirds today, often very close together; it was interesting to watch shorebirds wading beside floating ducks. Unfortunately sever heat waves and intractable distances prevented positive identification of most of those shorebirds.

   We tallied 46 species on the survey proper and 64 species on the island. We motored over and back fairly quickly today so I didn't keep a checklist for the boating, however we did see Common Loon, American Oystercatcher, and FOS (First of Season, at least for me) Horned Grebe that would expand our day's tally by a few more species. Waterfowl have begun to return to Bulls with good numbers of Gadwall and Bufflehead plus a few other species of interest including American Wigeon and Red-breasted Merganser. We scoped many Northern Gannets and Red-throated Loons out on a very calm sea. Shorebirds of note included good counts of Dunlin and Semipalmated Plovers along with two American Avocets and four Piping Plovers. Other species on interest included Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Cooper's Hawk. Our full eBird checklist is appended below, FYI.

   Non-avian sightings included a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) carcass that had washed up on the North Beach, bottlenose dolphin, fox squirrel, mosquitos, midges, sea cucumbers, ghost crabs, coyote tracks (many on the North Beach), monarch and gulf fritillary butterflies, and many sea shells. 

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar (and personal calendar) suggests the following dates for our next survey:

Tues 29 Dec 2015 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:13 AM

Thurs 31 Dec 2015 4.7 ft high tide forecast at 11:39 AM

   Christmas means Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs). Go find yourself a CBC, or several, and participate in the nation's longest-running (since 1900) citizen science bird project. Check out the following links:

http://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count

http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/christmas/

Go birding!

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Dec 16, 2015 9:15 AM - 4:00 PM

Protocol: Traveling

12.2 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Wil Christenson. Effort: 9.2 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 3.0 mi and 5 hr 15 min by foot. Weather: fully sunny to fully cloudy, very little wind, warm; temps 54 °F to 70 °F; winds SE at < 2 mph; barometer steady at 30.00 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.4 ft high at 10:58 AM.

64 species (+1 other taxa)

Gadwall  280     The most numerous waterfowl today. Total is from a series of estimates summed.

American Wigeon  8

Mottled Duck  11

Blue-winged Teal  10

Northern Shoveler  4

Green-winged Teal  7

Lesser Scaup  20

Black Scoter  7

scoter sp.  1

Bufflehead  171     Common and wide spread across many views. Total is summed from a series of estimates.

Red-breasted Merganser  1

Ruddy Duck  1

Red-throated Loon  30     Swimming and fly by offshore. Scope views. Estimate.

Pied-billed Grebe  3

Northern Gannet  75

Double-crested Cormorant  484

Anhinga  1

American White Pelican  14

Brown Pelican  40

Great Blue Heron  8

Great Egret  7

Little Blue Heron  2

Tricolored Heron  3

Green Heron  1

Black-crowned Night-Heron  15

White Ibis  42

Turkey Vulture  5

Osprey  2

Northern Harrier  1

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  2

Red-shouldered Hawk  1

Sora  1

Common Gallinule  1

American Coot  48

American Avocet  2

Grey Plover  16

Semipalmated Plover  750     Estimate from a count of a large mixed shorebird flock.

Piping Plover  4

Greater Yellowlegs  17

Willet  3

Marbled Godwit  1

Ruddy Turnstone  29     Scattered and recurring on both the North Beach and the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek.

Sanderling  10

Dunlin  1254     Estimate from a count of a large mixed shorebird flock.

Western Sandpiper  11

Short-billed Dowitcher  245     A fairly accurate count.

Laughing Gull  4

Ring-billed Gull  62

Herring Gull  6

Great Black-backed Gull  3

Black Skimmer  40

Belted Kingfisher  5

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1

Peregrine Falcon  1

Eastern Phoebe  2

Blue Jay  1

Tree Swallow  2

Carolina Wren  1

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  4

Song Sparrow  1

Swamp Sparrow  3

Northern Cardinal  1

Red-winged Blackbird  32

Boat-tailed Grackle  3

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26334277

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

Tues 17 Nov 2015 survey: Lowcountry snow, coyote tracks, ducks returning, and a very special Piping Plover

Tues 17 Nov 2015

   Wil Christenson and Katy Nelligan, the new education intern from the Sewee Center, joined me today for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls. Wil and Coastal Expeditions (CEX) once again got us out to the island and back. [Check out CEX's upcoming Long-billed Curlew boat expedition scheduled for Sun 6 Dec at www.bullsislandferry.com!] Thanks, CEX! 

