Many waterfowl tallied in Jack's Creek and Upper Summerhouse Pond

 Th 25 Nov 2021

In recent weeks the waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds have been present in good (slightly early?) numbers on Bulls Island, Cape Romain NWR, Charleston Co, SC. Yesterday, Wednesday, on my recurring survey there were so many birds that my survey took much longer to complete because THERE WERE TOO MANY BIRDS TO COUNT! I ended up having to make more rough estimates of numbers, including making several WAGs (wild ass guesses), just so that I could safely boat back to Garris Landing before sunset. The Refuge manager is of the opinion that the waterfowl numbers are the best she's seen in 15 years; without having looked at my data, I may be in full agreement with that assessment.

Most of the waterfowl, as usual, are in Jack's Creek with perhaps half or more being American Coots (conservatively numbering over 2000 yesterday). But the water level in Upper Summerhouse Pond (USP) is down leaving many muddy/sandy shoulders and islands around the Pond that have attracted many ducks, wading birds, and even shorebirds (very uncommonly seen at all in USP because the water is usually higher).

Highlights of recent sightings included Canvasback (1), Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Pintail, Roseate Spoonbills, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Piping Plovers, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, American White Pelicans, and American Black Ducks (3). Also tallied were many of the more usual species including Gadwall, American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, and Blue-winged Teal. Interestingly there are very few Lesser Scaup (LESC) tallied recently; normally LESC are fairly abundant in Jack's Creek through the winter months.

A pair of Bald Eagles has returned and occupied a nest; yesterday one was sitting deep down in the nest strongly suggesting either egg laying or egg incubation. Its mate was perched immediately adjacent to the nest. I take that as a good omen for this pair.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and good birding!

David 

Overnight survey was a privilege producing a life list species, a trifecta...oh, and shorebirds

Fri 18 May 2018

Due to scheduling conflicts I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to conduct a waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls during the current high tides. Thanks to the suggestion from my wife (thanks Nan!) I requested permission to spend Tuesday night in the Dominick House to be on site for Wednesday’s earlier forecast high tide, i.e., earlier than typical for my ongoing survey efforts. It all worked so well that I’ll be making similar requests for overnights more often. 

I didn’t depart from Garris Landing until after 4:00 PM Tuesday after seeing the Coastal Expeditions ferry passengers disembark back at Garris Landing. The only thing hurrying me along for that boat ride out was seeing a heavy cloudburst a few miles south of my location, and I didn’t see that until I was about half-way to Bulls. Once safe and dry on the island I took an evening bird walk around the picnic grounds, out Beach Road and Lighthouse Road then back by Big Pond Road and Sheepshead Ridge Road. Somehow one specific bird high up in a tree caught my eye. I had never seen a Rose-breasted Grosbeak before but knew instantly that that was what I was looking at. Chalk up another life list species for me from Bulls!

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

I had planned to walk until dark so that I could listen for Chuck-will’s-widows (CWWIs) at and after sunset. Turned out that I had enough time after my walk to drive up to the main shorebird high tide roost, specifically the oceanfront saltwater marsh at Jack’s Creek, to see what was there. I had a half hour on station as the sun set and as the high tide peaked almost simultaneously. I tallied 17 species there including over 500 Red Knots. 

Driving back along Lighthouse Road in the dark I heard my first Chuck. Almost immediately after that the truck headlights picked up an unusual, at least to me, reflection from the roadway ahead, so I stopped. It was so brightly reflective in the dark, and at such a great distance, that I first thought it might be some forgotten artificial reflector as used along roadways to mark ditches and driveways. It had this weird orange to yellow-orange color and was right down on the road. Then it blinked at me, several times. I was able to drive much closer before flushing a Chuck-will’s-widow from the roadway. Then in about another hundred meters I saw another one just like the first. Very cool to see those eye reflections.

But I wasn’t finished with Chuck-will’s-widows. Wednesday morning in bright daylight as I walked off the North Beach I flushed a Chuck-will’s-widow from the roadway. It flew a very short distance, landed on the ground again, and started doing a little hooded wing flutter behavior. I ended up with killer spotting scope views and several digiscope pictures of a Chuck both on the ground and on a tree limb. My best view ever of a CWWI. I’ll call that a trifecta: heard calling (several times), reflective eyes, and posing in full daylight!

