25 March 2015

Wed 25 Mar 2015 survey


Wed 25 Mar 2015

   Wil Christenson and Mary Lou Dickson joined me today for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. As so often before Coastal Expeditions (CEX) provided us with boating transportation over the Bulls and back. Many thanks, CEX!

   The water level in Jack's Creek has dropped below the staff gauge so further readings will be estimates. The water from Pool 3 has dropped more, too, since the dike failure of almost three weeks ago. Between the shallow water remaining and the now extensive mud banks along the margins of Jack's , the shorebirds were very actively feeding in many corners of Jack's. And Upper Summerhouse Pond appears to have completely filled up after the dike failure there this past late August. 

   We were expecting that the waterfowl numbers would be down markedly since migration "ought to" have begun in recent weeks. Boy were we pleasantly surprised to find thousands of ducks hanging out on Jack's Creek along with thousands of shorebirds both in Jack's Creek and in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's. Check out the numbers, below, of Gadwall, American Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Semipalmated Plover, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, and Western Sandpiper. We tallied 41 species on the survey proper, 74 on the day's outing. Our two eBird checklists are combined and presented below.

   At one point we watched a mature Bald Eagle fly over Jack's Creek flushing thousands of ducks, hover (very much like a Belted Kingfisher) for perhaps 30 sec, then fly off. A few minutes later, with no apparent raptor overhead, thousands of the same waterfowl rose off of Jack's, climbed high into the sky forming not swarming masses of flushed ducks but multiple lines of ducks that then appeared to fly off the island into/across Bulls Bay. We thought that we may well have witnessed the beginning of a mass migration flight of waterfowl off the island. Very cool to witness regardless of their intent.

   S.C. DNR was hosting some out-of-town shorebird banders as they have often done in March of previous years. They had successfully cannon-netted many shorebirds in the oceanfront marsh at Jack's and were banding them when we arrived at that location. They were out along the dune line, and we were on the dike. Nonetheless Wil counted 2300 shorebirds right there apparently little affected by the canon netting and banding activities or by our presence. Interestingly we spotted a banded Semipalmated Plover that they had likely banded in a previous year. I'll report the banding sighting both directly to them and the the USGS. I've reported other shorebird species with bands, but this was my first observation of banded Semipalmated Plover. 

   Non avian sightings included Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin (one fully breached the surface of the water!), fox squirrels, and white-tailed deer. Mosquitos, white flies, and no-seeums were also hanging out in the lee of the island. We were glad for fairly consistent winds to keep the bugs hunkered down.

   Our targeting the 12:45 PM high tide today worked well (the breach along Alligator Alley has changed our timing around the island, so we'll try similar high tides again). Looking ahead at the tide calendar suggests the following dates for our next survey. 

Thurs 9 Apr 2015 4.6 ft high tide at 11:30 AM
Fri 10 Apr 2015 4.5 ft high tide at 12:20 PM

Stay tuned for further plans.

