Two days' birding on Bulls tallies 99 species (or 105 species, depending on how one counts)

Wed 27 Apr 2016

The birding in Cape Romain was good earlier this week. I was fortunate enough to get out to Bulls twice in quick succession, once Sunday for the annual Charleston Spring Bird Count and once Tuesday for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey. I had terrific help from other birders each time. Felicia Sanders took her Sunday to put her boat in the water and haul six of us out to Bulls for the Spring Count. She was joined on the north section of the island by Mary Catherine Martin and Jill Midgett while Starr Hazard and Selimah Harmon joined me on the south section. We started out with a great observation of a Common Tern before even leaving the Intracoastal Waterway.

On Tuesday I was joined by Chris Snook and Greg Perry for the waterfowl/shorebird survey. Coastal Expeditions graciously squeezed us onto their nearly full ferry for a ride out to the island and back; many thanks to both Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Nick Johnson for being so accommodating.

The roads on Bulls have nearly completely dried up from the heavy rainfall over many months. We were able to easily cover roads, including Sheepshead Ridge Road and Mills Road, that I hadn't been down in many months because of the persistent standing water on the island. I've dedicated myself to never getting any of the vehicles stuck in the mud again; so far, so good on that point. Jack's Creek is about to completely dry up except for the ditches previously dug during dike construction, yet a little, very shallow water continues to attract large numbers of shorebirds. There was no plan to manipulate the water levels to attract migrating shorebirds, but the shorebirds are taking great advantage of the situation.

Notable avian sightings were many including Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Horned Grebe (all three well into alternate plumage), Northern Gannet, Least Bittern (8), Yellow-crowned Night Heron (most night herons on Bulls are of the black-crowned variety), Glossy Ibis, Piping Plover (4, none banded), Long-billed Curlew (2, my second survey record), Red Knot (uncommon on Bulls, even during peak migration), Gull-billed Tern (FOS for me), Common Tern, Merlin, and Bobolink.

Near misses include Great Blue Heron. Misses included Indigo Bunting and Swallow-tailed Kite. In specific service to the Spring Count, and with permission, we checked out the egret rookery along Mills Road well SW on the island and found it poorly used with only one Great Egret squatting on one precarious nest. This rookery was almost wing-tip to wing-tip with egrets and herons in previous years. Maybe we just caught it at the wrong time.

Non-avian sightings of interest included fox squirrel (several), a likely leatherback turtle (HUGE in the surf), bottlenose dolphin, presumptive coyote tracks in the mud in Jack's, and numerous dragonflies, damsel flies, and butterflies.

Here's my list of 99 species (and the high count from the two days) tallied from Garris Landing through Bulls for Sunday's Count plus Tuesday's survey:

Species Name	High Count
Wood Duck	3
Mottled Duck	8
Black Scoter	100
Red-breasted Merganser	1
Common Loon	1
Horned Grebe	2
Northern Gannet	6
Double-crested Cormorant	32
Anhinga	12
Brown Pelican	34
Least Bittern	8
Great Blue Heron	2
Great Egret	34
Snowy Egret	11
Little Blue Heron	4
Tricolored Heron	11
Green Heron	16
Black-crowned Night-Heron	1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron	1
White Ibis	62
Glossy Ibis	1
Black Vulture	3
Turkey Vulture	8
Osprey	2
Northern Harrier	1
Bald Eagle	1
Red-tailed Hawk	1
Clapper Rail	1
Common Gallinule	17
American Coot	10
Black-necked Stilt	7
American Oystercatcher	17
Grey Plover	11
Wilson's Plover	12
Semipalmated Plover	493
Piping Plover	4
Killdeer	1
Spotted Sandpiper	50
Greater Yellowlegs	4
Willet	30
Lesser Yellowlegs	15
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs	30
Whimbrel	28
Long-billed Curlew	2
Ruddy Turnstone	12
Red Knot	3
Sanderling	13
Dunlin	490
Least Sandpiper	105
Semipalmated Sandpiper	7
Western Sandpiper	1
Short-billed Dowitcher	370
Bonaparte's Gull	1
Laughing Gull	44
Ring-billed Gull	13
Herring Gull	8
Least Tern	10
Gull-billed Tern	18
Caspian Tern	3
Common Tern	2
Forster's Tern	48
Royal Tern	76
Sandwich Tern	5
Black Skimmer	5
Mourning Dove	8
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	3
Common Nighthawk	1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1
Belted Kingfisher	1
Red-headed Woodpecker	1
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
American Kestrel	1
Merlin	1
Great Crested Flycatcher	6
Eastern Kingbird	5
Blue Jay	4
American Crow	1
Tree Swallow	4
Barn Swallow	24
Tufted Titmouse	2
Marsh Wren	3
Carolina Wren	3
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher	1
Eastern Bluebird	2
Grey Catbird	1
Northern Mockingbird	1
Northern Parula	2
Pine Warbler	2
Yellow-throated Warbler	1
Savannah Sparrow	1
Eastern Towhee	3
Summer Tanager	2
Northern Cardinal	13
Blue Grosbeak	2
Painted Bunting	15
Bobolink	2
Red-winged Blackbird	56
Common Grackle	30
Boat-tailed Grackle	20
Orchard Oriole	4