Chuck-will's-widow

Another of the nightjar species, a male Common Nighthawk, also entertained me with both its peent vocalizations and its wing “booms” made at the bottom of its steep courtship dives. In fact I was beginning to think that this particular bird had taken exception to my presence as it appeared to dive directly above me three or four times in quick succession, “booming” its flight feathers on its wings as if to drive me off. A memorable interaction.

I also studied a pelagic bird at distance over Bulls Bay through my spotting scope. I’ve not yet identified this bird, but it initially reminded me of a Northern Gannet (by approximate size, shape, location, and behavior). It had a big, longish, non-forked tail; long, pointy wings; light ventral plumage; and dark dorsal plumage. It appeared to hold its head well out in front (straight out), slightly down (loon-like), and with a fairly pointy bill shape. It was larger and leaner than a gull. If anyone has a suggestion on a possible ID I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Not to be outdone by these great birds, the shorebirds were resting in good number at the oceanfront saltwater marsh at Jack’s at both Tuesday evening’s high tide, as related above, and again during Wednesday morning’s high tide. Red Knots, Dunlin, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Short-billed Dowitchers were present in high numbers, almost all showing full alternate (breeding) plumage. 

Other observations from this great overnight birding outing included the obvious absence of horseshoe crabs (at least on the North Beach where I’ve seen many in prior Mays). I saw two black racers (snakes), raccoons, two deer, several fox squirrels, Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, butterflies, deer flies, dragonflies, and American alligators (all but one staying in the water; the one out sunning was actually gaping its mouth perhaps attempting to keep cool). 

A dragonfly, perhaps a female Four-spotted Pennant, on my tripod

Unfortunately Upper Summerhouse Pond is heavily stressed showing an off color, many jumping fish, and a big fish kill; I don’t know the source of this stress (the pond is really shallow and should easily turn over in the winds thus keeping the aeration sufficient), but something has hurt it, badly.

Even though there were distant cloud banks at Tuesday’s sunset, I was able to see both Jupiter rising in the eastern sky and Venus setting just behind the sun in the west. Jupiter was so bright that I first mistook it for Venus. It occurred to me Tuesday night that I was very likely the most geographically isolated person in Charleston County, likely further afield. The solitude and rest was the opposite of isolation, rather I felt relaxed, comfortable, and immensely fortunate to be able to have the island, and likely the entire Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, to myself. 

My daughter, Ann, and I recently helped Mary Catherine Martin (SCDNR) in posting beach closings on the southern end of Lighthouse Island in the northern reaches of the Cape Romain NWR. It is a disappointing reality that any areas within a National Wildlife Refuge need to be closed to protect the wildlife, but this is the reality. Similar closings have been made on many other coastal beaches, banks, and sand bars both developed and undeveloped, along S.C.’s coast. Audubon S.C. continues its shorebird stewardship program to educate people on avian conservation efforts. The simple message is for people to share the beaches with the shorebirds. It’s shorebird nesting time, and the shorebirds need simply to be left alone. Do go out to see the shorebirds, study and observe them from a distance, but keep both people and dogs away from posted closings. It’s the shorebirds’ home, and it’s likely a life-or-death interaction for the specific birds nesting right there on the sand. Give the birds this simple respect of leaving them alone and, thus, give them their best change of living and reproducing. Then there will be more birds to see and enjoy!

David

Tufted Duck still present in Jack's Creek, but many ducks have apparently already left

F 23 Feb 2018

We had a special two day, overnight survey on Bulls this past Monday and Tuesday, 19 to 20 Mar 2018. John Cox and Kent Bedenbaugh were able to join me for what is always a more relaxed and enjoyable survey effort capped off by an overnight stay in the Dominick House on Bulls. We weren’t the only birders on the island though as the house was full of shorebird researchers, a couple of whom are staying in the house from January through April and about a dozen of whom were there for a few days and nights attempting to net and band shorebirds. John, Kent, and I watched the sun set across the marsh (John and Kent both saw the green flash through their binoculars, I missed seeing it without my binoculars) then we watched the sun rise over the Boneyard Beach the next morning. Over the two day survey we tallied 80 species of birds.