Regards,

David


dcmclean
BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Wednesday, Mar 25 2015
Number of Checklists: 2
Number of Species: 74
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Bull's Island Ferry
Date: Mar 25, 2015, 8:40
(2): Cape Romain NWR--Bull Island
Date: Mar 25, 2015, 9:36
2200 Gadwall -- (2)
300 American Wigeon -- (2)
28 Mottled Duck -- (2)
167 Blue-winged Teal -- (2)
500 Northern Shoveler -- (2)
140 Green-winged Teal -- (2)
27 Lesser Scaup -- (2)
8 Black Scoter -- (2)
32 Bufflehead -- (1),(2)
3 Hooded Merganser -- (1),(2)
1 Red-breasted Merganser -- (1)
11 Ruddy Duck -- (2)
1 Common Loon -- (1)
17 Pied-billed Grebe -- (2)
8 Horned Grebe -- (1),(2)
14 Double-crested Cormorant -- (1),(2)
6 Anhinga -- (2)
1 Brown Pelican -- (2)
3 Great Blue Heron -- (2)
26 Great Egret -- (1),(2)
14 Snowy Egret -- (1),(2)
5 Little Blue Heron -- (2)
23 Tricolored Heron -- (1),(2)
1 Green Heron -- (2)
1 Black-crowned Night-Heron -- (2)
101 White Ibis -- (2)
4 Turkey Vulture -- (1),(2)
1 Osprey -- (2)
3 Northern Harrier -- (2)
1 Bald Eagle -- (2)
2 Sora -- (2)
13 Common Gallinule -- (2)
209 American Coot -- (2)
4 American Oystercatcher -- (1),(2)
2 Black-bellied Plover -- (1),(2)
8 Wilson's Plover -- (2)
400 Semipalmated Plover -- (2)
2 Piping Plover -- (2)
4 Killdeer -- (2)
1 Spotted Sandpiper -- (2)
14 Greater Yellowlegs -- (1),(2)
21 Willet -- (1),(2)
49 Lesser Yellowlegs -- (2)
1 Ruddy Turnstone -- (2)
1 Sanderling -- (2)
1455 Dunlin -- (1),(2)
30 Least Sandpiper -- (2)
100 Western Sandpiper -- (2)
1176 Short-billed Dowitcher -- (2)
1 Bonaparte's Gull -- (2)
11 Laughing Gull -- (1),(2)
2 Forster's Tern -- (1)
1 Royal Tern -- (2)
5 Mourning Dove -- (2)
5 Belted Kingfisher -- (1),(2)
5 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) -- (2)
8 Blue Jay -- (2)
1 Fish Crow -- (1)
3 Purple Martin -- (2)
202 Tree Swallow -- (1),(2)
1 Barn Swallow -- (2)
2 Marsh Wren -- (2)
1 Brown Thrasher -- (2)
7 Northern Mockingbird -- (2)
1 Common Yellowthroat -- (2)
3 Northern Parula -- (2)
3 Pine Warbler -- (2)
20 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) -- (2)
15 Chipping Sparrow -- (2)
1 Savannah Sparrow -- (2)
3 Swamp Sparrow -- (2)
5 Northern Cardinal -- (2)
50 Red-winged Blackbird -- (2)
12 Boat-tailed Grackle -- (1),(2)
This trip summary was created using the BirdLog app for iPhone and iPad.
See BirdLog for more information.

--
David C. McLean, Jr.
Sent from my iPod

10 March 2015

Tues 10 Mar 2015 survey


Th 12 Mar 2015

All,

   Wil Christenson and Katie Rittenhouse joined me this past Tuesday for the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey. Katie has been performing waterfowl surveys at Santee NWR this winter (among her other duties), so it was great having her expertise here at the Cape Romain NWR for our survey. It was also a nice mini-reunion of our February MOCC (Motorboat Operator Certification Course) class, especially before Katie moves up to Minnesota(?) at the end of the month for her next USF&WS position. Coastal Expeditions graciously continues to work with us on boating transportation out to the island and back. It's truly wonderful being able to set our own time tables. Thanks, CEX!

   Big changes have happened on the island and more really big changes should start any day now. The dike between Pool 3 and Jack's Creek failed last Friday 6 Mar 2015 immediately around the trunk. Much of the water in Pool 3 emptied into Jack's Creek compounding the effort to reduce the water level there in anticipation of the soon-to-begin new dike construction across Jack's. It never rains but it pours. As a silver lining, the salinity of Jack's has now dropped to 6 ppt as I measure it with my new refractometer, but I'm still trying to fully develop my skills with this new tool. 

   Because of this dike failure, we had to modify our drive around Jack's and didn't get to the North Beach or the oceanfront marsh at Jack's until later than usual w.r.t. the 11:10 AM high tide; we found both of these prime shorebird locations very short on shorebirds excepting a large flyby flight of Dunlin on the North Beach that likely came from the oceanfront marsh (virtually empty by the time we arrived there). 

   Now about those birds. We had 77 species total on our day's outing, 43 species on the survey proper. Our eBird checklist from the whole day's outing is appended, below, FYI. Waterfowl were still hanging around though in reduced numbers. Avian sightings of note include Northern Pintail, American Bittern, Wilson's Plover, Piping Plover, and first-of-season (FOS) singing Yellow-throated Warbler. 

   Non avian sightings included Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, American alligator (MANY soaking up the warm sunshine!), and fox squirrel along with animal tracks from otter, mink, and dogs (yes, dogs; relatively fresh tracks, too; dogs are not allowed on the island except, I believe, on the beach below mean high water). 