Species added by the folks counting on the north section of Bulls for the Count:

Blue-winged Teal

Pied-billed Grebe

Reddish Egret

Red-eyed Vireo

Carolina Chickadee

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler)

for a total of 105 species recorded for these two days in Cape Romain.

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

Mon 9 May 2016 5.2 ft high tide forecast at 10:42 AM

Tues 10 May 201 5.0 ft high tide forecast at 11::37 AM

Wed 11 May 2016 4.9 ft high tide forecast at 12:34 PM

David

Stop

A shorebird spectacular in Jack's Creek.

Wed 13 Apr 2016

   David Gardner, Cortney Weatherby, and Selimah Harmon from Camp St. Christopher joined me on Monday for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls. Greg and Al from the F&WS graciously piloted us out to the island and back. The weather was terrific and the shorebirding was absolutely outstanding.

   First an update on the island. Bulls has been wet, very wet since the October 2015 rains. They've been dropping the water levels in Jack's to restart the new dike construction, but with a wet winter, a series of dike failures and near-failures, and relentless water levels in adjacent ponds, it has become a huge effort to drain Jack's. After significant and sustained efforts by the F&WS and the private wetlands construction crew, dikes seem to be in good repair, flooding water levels in adjacent ponds have been tamed a bit, and the weather has cooperated such that Jack's is now about as low as it was early last summer (May to June 2015), so low, in fact, that we were able to walk well out into Jack's to get much better scope views of all the shorebirds present on Monday.

   And what a count of shorebirds it was. We tallied over 5600 birds just in Jack's, mostly shorebirds though a few wading birds and waterfowl were present. (See our eBird checklist for the island, below.) The predominant shorebird species counted were Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Plovers. All three peep sandpiper species (Western, Semipalmated, and Least) were seen as were small numbers of other uncommon-for-Jack's species like Red Knot and Sanderling. Many of these shorebirds were well into pre-alternate molt (i.e., showing early breeding plumage) and were thus much brighter and more colorful than SC's typical shorebird basic (winter) plumage. And the shorebird migration ought to continue for several more weeks. What you must appreciate is that with more typical water levels, Jack's rarely has any shorebirds beyond a Spotted Sandpiper along the edge, a couple of Willets, and a good scattering of summer-resident Black-necked Stilts. 

   Other than in Jack's, we tallied an impressively high number of Wilson's Plovers (mostly in the oceanfront saltwater marsh at Jack's), Piping Plovers (3, including "KK" who has been on Bulls all winter), Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstone, and Sanderling. (eBird continues to rename my reports of "Black-bellied Plover" as "Grey Plover," and I don't know why; in North America they're called Black-bellied Plover whereas elsewhere they're called Grey Plover, and they are distributed along all continental coastlines excepting Antarctica.) 

