Tue 21 July 2015
Rich McCracken joined me last Friday 24 July 2015 for the waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls Island. Coastal Expeditions again graciously hauled us out to the island and back--thanks, CEX! Rich and I had a very warm, very humid day's outing but were able to see many early fall migrant shorebird species as well as good numbers of some summer resident species.
We had 41 species on the survey proper, 55 species on the day's outing, but relatively few individual birds overall with 693 tallied on the survey proper. Our eBird checklist is appended, below, with a full accounting from the island itself. Avian species of note included Black Scoter, Reddish Egret, Lesser Yellowlegs, Whimbrel, Red Knot, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, and Western Sandpiper along with good counts of both Black Tern and Sandwich Tern. Most of these shorebird species exhibited a range of plumage colorations from bright breeding plumage through to duller non-breeding plumage.
The bird of the day happened to be the very last bird that I saw upon arriving back at Garris Landing. I had just walked off of the dock and into the parking lot when a bright yellow flash from the shrubbery caught my eyes. A Prothonotary Warbler was flitting in the bushes (right in front of Wil Christenson's parked truck).
Non-avian sightings included a fox squirrel, butterflies, and a black racer snake.
Looking ahead at the tidal calendar suggests the following dates now under consideration for our next survey:
Mon 3 Aug 2015 5.7 ft high tide forecast at 10:42 AM
Tues 4 Aug 2015 5.7 ft high tide forecast at 11:38 AM
Wed 5 Aug 2015 5.7 ft high tide forecast at 12:36 PM
David
eBird checklist:
Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island, Charleston, South Carolina, US
Jul 17, 2015 9:45 AM - 3:35 PM
Protocol: Traveling
12.9 mile(s)
Comments: Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Rich McCracken. Effort: 9.4 mi and 1 hr 30 min by truck plus 3.5 mi and 4 hr 20 min by foot. Weather: sunny, warm, humid, and with a steady E wind; temps 83 F to 86 F; winds E at 10 mph to 15 mph; barometer 30.05 in Hg and rising. Tide was forecast 4.8 ft high at 9:25 AM. <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.3
50 species (+1 other taxa)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Wood Duck 1
Black Scoter 2 On North Beach.
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Anhinga 5
Brown Pelican 69
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret 7
Snowy Egret 24
Tricolored Heron 3
Reddish Egret 1
Green Heron 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 6
White Ibis 2
Glossy Ibis 4
Turkey Vulture 4
Clapper Rail 1
Common Gallinule 9
Black-necked Stilt 31 A fairly accurate count.
American Oystercatcher 1
Grey Plover 4
Wilson's Plover 13
Semipalmated Plover 1
Killdeer 3
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Willet 40
Lesser Yellowlegs 2 On the mud flats of Jack's Creek. Scope view.
Whimbrel 2 Scope view, heavily striped crowns.
Ruddy Turnstone 6 An accurate count.
Red Knot 10 Scope view. Medium-sized sandpiper; intermediate- length, straight bill; some showing traces of red bellies.
Sanderling 30 On North Beach running in the lapping waves; both very pale plumage and rusty-red plumage individuals observed.
Least Sandpiper 12 Scope view. Small sandpipers with yellow, muddy legs
Western Sandpiper 72 Small sandpiper, most showing bright breeding plumage, dark legs, bills showing decurved tips.
peep sp. 6 Small sandpiper at distance.
Short-billed Dowitcher 46
Laughing Gull 112
Herring Gull 1
Least Tern 52 A fairly accurate count.
Gull-billed Tern 9
Black Tern 39 A fairly accurate count.
Forster's Tern 12 In mixed flocks with other gulls and terns.
Royal Tern 46
Sandwich Tern 78 A fairly accurate count.
Black Skimmer 12
Mourning Dove 3
Marsh Wren 1
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Painted Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Boat-tailed Grackle 4
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24332809
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