   Spring is bursting out all over. Many birds have become quite vocal in just the last week or so. Many folks mark the earliest sign of spring with the first Yellow-throated Warblers singing (which I heard at Garris Landing immediately upon getting out of the car that morning.) I felt bad for every alligator that we flushed back into the water; at least it gives them something to do. ;-)

   Looking ahead at the tidal calendar, and looking for a slightly-later-in-the-day high tide since our driving route will be altered until the Alligator Alley dike is repaired, we're considering the following dates for our next survey:

Tues 24 Mar 2015 5.1 ft high tide at 11:51 AM
Wed 25 Mar 2015 4.8 ft high tide at 12:45 PM
Thurs 26 Mar 2015 4.6 ft high tide at 1:42 PM

I've recently not sent out a specific recruiting email as volunteers have proactively replied to these report emails to state their preference to help with upcoming surveys. I'll continue to entertain volunteer requests similarly, so no recruitment email simply means that the spots are spoken for. Thanks for you continued assistance. And, as the Bartles and Jaymes ad men said, "Thank you for your support."

Regards,

David

dcmclean
BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Mar 10, 2015 to Mar 12, 2015

Number of Checklists: 2
Number of Species: 77

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Bull's Island Ferry
Date: Mar 10, 2015, 8:30
(2): Cape Romain NWR--Bull Island
Date: Mar 10, 2015, 9:25

510 Gadwall -- (2)
34 American Wigeon -- (2)
1 Mallard -- (2)
31 Mottled Duck -- (2)
7 Blue-winged Teal -- (2)
216 Northern Shoveler -- (2)
4 Northern Pintail -- (2)
102 Green-winged Teal -- (2)
286 Lesser Scaup -- (2)
1 White-winged Scoter -- (2)
200 Black Scoter -- (2)
24 Bufflehead -- (1),(2)
13 Hooded Merganser -- (1),(2)
1 Red-breasted Merganser -- (1)
66 Ruddy Duck -- (2)
2 Red-throated Loon -- (2)
46 Pied-billed Grebe -- (2)
15 Horned Grebe -- (1)
19 Double-crested Cormorant -- (1),(2)
2 Anhinga -- (2)
4 Brown Pelican -- (1),(2)
1 American Bittern -- (2)
6 Great Blue Heron -- (2)
13 Great Egret -- (1),(2)
14 Snowy Egret -- (2)
7 Little Blue Heron -- (2)
46 Tricolored Heron -- (1),(2)
2 Black-crowned Night-Heron -- (2)
47 White Ibis -- (2)
1 Glossy Ibis -- (2)
2 Black Vulture -- (2)
16 Turkey Vulture -- (2)
1 Northern Harrier -- (2)
2 Bald Eagle -- (2)
1 Red-shouldered Hawk -- (2)
1 Sora -- (2)
13 Common Gallinule -- (2)
474 American Coot -- (2)
15 American Oystercatcher -- (1),(2)
20 Black-bellied Plover -- (2)
2 Wilson's Plover -- (2)
1 Piping Plover -- (2)
2 Killdeer -- (2)
2 Spotted Sandpiper -- (1),(2)
8 Greater Yellowlegs -- (2)
42 Willet -- (1),(2)
2 Lesser Yellowlegs -- (2)
48 Ruddy Turnstone -- (2)
5 Sanderling -- (2)
2136 Dunlin -- (1),(2)
1 Bonaparte's Gull -- (2)
2 Laughing Gull -- (2)
37 Ring-billed Gull -- (1),(2)
2 Herring Gull -- (2)
1 Forster's Tern -- (2)
6 Mourning Dove -- (2)
4 Belted Kingfisher -- (1),(2)
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker -- (2)
3 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) -- (2)
2 Peregrine Falcon -- (1),(2)
2 Eastern Phoebe -- (2)
6 Tree Swallow -- (2)
2 Marsh Wren -- (2)
1 Gray Catbird -- (2)
5 Northern Mockingbird -- (2)
12 Cedar Waxwing -- (2)
1 Palm Warbler -- (2)
5 Pine Warbler -- (2)
35 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) -- (2)
1 Yellow-throated Warbler -- (1)
3 Eastern Towhee -- (2)
1 Song Sparrow -- (2)
1 Swamp Sparrow -- (2)
4 White-throated Sparrow -- (2)
8 Northern Cardinal -- (2)
25 Red-winged Blackbird -- (2)
9 Boat-tailed Grackle -- (1),(2)

This trip summary was created using the BirdLog app for iPhone and iPad.
See BirdLog for more information.


--
David C. McLean, Jr.
Sent from my iPod