The Tufted Duck (TUDU) has been seen by several other birders and is being listed on eBird checklists as a “continuing bird at this location.” We were fortunate enough to see the TUDU from three different vantage points around Jack’s Creek: from the Old Fort, from the elbow of the emergency dike oceanfront at Jack’s, and from the Observation Deck at the terminus of Sheepshead Ridge Road. Each time the TUDU was easily located floating, apparently contentedly, with Ruddy Ducks and an occasional Lesser Scaup. Scopes were needed to confirm the duck’s identity, but we could easily see the TUDU with binoculars as being different from the other ducks. Most of the Lesser Scaup that the TUDU was associated with when we originally located it appear to be gone. Seems somewhat early for waterfowl migration, at least according to the calendar, but this is why we tally the birds in the first place. I’ve begun looking at the big picture of six years of survey data and will next look at waterfowl in Jack’s trying to get a specific handle on spring migration dates. I’m hoping that the TUDU will hang out in Jack’s until the next survey.

I was pleased to get a fair look at the shorebirds for the first time this winter. Having missed several survey dates in both December and January, and then being distracted by the Tufted Duck in early February, I’ve missed shorebird surveying opportunities since November. I was disappointed to find absolutely no shorebirds on the North Beach on Monday. We did see a few Black Scoters and Northern Gannets in the waters off the beach plus numerous gulls, terns, and pelicans on Bird Key Bulls Bay (the sand bar in Bulls Bay off the North Beach), but nothing at all on the sands of the North Beach itself. I believe that this is the first time in my survey efforts that the North Beach had no shorebirds of any species or number. It’s not the high tide shorebird roost that it used to be. The beach itself appears to recovering nicely from the effects of Hurricanes Matthew and Irma offering good shelling, slowly growing dunes and vegetation, and its usual constant shoreline flux.

There were fair numbers of shorebirds, however, in the oceanfront saltwater marsh at Jack’s. The shorebird researchers, about a dozen of them, were on site in that marsh setting up drop nets trying to net some of the shorebirds. Fortunately we were able to survey the shorebirds present before they were ready to drop their net. I don’t think that we interfered with their effort nor do I feel that they interfered with our effort. We did tally two Piping Plovers, both banded birds that we’ve seen on Bulls before, and a Wilson’s Plover along with the expected Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers. Unfortunately for the banders the birds didn’t cooperate; the birds didn’t walk under the net set, refused to be corralled towards the net, and ultimately flew off to the beaches as the tides were dropping thus exposing apparently good feeding grounds. 

On Tuesday morning, after watching the sun rise over the Boneyard Beach and after looking, unsuccessfully, for the TUDU again in Jack’s (from the Observation Deck), we spent about an hour birding the grounds around the Dominick House, one of my favorite birding locations. In that hour we tallied 26 species including a White-eyed Vireo. The highlight of Tuesday’s survey was a large, loose raft of Black Scoter off the front beach (though not in the defined survey area proper). Both Upper Summerhouse Pond and Lower Summerhouse Pond were slow birding, so we spent much of that time looking at all the American alligators hauled out enjoying the warm February day.

David

A rare Eurasian visitor to Bulls: Tufted Duck

Sun 4 Dec 2018

Bulls Island is a special place, even among the many wonderful natural settings along the S.C. coast. Last June Bulls hosted a (likely), first S.C. record Black-whiskered Vireo (BWVI). That Floridian and Caribbean specialist species, closely related to our summer resident Red-eyed Vireo, found something of value on Bulls. I wrote about that BWVI on an earlier post to this blog dated 14 June 2017. Once again Bulls has produced another (possible) first state record sighting, this time of of a Tufted Duck (TUDU). This abundant species is normally distributed throughout Europe, Northern Africa, northern Asia, and Southeast Asia but is a known rare visitor to North America, usually along the western coast from Alaska south to California. It is listed as a rare to very rare visitor to the eastern coast of North America, but that status was sufficient that it even got included on the artist’s plate of bay ducks of my trusty 1980 Peterson [east] Guide.