   Although this was Katy's first birding trip, she has extensive experience in many other naturalist fields and was quickly picking up new birds with almost every look. Though she has actually held baby alligators in her own hands for teaching (consider me envious), she'd never seen full-sized adult alligators, so she really enjoyed seeing some of Bulls' specimens, especially the ones that we walked past that were only 5 feet away and eyeing us closely! Wil and Katy both hail from Wisconsin so they had a great time reminiscing about homesteads way up there in the cold, cold north somewhere.

   The birding on Bulls has picked up from the fairly slow month of October. We tallied 26 species on the ferry, 40 species on the survey, proper, and 59 species on the island as a whole. Our eBird checklist from the island (thanks, Wil, for making, submitting, and sharing the eBird checklists today) is appended below, FYI. Waterfowl have begun to return to Bulls with many Gadwall and Green-winged Teal along with several other waterfowl species. Dunlin have returned in good numbers, and we had good looks at American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Piping Plover, Reddish Egret, and Least Sandpipers today.

   On each of the last three surveys, including today's, we've seen one banded Piping Plover (PIPL) each time and in the same location on the North Beach. We've also seen a second banded PIPL also on the North Beach. I submitted a sighting report for both of those birds through the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory and received the following report back from Alice Van Zoeren of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Banding Program who banded those birds as hatchlings in the state of Michigan. The individual that we've now seen three times here was hatched and banded in 2015 in Muskegon, MI, so is a young one. The second PIPL is a bit more special to Alice as indicated in her email reply to me:

"I'm very glad to hear about the second plover you listed. I've been waiting to hear that he made it south!  BO:X,g is my very favorite. He's currently the oldest plover in the Great Lakes population at 13. He hatched in 2002 near the mouth of the Platte River in Benzie County, MI (not the Platte you've heard of) and returned to that area to breed in 2005. He's been there every summer since. I'll attach a photo I took of him last spring in breeding plumage for your enjoyment." 

   As it happens, I've seen and reported on this very same PIPL before from our survey on 19 Oct 2012. Here is Alice's picture of "BO:X,g Just back to Platte," taken 14 Apr 2015 showing his full alternate (breeding) plumage that she's allowed me to use.

   Non-avian sightings on the day included Lowcountry snow (the flowering Baccharis halimifolia, a.k.a. Groundsel, was shedding its seeds to the wind); white-tailed deer (the archers harvested only three deer over their recent hunt; the second seasonal hunt is scheduled for early December); fox squirrel; Monarch, Gulf fritillary, and yellow sulphur butterflies; numerous coyote tracks (following upon several recent and reliable sightings of an actual coyote); mosquitoes; several horseshoe crab carapaces;  and many American alligators. 

   Much of the island remains damp and many of the impoundments remain full. Jack's Creek has begun to drop again, but is a long way, I believe, from being drained enough to resume dike construction. And there is a dredge being set up (primarily laying several miles of pipe) to dredge out the boat slip and boat ramp passages at Garris Landing. 

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates to consider for our next survey:

Mon 30 Nov 2015 5.6 ft high tide forecast at 10:47 AM

Tues 1 Dec 2015 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 11:36 AM

Stay tuned for final plans.

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Nov 17, 2015 9:17 AM - 3:43 PM

Protocol: Traveling

10.0 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island water/shorebird survey with David McLean and Katy Nelligan. Effort: 10.0 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 3.0 mi and 5 hr by foot. Weather: sunny, windy, and warm; temps 62 F to 70 F; AM winds NnE at 10 mph to 15 mph, PM winds NE at 15 mph to 20 mph; barometer steady at 30.06 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.6 ft high at 11:38 AM;   Submitted from  BirdLog NA for Android v1.9.6

59 species

Gadwall  48

Mottled Duck  6

Blue-winged Teal  5

Northern Shoveler  7

Green-winged Teal  87

Lesser Scaup  46

Hooded Merganser  7

Pied-billed Grebe  12

Wood Stork  2

Double-crested Cormorant  172

Anhinga  2

Brown Pelican  4

Great Blue Heron  6

Great Egret  26

Snowy Egret  5

Little Blue Heron  4

Tricolored Heron  3

Reddish Egret  2     Scope views at oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek in good light, red plumage back of head and upper neck, performing the typical REEG dance

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1

White Ibis  27

Black Vulture  2

Turkey Vulture  6

Osprey  2

Northern Harrier  1

Sharp-shinned Hawk  1

Clapper Rail  1

Sora  1

Common Gallinule  12

American Coot  19

American Avocet  2

Grey Plover  6

Semipalmated Plover  11

Piping Plover  3     One Banded PIPL: Basic Plumage, Roosting in Wrack.  Bands: Upper Left - Orange, Lower Left Green, Upper Right - Metal, Lower Right Split Green/Orange/Green.

