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