David Youngblood joined me last Friday for our ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls Island. We had just arrived at the Old Fort on the bay side of Jack’s Creek, our first stop on the survey, and were scoping ducks that were out on the open water of Jack’s. We started scoping from the roadway where we were partially hidden from the birds and before we walked out to the open edge of Jack’s; we wanted to see what we could before possibly flushing the ducks as we walked out. From that location, and mostly looking into the sun on a brightly overcast morning, we started calling out duck species including Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe (okay, they’re not a duck proper, but they are “ducky”), Gadwall, and Ring-necked Duck (RNDU). RNDU are not common on Bulls so I was trying to get a positive view for identification. That RNDU call turned out to be premature.

My eye kept being drawn back to one floating duck with a bright white flank. The more I looked at that clean white side the more the duck’s very dark, even black, back drew my attention. After a very quick mental accounting I couldn’t recall any expected duck species with such a sharp contrast between a dark back (what duck has a black back, I kept thinking to myself) and a bright white side? About that time I focused on the duck’s head that it was keeping tucked between its wings and noticed an obvious feather tuft being blown around in the wind. I’d never seen any duck with a tuft on its head, but I did recall seeing such a species in a field guide. Couldn’t be, I thought as a hustled back for my paper field guides. But there it was in my Peterson Guide, a Tufted Duck. 

Exciting prospect, indeed. Quick, take photos! Study through the scope. All seems right for a Tufted Duck. Move closer but still partially hidden then repeat photos and scope study. Convinced. What else could it be? Just how many ducks are there with dark head and neck, dark back, dark butt, and a strikingly-contrasting bright white flank, yellow eye, and showing a distinct feather tuft on its head? We finally moved fully out to the edge and as close to the flotilla of ducks as we could get. David Youngblood took many photos and videos and I took what I hoped would be documentary digiscope images with my iPhone camera. 

Boy, we’ve gotta tell someone about this! Just then Sarah Dawsey, Cape Romain NWR Refuge Manager, pulled up to the Old Fort with a couple of alligator sleuths and began unloading a jon boat. I ran over and eagerly motioned for them to come see this rare duck that we were watching. What better confirmation of our finding than by the Refuge Manager! They were gracious and respectful of our sighting, but David and I were wearing ourselves out with excitement! [Their alligator story was also compelling. Seems there had been a recent die off of American alligators across the island. They were there to haul out and necropsy those gators. Five of the 8 gators had stomachs full of ducks. This was largely an unexpected observation as it’s generally thought that alligators don’t eat much during the cold of winter; they need warmth from the sun to properly aid in digestion. Though David and I saw many, many alligators out warming in the overcast sun on Friday, they’re still trying to figure out possible causes of this particular alligator die off.]

We were absolutely convinced that we were watching a Tufted Duck. Here’s the description that I wrote for our eBird checklist (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42446245): “Scaup-sized, dark head showing distinct tuft, dark back, dark butt, bright white sides below folded wings. Dark throat and upper breast ends sharply to a bright white lower breast. Yellow eye. Bright white sides contrasts very sharply and with razor-sharp borders to the dark head/back/butt. Tuft seen clearly on bird resting with bill tucked between wings and when holding head up alertly.”

Photo by David Youngblood.

Photo by David Youngblood.

In all we spent more than 2 hours watching, studying, photographing, and videoing this one duck. Unfortunately that meant that we had really missed the morning’s high tide that pushes the shorebirds to high tide roosts. So we missed almost all the shorebirds for the day, but the consolation was a rare Eurasian Tufted Duck, possibly a first state record. David has graciously shared this link to his Flickr page where many of the photos and several of his videos are available for viewing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/55533409@N08/ 

I was back on Bulls Island yesterday, Saturday 3 Feb 2018, leading a field trip for the Charleston Natural History Society. Coastal Expeditions and Captain Chris Crolley dropped us off on the North Beach from where we walked to the Old Fort on Jack’s to look for the Tufted Duck. Along with a few other birders chasing the Tufted Duck that morning we had several scopes searching among a flotilla of 1600 Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Ducks, but failed to relocate the Tufted Duck. Given that collective effort, I’m confident that we had a better than even chance of spotting the TUDU had it been there in that raft. Our consolation for the day’s field trip was a tally of 84 species on the day including Northern Pintail, American Black Duck, Mallard (not at all common on Bulls), Ring-necked Duck, Bald Eagle, several passerine species (that I mostly don’t see on my surveys because I’m usually looking out onto the water), and very few shorebirds (we skipped looking for shorebirds to look instead at ducks).