Two Unbanded PIPLs.  Basic Plumage, Roosting in Wrack.  All three on NE tip of the Island.

Greater Yellowlegs  6

Willet  19

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Marbled Godwit  2

Ruddy Turnstone  23     A fairly accurate count, seen in several locations usually in mixed shorebird flocks, many in scope view, bright orange legs, distinct dark throat plumage, dark plumage on back.

Sanderling  91

Dunlin  627     five hundred in one flock on the on dune ridge along beach front marsh at high tide

Least Sandpiper  2

Short-billed Dowitcher  22

Ring-billed Gull  2

Herring Gull  2

Caspian Tern  1

Royal Tern  2

Belted Kingfisher  7

Northern Flicker  1

Peregrine Falcon  1

Eastern Phoebe  3

Marsh Wren  1

Carolina Wren  1

Grey Catbird  1

Northern Mockingbird  3

Song Sparrow  1

Swamp Sparrow  1

Northern Cardinal  3

Red-winged Blackbird  34

Boat-tailed Grackle  5

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25902568

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)

Halloween survey...trick of the tides and treats reported by others on the island

Fri 30 Oct 2015

   What a beautiful day we had on Bulls Island today for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey. The Spartina alterniflora, aka saltmarsh cordgrass, glows golden in the early morning and late afternoon sunlight that is slanting closer to the horizon. Large numbers of American Oystercatchers have begun arriving to their winter home in the refuge. A few late shorebird migrants are still passing through and many of the winter resident shorebirds are beginning to arrive in number. Waterfowl were very scarce, but I don't really expect them to arrive in appreciable numbers for about a month.

   Cherrie Sneed joined me for today's survey. Coastal Expeditions' Captain Richard Stuhr and First Mate Nick Johnson gave us a great ride out to the island with prolonged views of hundreds of shorebirds massing on the first few private docks north of Garris Landing and great views of bottle-nosed dolphin on the return trip. Thanks, CEX, for the continued support of our survey efforts. 

   Do check out CEX's early December excursion for Long-billed Curlews. Similar trips in previous years filled up, so go ahead and sign up soon to reserve your seat. See their web site at: http://www.bullsislandferry.com/

   We tallied 72 species on the day's outing, 63 species on the island, and 34 target species for the survey proper. Our eBird checklist for the island is appended, below, FYI. We found 6 Piping Plovers on the North Beach, two of which sported colored leg bands. And among the estimated 250 Dunlin on the North Beach, two had leg flags! I've never seen flagged Dunlin before, so I was keen to record that data. I was able to read one of the two flags before the flock flushed. I'll report these sightings to the USGS Banded Bird Lab. Other birds of interest included a few late season Semipalmated Sandpipers, Reddish Egrets, American Coot (FOS), Bald Eagles, and American Avocet. Similar to our mid-October survey findings, Jack's Creek was once again nearly devoid of birds; we saw only 35 individuals of 7 avian species in Jack's. The other impoundments were similarly showing very few birds.

   We didn't see the bird of the day, however…it  was one reported to us by Tony and Denise Hargrove of Asheville, NC, whom we met on the ferry. They found and photographed a White-winged Dove! Their eBird checklist should come out in a couple of day's, so look for their report.

   We also missed the best overall sighting of the day. The USF&WS maintenance guys Greg Geathers and Al each saw a coyote on Bulls today. We've been anticipating their arrival for many months. I don't know what, if any, control measures the office will endorse regarding coyotes. Maybe the coyotes will take some of the top predator role once played by the placed red wolves. Maybe they'll not hang around at all. Should be interesting to learn. 

   Different beachfronts along the island have been affected differently by the almost relentless high (king) tides, ocean winds, and deluges. The North Beach was minimally affected while much of the Boneyard Beach and front beach have been significantly eroded both vertically and horizontally. Jack's Creek remains very full of water; I suspect that the dike construction has been placed on hold until the water levels drop again. 

