Zugunrhuefest and regular survey finds Reddish Egrets, many ducks, and some "common" birds of the day

Tues 20 Sept 2016

The Zugunruhefest Birding Festival, the migratory birding festival sponsored by The Center for Birds of Prey, was last weekend. By invitation from Captain Chris Crolley of Coastal Expeditions (CEX) I birded Bulls Bay and Bulls Island to help co-lead a birding trip for Zugunruhefest. If you really want to experience the best birding in Cape Romain go on a birding-specific outing with CEX and Captain Chris. We chased down Clapper Rails, Seaside Sparrows, American Oystercatchers, night herons, and many different shorebirds by boating right up to shorebird-festooned private docks, shell rakes peppered with oystercatchers, Spartina grasses hiding rails, sparrows, and herons, and slowly drifting through high tide creeks normally too shallow to motor through. We took our time getting to Bulls and then Captain Chris dropped several of us off on the North Beach for a one-way walk back to the dock. This is a great way to bird Bulls on foot because you get to the best birding locations without having to walk both out and back.

And then I got back out to Bulls today for our regular survey. CEX's Captain Wil Christenson and Pat Campbell joined me for today's survey. A summary eBird checklist covering the 70 species from both the Zugunruhefest and today's regular survey is appended below, FYI. Though the tide was particularly high this morning the birding was somewhat slower than usual with just 34 species on the survey proper, 53 species on the island, and 57 species on the day. On Friday's Zugunruhefest ferry ride we tallied 34 species compared to today's regular ferry ride with 25 species showing the value of specific birding efforts between docks compared to a regular ferry ride. If you want the best birding in Cape Romain go birding with CEX, but I've already said that.

Avian species of note included a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (2 parents plus 9 duckling juveniles), many Mallards, many Mottled Ducks, many Blue-winged Teal, many Brown Pelicans, many Reddish Egrets, many American Oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, Marbled Gowit, Red Knot, Great Black-backed Gull, Merlin, Seaside Sparrow, and Orchard Oriole. The best birds on today's survey were paradoxically common species, specifically Common Tern and Common Ground-Dove. 

Non-avian wildlife included estuarine and oceanic pods of Atlantic bottle-nose dolphins (including a very young one), numerous butterflies (particularly Gulf fritillaries), a brief look at what we concluded was a coyote (larger than a bobcat, distinctly long and bushy tail), American alligators (no surprises there), and enough mosquitoes today to drive one to distraction. 

On the ferry ride back to Garris today a couple from Wisconsin spending the first day of their Lowcountry vacation on Bulls Island asked why Night Herons (Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned) were named "night." I had to research this and discovered that night herons are primarily known to be active, specifically feeding, at night. I've rarely had trouble finding them in daylight, but now I think I'll have to go out looking for them some evening.

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

Tues 4 Oct 2016 5.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:33 AM

Wed 5 Oct 2016 5.4 ft high tide forecast at 11:10 AM

Thurs 6 Oct 2016 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 11:50 AM

David

eBird Checklist Summary for: Sep 16, 2016, 07:00 to Sep 20, 2016, 17:09

Number of Checklists: 4

Number of Taxa: 70

Checklists included in this summary:

(1): Bull's Island Ferry

Date: Sep 16, 2016, 07:47

(2): Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island

Date: Sep 16, 2016, 10:25

(3): Bull's Island Ferry

Date: Sep 20, 2016, 08:51

(4): Cape Romain NWR--Bulls Island

Date: Sep 20, 2016, 09:38

12 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck -- (2),(4)

10 Mallard -- (2)

211 Mottled Duck -- (2),(4)

74 Blue-winged Teal -- (2),(4)

10 Pied-billed Grebe -- (4)

4 Wood Stork -- (1),(3),(4)

11 Double-crested Cormorant -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

1 Anhinga -- (4)

191 Brown Pelican -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

10 Great Blue Heron -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

47 Great Egret -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

39 Snowy Egret -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

3 Little Blue Heron -- (2),(3),(4)

12 Tricolored Heron -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

13 Reddish Egret -- (2),(4)

9 Green Heron -- (1),(4)

1 Black-crowned Night-Heron -- (1)

3 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron -- (1),(3),(4)

9 White Ibis -- (1),(3),(4)

15 Turkey Vulture -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

11 Osprey -- (1),(2),(4)

1 Cooper's Hawk -- (2)

1 Bald Eagle -- (4)

3 Red-shouldered Hawk -- (2),(4)

16 Clapper Rail -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

53 Common Gallinule -- (2),(4)

117 American Oystercatcher -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

37 Black-bellied Plover -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

99 Semipalmated Plover -- (1),(2),(4)

3 Piping Plover -- (2)

12 Marbled Godwit -- (1),(3)

17 Ruddy Turnstone -- (1),(2),(4)

3 Red Knot -- (2)

70 Sanderling -- (2),(4)

1 Least Sandpiper -- (4)

20 Semipalmated Sandpiper -- (1)

418 Short-billed Dowitcher -- (1),(3)

7 Spotted Sandpiper -- (1),(3),(4)

6 Greater Yellowlegs -- (4)

122 Willet -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

2 Lesser Yellowlegs -- (1)

359 Laughing Gull -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

1 Herring Gull -- (4)

3 Great Black-backed Gull -- (2),(4)

13 Caspian Tern -- (2),(4)

1 Common Tern -- (4)

12 Forster's Tern -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

694 Royal Tern -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

53 Sandwich Tern -- (1),(2),(4)

149 Black Skimmer -- (2),(4)

1 Common Ground-Dove -- (4)

1 Mourning Dove -- (2)

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird -- (4)

6 Belted Kingfisher -- (2),(4)

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker -- (2)

1 Merlin -- (3)

8 Eastern Kingbird -- (2),(4)

1 Blue Jay -- (2)

6 Barn Swallow -- (1),(2)

1 Carolina Wren -- (2)

8 Northern Mockingbird -- (1),(2),(4)

3 Common Yellowthroat -- (1),(2),(4)

1 American Redstart -- (4)

1 Yellow-throated Warbler -- (4)

1 Prairie Warbler -- (2)

10 Seaside Sparrow -- (1),(3),(4)

8 Northern Cardinal -- (2),(4)

32 Red-winged Blackbird -- (1),(2),(3)

27 Boat-tailed Grackle -- (1),(2),(3),(4)

1 Orchard Oriole -- (4)

This trip summary was created using the eBird app for iPhone and iPad.

See eBird for more information.