Our next survey on Bulls will be a special 2-day overnight survey on Mon 19 Feb 2018 to Tues 20 Feb 2018. Anyone want to stay overnight in the Dominick House? Hopefully the Tufted Duck will hang out until then.

David

P.S. I’ve come to understand that there is an ongoing discussion about our Tufted Duck ID on the ABA Rare Bird Alert Facebook page. A suggestion has been made that this specific duck may in fact be a hybrid individual between a Tufted Duck and a Ring-necked Duck. We are also awaiting confirmation from the eBird reviewers. We’ll soon submit a report to the S.C. state bird records committee but don’t expect a decision from them for several months.

Ducks, ducks, and more ducks.

Mon 15 Jan 2018

It’s been tough getting out to Bulls Island for the past couple of months. Multiple conflicts, including archery hunts for deer, holiday schedules, and temperatures so low that outboard motors froze, have kept me off of the island. Fortunately I was able to assist with the annual mid-winter Bald Eagle survey last Friday and that got me out to the island. 

One route, of many, for the mid-winter Bald Eagle survey covers the boat ride out to Bulls and the territory of Bulls Island itself. David Youngblood and Dan Hoke joined me for the day. This one survey route, specifically on Bulls, includes a waterfowl survey that serves as the mid-winter waterfowl survey for the island. With a late morning low tide allowing the shorebirds to disperse into their feeding grounds, it was less than ideal timing for shorebirds, but that was OK because I was back on the island.

A good friend of mine is fond of saying that any day you see a Bald Eagle is a good day’s birding. (Thanks, Starr. That’s good advice that I am fond of sharing.) With that in mind, our day’s birding got off to a terrific start as one of our first birds was a mature Bald Eagle perched atop a navigation marker. That ended up being our one Bald Eagle sighting on the day; another survey team surveying up the ICWW from Garris Landing to the Cape Romain Lighthouse on the same day made up for our low count by tallying 16 Bald Eagles on the day. 

Our next best birds of the day flew past our boat on the back side of Bulls. Six ducks flushed ahead of our boat, flew away before circling back by our boat then disappearing across the marsh. Through rain-spotted and fogged optics we identified six Long-tailed Ducks! David Youngblood was able to take a series of photographs through the rain and at distance (one is presented here with David’s permission). See all of David’s photos on our eBird checklist at: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41882402.

Photo by David Youngblood.

Our third best bird for the day was the last species that we tallied for the day. Floating in a mixed flock of ducks on Jack’s Creek near the Old Fort was one Canvasback! I tallied a pair of Canvasbacks on my last Bulls survey (24 Nov 2017); perhaps Canvasbacks may be spending the winter on Bulls. I recall Canvasbacks as being fairly numerous along the S.C. coast back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, especially at Huntington Beach State Park, but have found this species to be rarely seen along this coast since. 

So our mid-winter Bald Eagle and waterfowl survey on Bulls was bookended by really great sightings. For the meat of that survey sandwich we were left to identify and count thousands of ducks, mostly on Jack’s Creek. High numbers of Gadwall, American Wigeon, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, and American Coot were accompanied by other good waterfowl species including Northern Shoveler, Mallard (not common at all on Bulls), Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Pied-billed Grebe. We had a scattering of Blue-winged Teal but no Green-winged Teal. (I found 1200 Green-winged Teal on Saturday’s Charleston Natural History Society annual field trip up to Santee NWR’s Bluff Unit; maybe that’s where they’ve all been hiding out.) 

I will be leading a field trip for the Charleston Natural History Society, a.k.a. Charleston Audubon, out to Bulls Island on Sat 3 Feb 2018. We’ll be taking the Coastal Expeditions (CEX) Ferry Caretta departing Garris Landing at 7:30 AM; they will drop us off and pick us up on the North Beach thus allowing us to bird the best shorebird habitat and waterfowl habitat that Bulls offers while minimizing our hiking distance on the island. Please join us for this field trip to see some of the wonderful waterfowl and shorebird numbers present on Bulls. Book your seat through CEX’s online booking site: https://bookeo.com/coastalexpeditions. 