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates to consider for our next survey:

Mon 16 Nov 2015 predicted 5.6 ft high tide at 10:22 AM

Tues 17 Nov 2015 predicted 5.5 ft high tide at 11:13 AM

Stay tuned for final plans.

David

   

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Oct 30, 2015 9:43 AM - 3:44 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.999 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Cherrie Sneed. Effort: 11.5 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 2.5 mi and 4 hr by foot. Weather: sunny, 67 F to 73 F, NNW winds at 10 mph to 15 mph, barometer 30.00 in Hg and rising. Tide was forecast 6.5 ft high at 10:33 AM; Charleston harbor tide peaked at 6.8 ft at 10:30 AM.  <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3

63 species (+1 other taxa)

Gadwall  1     1 female.

Pied-billed Grebe  12

Wood Stork  2

Double-crested Cormorant  103     Counted some, estimated most.

Anhinga  2

American White Pelican  2

Brown Pelican  76

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  7

Snowy Egret  4

Little Blue Heron  1

Tricolored Heron  4

Reddish Egret  4

Black Vulture  4

Turkey Vulture  7

Osprey  2

Northern Harrier  2

Bald Eagle  3     2 mature plus 1 immature.

Clapper Rail  2

Common Gallinule  4

American Coot  27

American Avocet  2

Grey Plover  12

Semipalmated Plover  43

Piping Plover  6     Two birds with leg bands. First: Green, orange, Aluminum numbered, green with orange stripe on lower L, upper L, upper R, lower R leg, respectively. 2nd bird: blue over orange, NO BAND, Aluminum numbered, pale green on lower L, upper L, upper R, and lower R, respectively.

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Willet  2

Ruddy Turnstone  3

Sanderling  130     A fairly accurate estimate.

Dunlin  380     Two birds with flags. First: Flagged L leg, green flag, yellow code 'NNX' and Aluminum numbered band in upper R leg.  2nd bird: L leg, green flag with yellow code, unable to read code before this bird flushed.

Semipalmated Sandpiper  5     Seen on North Beach with Dunlin, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, and other shorebirds, gulls, and terns. Peep sandpiper, dark legs, short bill with slightly bulbous tip, obviously not a long decurved bill.

Western Sandpiper  8

peep sp.  10     Unable to ID to species at distance.

Short-billed Dowitcher  2

Laughing Gull  20

Ring-billed Gull  2

Herring Gull  10

Caspian Tern  9

Royal Tern  87     A fairly accurate count.

Sandwich Tern  5

Mourning Dove  5

Belted Kingfisher  2

Eastern Phoebe  7

Blue Jay  1

Tree Swallow  30

Carolina Chickadee  2

House Wren  1

Carolina Wren  1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1

Hermit Thrush  1

Grey Catbird  4

Northern Mockingbird  4

Common Yellowthroat  1

Palm Warbler  6

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  4

Seaside Sparrow  4

Chipping Sparrow  1

Savannah Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  2

Swamp Sparrow  3

Northern Cardinal  5

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Eastern Meadowlark  1

Boat-tailed Grackle  6

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25635641

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)

16 Oct 2015 A slow day's birding survey after the recent deluge, but a few good sightings

Fri 16 Oct 2015

   Jill Midgett and Justin Johnson joined me today for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. Coastal Expeditions (CEX), specifically Captain Richard Stuhr and First Mate Nick Johnson, treated us well in hauling us out to the island. Unfortunately, both Justin and I had to leave the island at the end of the day while Jill stayed. As a matter of fact, Jill is staying the whole weekend there on one of CEX's 3-day 2-night outings to Bulls. Sigh! Book your overnight outings early, very early. And check out CEX's very popular Long-billed Curlew excursion out of McClellenville scheduled for Sun 6 Dec 2015 (http://www.bullsislandferry.com/).

   Even after the recent heavy rains (1 Oct 2015 through 5 Oct 2015; 18 inches to 20 inches, maybe more), I find it amazing that Jack's Creek is COMPLETELY FULL of water again after several months of draw-down for the new dike construction, but it is. I suspect that the new dike construction will be postponed until the water levels can again be drawn down. It took months before. But…the island was in very good shape today given the record rainfall. Only the usual damp spots in the roads were still damp. The beaches received differing amounts of erosion that was greatest on the front beach (the largest front dunes almost completely eroded) and Boneyard Beach (about 10 yards of erosion) and least on the North Beach (only a small cut in the dunes). The maintenance crew, assisted by some of the CEX staff, have really worked hard and long repairing roads, inspecting dikes, repairing the docks, and cutting the grass.