   Most waterfowl appear to have left the island, but a few species continue to linger including Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Black Scoter, and small numbers of a few other ducks. It's become almost comical to watch ducks fly in, land on the water in Jack's, then immediately stand up because it is so shallow. 

   It will be interesting to watch the shorebirds during this low water event through spring shorebird migration, through the summer, and through next fall's shorebird migration. It's not the long-term or seasonal management plan to drop Jack's to expose such extensive mudflats, but the shorebirds are making the best of it right now for sure. If you like shorebirds, go to Bulls. The best option on foot from the island's dock is to walk Sheepshead Ridge Road all the way to the terminus at the observation tower. Take your spotting scope.

   Of course I'm always looking for fellow volunteers. I'm looking at the following dates for the next survey:

Mon 25 Apr 2016 4.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:23 AM

Tues 26 Apr 2016 4.5 ft high tide forecast at 11:00 AM

Wed 27 Apr 2016 4.4 ft high tide forecast at 11:41 AM

David

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

Apr 11, 2016 9:10 AM - 3:45 PM

Protocol: Traveling

12.1 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with David Gardner, Selimah Harmon, and Cortney Weatherby. Effort: 8.1 mi and 1 hr 30 min by vehicle plus 4.0 mi and 5 hr 05 min by foot. Weather: clear, sunny, and pleasant; temps 66 F to 71 F; winds ESE at 6 mph to 8 mph; 30.34 in Hg barometer falling to 30.27 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.1 ft high at 11:54 AM.  <br />Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.1.5 Build 44

76 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck  2

Wood Duck  1

Gadwall  1

American Wigeon  2

Mottled Duck  20

Blue-winged Teal  93

Northern Shoveler  3

Green-winged Teal  9     An accurate count. Scope view in Jack's Creek.

Lesser Scaup  1

Black Scoter  15     A fairly accurate count. Scope view off the North Beach.

Pied-billed Grebe  1

Double-crested Cormorant  31

Anhinga  4

Brown Pelican  2

Great Egret  40

Snowy Egret  24

Little Blue Heron  4

Tricolored Heron  10

Green Heron  1

White Ibis  25

Turkey Vulture  10

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  1     1 female

Bald Eagle  1     1 mature

Sora  2

Common Gallinule  14

American Coot  3

Black-necked Stilt  25     A fairly accurate estimate.

American Oystercatcher  3

Grey Plover  44

Wilson's Plover  22     Most in the oceanfront salt water marsh at Jack's Creek.

Semipalmated Plover  320     Estimate.

Piping Plover  3     Two were banded. I was able to fully read all bands on one PIPL: metal band upper L, black flag with white 'KK' label upper R.

Killdeer  3

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  10

Willet  18

Lesser Yellowlegs  10

Marbled Godwit  2

Ruddy Turnstone  62     A fairly accurate count.

Red Knot  2

Sanderling  105     A fairly accurate count.

Dunlin  2083     A fairly accurate estimate based upon counting all shorebirds in one scope view, multiplying by the number of scope views, then estimating percentage of total for this species.

Least Sandpiper  132     Combined count and estimate.

Semipalmated Sandpiper  20

Western Sandpiper  11

peep sp.  100     Unable to ID to species due to distance. All three likely peep species were positively IDed.

Short-billed Dowitcher  2967     A fairly accurate estimate based upon counting all shorebirds in one scope view, multiplying by the number of scope views, then estimating percentage of total for this species.

Laughing Gull  18

Ring-billed Gull  3

Herring Gull  2

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Gull-billed Tern  1

Caspian Tern  3

Forster's Tern  5

Royal Tern  10

Mourning Dove  9

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Pileated Woodpecker  1

Eastern Kingbird  2

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  3

Tree Swallow  20

Barn Swallow  8

Carolina Chickadee  10

Tufted Titmouse  7

Marsh Wren  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

Common Yellowthroat  1

Pine Warbler  1

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  1

Yellow-throated Warbler  2

Savannah Sparrow  2

Northern Cardinal  10

Red-winged Blackbird  30

Boat-tailed Grackle  40

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28921675

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