David

Eclipse watch of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, banded Piping Plovers and Reddish Egret white morph continues on Bulls.

Sun 27 Aug 2017

For last Monday’s total solar eclipse watch, I really wanted to watch for animal behavioral changes during the eclipse. After many plans, alternate plans, modified plans, and final plans, my wife joined me at the intersection of I’on Swamp Road and Willow Hall Road, both gravel Forest Service roads in the Francis Marion National Forest and home to a known Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCWO) colony. RCWOs take years to excavate a cavity in a living tree (living wood is much harder than dead wood favored by all other woodpeckers) and live as an extended family unit and permanent residents in several nearby cavities. During daylight RCWOs will forage widely through the forest and are known to return to their family colony cavities just prior to sunset for roosting. It was this “return to roost” behavior that I had hoped to observe during the eclipse. 

A scouting trip to this longleaf pine forest location on Friday 11 Aug 2017 in the couple of hours preceding sunset confirmed the presence of RCWOs at the intersection, but I did not observe a specific “return to roost” behavior associated with sunset on that day. Unfortunately during the eclipse watch I did not tally any RCWOs at all. Both the scouting trip and the eclipse watch were relatively quiet bird wise. There are many possible reasons why the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers didn’t return to roost at either sunset or eclipse. Sunset is a much more prolonged and gradual event than a total solar eclipse. As a matter of fact, I was very surprised by the marginal loss of light intensity during partial eclipse and the very rapid change of light intensity as totality began and ended. (Rather than light diminution during the partial eclipse I perceived instead a subtle change of light quality; just prior to totality colors seemed muted but perceived light intensity remained relatively high as measured with a handheld light meter.) 

As eclipse totality began, sunlight intensity decreased so rapidly that I briefly wished for a flashlight with which to write notes on my clipboard. Once my eyes quickly accommodated during totality, I was able to enjoy seeing the eclipse through binoculars, a planet that became clearly visible high in the SSE sky, spots of solar flares, and the beads along the edge of the moon signaling the end of totality. But no Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. A negative result, but a result. 

One modest animal behavior that we witnessed, however, related to the palamedes swallowtails that were at our forest location. Several palamedes swallowtails were standing on the gravel roadway in a tight formation; they were vibrating their wings, not really fluttering their wings so much as vibrating wings, bodies, and legs. During eclipse totality all the palamedes swallowtails left the roadway flying off into the woods. Sixteen minutes after totality ended, the first palamedes swallowtails returned and by 22 minutes after totality were once again standing in formation on the roadway. A second animal behavior was the multitude of frogs in the forest that began calling during totality, having been quiet during full daylight and partial eclipse, but calling ceased within 4 minutes after totality ended. 

I caught the CEX ferry out to Bulls Island last Thursday 24 Aug 2017 for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey. I hadn’t been on the ferry for some months, but Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Nick Johnson graciously ferried me out at the last minute. We were able to share brief stories about Monday’s total solar eclipse experiences and wonder whether the Spartina alterniflora (salt marsh cordgrass) was producing seedheads early. 

Water levels in the impoundments on Bulls remain high (full but not overflowing). Sea oats are growing great on the North Beach, the inlet from the oceanfront saltwater marsh (at Jack’s) has been closed off (silted in) leaving relatively high saltwater levels in that marsh, and the beaches continue to be resculpted by the winds and waves. Fall shorebird migration continues and some summer resident birds appear to have left. 

There were four banded Piping Plovers (PIPL), plus two unbanded, on the North Beach including three that have been tallied on Bulls before. Of particular note was the PIPL banded as: Of,YG:X,O (Orange flag upper L, Yellow over Green lower L: metal upper R, Orange band lower R), also fondly known to her banders as Bahama Mama, so named because she spends her winters in the Bahamas. Interestingly this is the third consecutive migratory season when she has used Bulls Island as a migratory stopover spot. I hope that Bahama Mama will continue to use Bulls during migration; it is fascinating to understand how Bulls Island is so important as both wintering grounds and migratory stopover for Piping Plovers.