   The birding on Bulls today was slow. We tallied 24 species on the ferry, 55 species on the island (our eBird checklist is appended below, FYI), 59 species on the day's outing, and only 30 target species on the survey proper. Our only waterfowl were two Blue-winged Teal (although several of the CEX folks reported seeing three Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at the Dominick House). We tallied only 9 total individuals of only 4 species in Jack's Creek! Upper Summerhouse Pond was similarly nearly devoid of birds. We saw only a few birds on the North Beach, but that did include 3 Piping Plovers (one of which sported leg bands). There were many birds on the sand bar offshore of the North Beach. We did have our first-of-season Dunlin and 8 Reddish Egrets. Other notable birds included a Peregrine Falcon, several Bald Eagles, and good numbers of Royal Terns.

   Our non-avian sightings included high numbers of butterflies (Monarch, gulf fritillary, zebra longwing, sulphur, buckeye, and others), a bobcat, and Atlantic bottle-nose dolphin. I also photographed two putative canine tracks in the dunes of the North Beach. 

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates to consider for our next survey:

Fri 30 Oct 2015 6.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:33 AM

Sat 31 Oct 2015 6.2 ft high tide forecast at 11:26 AM

Stay tune for updated plans.

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Oct 16, 2015 9:56 AM - 2:56 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.999 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Jill Midgett and Justin Johnson. Effort: 11.0 mi and 1 hr 30 min by vehicle plus 3.0 mi and 3 hr 30 min by foot. Weather: clear, sunny, light winds; temps 68 F to 81 F; winds W to SW at <= 4 mph; barometer 30.10 in Hg and steady. High tide was forecast 5.6 ft at 11:22 AM; Charleston harbor tide was 6.0 ft at 11:00 AM.  <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3

55 species

Blue-winged Teal  2

Pied-billed Grebe  4

Double-crested Cormorant  159     Total of some accurate counts plus some reasonable guesstimates.

American White Pelican  8

Brown Pelican  50

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  3

Snowy Egret  1

Little Blue Heron  1     1 immature.

Tricolored Heron  2

Reddish Egret  8     7 In the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek, one on sandbar off North Beach.

Black-crowned Night-Heron  2

White Ibis  8

Turkey Vulture  4

Osprey  2

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  3     3 mature.

Clapper Rail  2

Common Gallinule  24

American Avocet  2

Grey Plover  4

Semipalmated Plover  40

Piping Plover  3     One banded as follows: green, orange with a blue-green spot, Aluminum, and green with orange stripe for lower L, upper L, upper R, and lower R, respectively.

Greater Yellowlegs  2

Willet  21

Marbled Godwit  37     On sandbar off North Beach. A fairly accurate count.

Ruddy Turnstone  3

Sanderling  12

Dunlin  15     First of the season.

Semipalmated Sandpiper  2     Seen among numerous Western Sandpipers. Short straight bills.

Western Sandpiper  100

Short-billed Dowitcher  80

Laughing Gull  70

Herring Gull  4

Royal Tern  200     Estimate. Most flushed before a count could be attempted.

Sandwich Tern  3

Mourning Dove  1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Belted Kingfisher  6

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2

Peregrine Falcon  1     1 immature.

Eastern Phoebe  8

American Crow  1

Tree Swallow  800

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher  1

Grey Catbird  2

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  3

Palm Warbler  2

Seaside Sparrow  2

Savannah Sparrow  2

Northern Cardinal  4

Red-winged Blackbird  20

Boat-tailed Grackle  3

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25440358

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)

1 Oct 2015 survey a wet affair between king tides and persistent rains

Fri 2 Oct 2015

   Jeff Kline braved the weather forecast yesterday and joined me for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. The temperature peaked at 77 °F at noon and began drooping to 71 °F with steady rain. I've been birding Bulls for many years and have had the great fortune to stay dry through most of that. Yesterday's rain was the most I've ever faced on the island, so I count my lucky stars that we had a vehicle to shield us from most of the rain. Coastal Expeditions (CEX), in particular Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Nick Johnson, hauled us out to the island and back. We were fortunate to have Nick join us for the morning's birding effort before returning him to the dock for the noon ferry runs. Thanks, CEX.

   Still experiencing king tides due to last Sunday's super moon (a full moon at perigee, nominally the Harvest Moon, aka a blood moon due to the total lunar eclipse) and under steady north winds, yesterday's Charleston harbor tides were running 0.73 ft above prediction. Fortunately the North Beach seems to have weathered the recent king tides well showing no obvious erosion. We did see waves washing over the high high tide line and filling up the high tide pool there, and the waves were rolling directly into the oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek almost filling that marsh to the low dune line. Most of the birds typically at both of these locations were absent. Prior rains have added much water to Jack's Creek, enough to negatively affect the dike construction. With the weekend's very wet forecast, I believe that the folks building the dike will be taking a few days off.

   Birding was somewhat slow, no big surprise given the persistent rain. We tallied 28 species on the survey proper, 34 species on the island, and 18 species on the ferry. Our eBird checklist for the island is appended, below. The best sighting was a Peregrine Falcon apparently diving after a White Ibis. The falcon missed that catch but left us wondering why it would be chasing such a large bird. We also tallied 5 Reddish Egrets in Jack's Creek, two Bald Eagles perched together treetop, 100 Caspian Terns that formed the majority of a mixed flock of shorebirds/gulls/terns resting in Jack's, and a couple of Seaside Sparrows behind the island docks.

   Non avian sightings of interest were limited to a few butterflies that we saw before the rains began in earnest. Mosquitoes were about but mostly knocked down by the steady winds.

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates to consider for our next survey:

Th 15 Oct 2015 5.7 ft high tide forecast at 9:49 AM

Fri 16 Oct 2015 5.6 ft high tide forecast at 10:22 AM

Sat 17 Oct 2015 5.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:59 AM

Stay tuned for final plans.

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Oct 1, 2015 9:30 AM - 2:00 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.999 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Jeff Kline. Effort: 1 hr 30 min and 12 mi by vehicle plus 3.0 hr and 2.0 mi by foot. Weather: heavy overcast, trace of rain in AM, rain beginning at noon; temps 75 F to 77 F at noon dropping to 71 F by 3:00 PM; winds N at 5 mph to 10 mph in AM increasing to 10 mph to 12 mph after noon; barometer steady at 29.77 in Hg. Tide was forecast 6.54 ft high at 10:56 AM, actual tide (Charleston harbor) 7.61 ft at 11:18 AM (flood stage is 7 ft).  <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3

34 species (+1 other taxa)

Mottled Duck  18

Blue-winged Teal  35

Wood Stork  6

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Brown Pelican  45

Great Blue Heron  6

Great Egret  19

Snowy Egret  25

Tricolored Heron  2

Reddish Egret  5

Black-crowned Night-Heron  3

White Ibis  33

Osprey  3

Bald Eagle  2     2 mature

Grey Plover  2

Semipalmated Plover  55

Greater Yellowlegs  13

Willet  16

Ruddy Turnstone  2

Sanderling  2

Western Sandpiper  3

peep sp.  60     Western Sandpiper or Semipalmated Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher  3

Laughing Gull  31

Herring Gull  5

Caspian Tern  101     Most in a mixed flock with shorebirds, Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls, Sandwich Tern, and Mottled Ducks.

Forster's Tern  9

Royal Tern  30

Sandwich Tern  1

Black Skimmer  35

Belted Kingfisher  4

Peregrine Falcon  1

Northern Mockingbird  2

Seaside Sparrow  2

Northern Cardinal  3

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25264362

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)

Late summer survey shows, perhaps, the last of the summer residents while fall shorebird migration continues

Fri 18 Sept 2015

   Even under heavy overcast skies and light rain yesterday the golden seed pods of the Spartina alterniflora saltmarsh cordgrass continue to herald the arrival of fall in the Cape Romain NWR. 

   David Gardner and Aubrey Greene, each an accomplished naturalist and birder, joined me yesterday for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. Wil Christenson and Nick Johnson were busy running us over to the island on the Coastal Expeditions ferry so were unable to join the day's survey effort, but we couldn't have done it without them. Thanks, CEX, for your continuing support.

   It was David and Aubrey's first trip to Bulls Island, and each of them tallied good birding observations. David was able to add four, maybe five, new species to his Charleston County list, and Aubrey tallied at least one life list species.

   Summer resident avian species are in declining numbers and fall migration continues. We tallied 30 species on the ferry, 50 target species on the island, 69 total species on the island, and 75 species on the whole day's outing. Our eBird checklist from the island is appended, below, FYI. Notable sightings included Reddish Egret, Blue-winged Teal, American Black/Mottled Duck, Sora, Piping Plover, American Avocet, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, and Wilson's Phalarope.

   Recent rains have raised the water level in Jack's Creek a couple of inches (as a guess), but, since Jack's is so shallow, those very few inches spread out the water surface appreciably. Most of the bottom remains exposed, however, and continues to attract shorebirds and even a few ducks. Now that the failed dike between Pool 3 and Jack's has been repaired, the water levels in Pool 3 are beginning to rise, but there has been a significant growth of tall plants that is, at least visually, choking out Pool 3. Maybe those plants will die off once that pool is fully reflooded. And the North Beach continues to accrete with early dune formation supported by vigorous vegetative growth, especially Carolina saltwort and sea oats.

   Thanking both David and Aubrey, we had had frequent naturalist discussions of different non-avian observations that we had on the day including seashore-elder growing just above the high tide mark on the accreting North Beach, monarch butterflies, banded water snakes, yellow flies (a.k.a. deer flies), a shark (blacktip, maybe bonnethead, 24 inches to 30 inches, dorsal fin and tail showing a distinct black trailing margin) swimming in 6 inches of water at the edge of the surf, and Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins.

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates for the next survey:

Wed 30 Sept 2015 6.7 ft high tide forecast at 10:02 AM

Thurs 1 Oct 2015 6.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:56 AM

Fri 2 Oct 2015 6.3 ft high tide forecast at 11:52 AM

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Sep 17, 2015 9:53 AM - 3:33 PM

Protocol: Traveling

14.1 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with David Gardner and Aubrey Greene. Effort: 10.6 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 3.5 mi and 4 hr 10 min by foot. Weather: overcast with trace rain all day; temps 72 F to 75 F; winds relatively steady from NNE at 8 mph to 10 mph; barometer steady at 30.10 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.3 ft high at 10:54 AM.  <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3

68 species (+1 other taxa)

Wood Duck  1

American Black/Mottled Duck  3     No white trailing edge at speculum, plus a very vertical takeoff from water

Mallard  2

Mottled Duck  25

Blue-winged Teal  63

Pied-billed Grebe  8

Wood Stork  1

Double-crested Cormorant  34     Many on sand bar off North Beach

Anhinga  1

American White Pelican  18

Brown Pelican  140     Many on sand bar off North Beach

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  8

Snowy Egret  14

Little Blue Heron  1

Tricolored Heron  5

Reddish Egret  5

Black-crowned Night-Heron  3

White Ibis  12

Turkey Vulture  2

Osprey  2

Clapper Rail  4

Sora  1

Common Gallinule  21

Black-necked Stilt  1

American Avocet  2

American Oystercatcher  2

Grey Plover  19

Semipalmated Plover  159     Most in oceanfront marsh at Jack's Creek

Piping Plover  4     No observed leg bands or flags.

Killdeer  1

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  8

Willet  37

Lesser Yellowlegs  14

Ruddy Turnstone  14

Sanderling  124     Dispersed through Jack's, North Beach, and oceanfront marsh at Jack's

Least Sandpiper  1

Pectoral Sandpiper  2

Semipalmated Sandpiper  98     A fairly accurate estimate

Western Sandpiper  102

peep sp.  80     Unidentified sandpiper species

Short-billed Dowitcher  20

Wilson's Phalarope  1

Laughing Gull  27

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Gull-billed Tern  2

Caspian Tern  34

Black Tern  2

Common Tern  1

Forster's Tern  2

Royal Tern  5

Black Skimmer  42

Mourning Dove  4

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Belted Kingfisher  3

Eastern Kingbird  12

Blue Jay  2

Carolina Chickadee  3

Carolina Wren  5

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher  1

Eastern Bluebird  2

Northern Mockingbird  1

Common Yellowthroat  3

Northern Cardinal  4

Painted Bunting  3

Bobolink  4

Red-winged Blackbird  6

Boat-tailed Grackle  2

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25080010

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)

1 Sept 2015 survey. Fall is coming to the salt marsh, and the bird of the day was a sparrow.

Tues 1 Sept 2015

   The Spartina alterniflora (saltmarsh cordgrass) is producing seed heads and turning the grass tips to an ever-so-slightly-golden color. The full-on-summer green grasses are beginning to change. Fall is coming to the salt marshes.

   Steve Moore and Irvin Pitts joined me today for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. And what a beautiful day it was after such a wet weekend. Coastal Expedition's Captain Chris Crolley gave us the royal treatment in getting us over to Bulls Island. As Chris said, "This boat stops for sparrows." We pulled over to chase a likely Seaside Sparrow into the grasses and drifted right up to a Clapper Rail trying to manage the king tides that were dominating it's world today.

   We tallied 67 species on the day, not counting Irvin's list from Garris Landing where he tallied Bobolinks and Yellow Warbler among other species. Our eBird checklist from the island is appended, below, FYI.

   Recent rains on the island (approximately 1.6 inches on 26 Aug 2015 and approximately 3.1 inches over the last two days) has raised the water in Jack's Creek a guesstimated 3 inches and greatly expanded the margins of the water to cover much of what had been uncovered and drying for several months. The water level is still low, however, and will likely stay low with continued high evaporation rates from the late summer heat. The birds didn't seem to mind the change in water level too much…hope it doesn't interfere with the ongoing dike construction. And the failed dike along Alligator Alley between Pool 3 and Jack's Creek has been repaired and reopened. Pool 3 is already beginning to fill up with the recent rains.

   The bird of the day was not one of the target species. The first bird that we flushed in front of the truck driving north on Old Fort Road was a sparrow that quickly revealed itself to be a Lark Sparrow. Turned out to be a county list species for Irvin and a life list species for Steve. What a great way to start the day's birding! Other species of note included Reddish Egret, American Avocet, first-of-season (FOS) Blue-winged Teal, White-rumped Sandpiper, Black Tern, Piping Plover, and Pectoral Sandpiper.

   Non-avian sightings included a glass lizard, a cottonmouth, a bottle-nosed dolphin, a queen (i.e., butterfly, 2 of them actually), and numerous other butterfly species. Oh…and many mosquitoes and deer flies too.

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates to consider for our next survey:

Wed 16 Sept 2015 5.4 ft high tide forecast at 10:19 AM

Thurs 17 Sept 2015 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:54 AM

Fri 18 Sept 2015 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 11:31 AM

Sat 19 Sept 20155.3 ft high tide forecast at 12:14 PM

David

Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US

Sep 1, 2015 10:05 AM - 3:15 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.599 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Steve Moore and Irvin Pitts. Effort: 10.1 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 3.5 mi and 3 hr 35 min by foot. Weather: sunny, warm, and humid; temps 78 F to 88 F; AM winds NW at <= 6 mph, PM winds SE at 6 mph; barometer steady at 30.05 in Hg. Tide was forecast 6.3 ft high at 10:23 AM.  <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3

64 species (+2 other taxa)

Wood Duck  3

Mottled Duck  19

Blue-winged Teal  33

Pied-billed Grebe  1

Wood Stork  1

Double-crested Cormorant  3

Anhinga  2

Brown Pelican  106     Estimate.

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  29

Snowy Egret  37

Little Blue Heron  3

Tricolored Heron  7

Reddish Egret  4

Green Heron  6

Black-crowned Night-Heron  10

White Ibis  10

Glossy Ibis  1

Turkey Vulture  5

Osprey  2

Red-shouldered Hawk  2

Common Gallinule  5

Black-necked Stilt  2

American Avocet  4

American Oystercatcher  15

Grey Plover  81     A fairly accurate count.

Wilson's Plover  2

Semipalmated Plover  92

Piping Plover  1     No obvious leg bands or flags.

Spotted Sandpiper  5

Greater Yellowlegs  4

Willet  45

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Marbled Godwit  70     Estimate.

Ruddy Turnstone  10

Sanderling  45     A fairly accurate count.

Least Sandpiper  4

White-rumped Sandpiper  1     Distinct primary feather extension beyond tail feathers. Moderately long slightly decurved bill. ID independently agreed upon by 2 observers.

Pectoral Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  13

Western Sandpiper  10

peep sp.  10     Too distant for ID to species.

Short-billed Dowitcher  5

Laughing Gull  104

Least Tern  3

Gull-billed Tern  3

Caspian Tern  6

Black Tern  32

Common Tern  12

Forster's Tern  19

Royal Tern  56

Sandwich Tern  6

Black Skimmer  55

Mourning Dove  8

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Belted Kingfisher  3

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Downy Woodpecker  1

Eastern Kingbird  2

crow sp.  2

Barn Swallow  18

Northern Mockingbird  3

Lark Sparrow  1     Heavily streaked head plumage; distinct central breast spot on otherwise uniformly light gray breast plumage.

Northern Cardinal  6

Red-winged Blackbird  1

Boat-tailed Grackle  1

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24855871

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/iss)