Of,YG:X,O, a.k.a., Bahama Mama

There was another white morph Reddish Egret (REEG), presumably the same seen during the last survey (see previous blog posting, below, for picture) and this time it had a red morph REEG friend hanging out in the same location. Misses on this survey included Least Bittern, White Ibis, Western Sandpiper, and Black-necked Stilt.

David

P.S. I was unable to conduct a survey in early Sept as everyone was in hurricane prep mode prior to hurricane Irma. I do have a report on Bulls to share from the Coastal Expeditions web site:

http://coastalexpeditions.com/bulls-island-post-irma/

Piping Plovers, a rare white morph Reddish Egret, Least Bittern juveniles, and yellow-flowered water-lily

Wed 16 Aug 2017

Early fall shorebird migration continues on Bulls Island over the last two waterfowl/shorebird surveys while many summer resident gulls, terns, and shorebirds remain. On the Wed 26 July 2017 survey the heavens opened up dumping 2.70 inches of rain on the island, most of it in about 45 minutes. Fortunate timing for me, I walked off of the North Beach with the leading edge of the rain and into the protected environs of a pickup truck. Then the rains, thunder, and lightening really came down hard and fast. Safe enough, I merely ate lunch and occasionally peaked at the shorebirds resolutely hunkered down in the oceanfront saltwater marsh at Jack’s Creek; having no where to go, they seemed simply to endure. After that deluge there was merely light rain on and off for the rest of the day. The Fri 11 Aug 2017 survey offered a more typical hot and humid weather pattern and was, thus, much less remarkable on that story line.

Summer resident species including Black-necked Stilt, Black Tern, Least Tern, and Least Bittern continue in high numbers. I was able to take a passable photograph of the first juvenile Least Bitterns that I recall having ever seen. Can you see two juveniles in the first photograph? There’s a hint at the end if you need help.

juvenile Least Bitterns

mature Least Bittern 

Other species of note included American Avocet (5, all already showing paler basic plumage), Marbled Godwit, Great Black-backed Gull, and Common Tern. Returning migrant species included both Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Western Sandpipers and Semipalmated Sandpipers. 

On both surveys I tallied Piping Plovers (PIPL), at least two of which were banded. On the 26 July survey all four PIPL flew before I could read any bands, but on the 11 Aug survey I was able to read bands on two and have submitted a report back to the banders. Dr. Peter Paton (Dept. of Natural Resources Science, Univ. of Rhode Island) writes back that one PIPL (banded with a green flag bearing “T2K” code): “T2K is a male banded on 19 May 2017 at Napatree RI.” I bumped into Melissa Bimbi Chaplin on the North Beach while she was multitasking on nesting turtle patrol, seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) (there are North Beach dune plantings of this federally threatened species that she was checking on), and shorebirds. Melissa had been seeing these same banded PIPLs for about three weeks on Bulls, but we don’t yet know if Bulls is merely a migrant stop-over site or will become the main residence of these specific birds. 

Reddish Egrets (REEG) have also been back in their usual location at the oceanfront marsh at Jack’s. I tallied an immature juvenile REEG on 26 July but was really surprised by a rare white morph Reddish Egret on 11 Aug. This white egret first caught my eye because it was “dancing” for its food; I’ve seen other egrets and herons do fair imitations of the typical REEG “dance,” so I was thinking that this was just a Snowy Egret that had learned the dance from a Reddish Egret. When I finally got around to scoping this obvious bird out of hundreds of other birds at the same marsh, I immediately knew that it was neither a Snowy Egret (wrong leg color and bill color) nor an immature Little Blue Heron (again wrong leg color and bill color). A quick check of my field guide confirmed: Reddish Egret, white morph. 

Reddish Egret, white morph

Keith Bradley was doing a botanical survey on Bulls for the refuge and rode out and back with me on the 26 July survey. He, too, was fortunate to have a truck as a retreat from the day’s deluge. He was pleased to see the abundance of yellow-flowered water-lilies to be found in Lower Summerhouse Pond. However, rather than being the common and widely dispersed fragrant water-lily (or sweet water-lily, Nymphaea odorata, typically bearing white or, more rarely, pink flowers and seen in great abundance at Donnelley WMA, for example), these yellow-flowered water-lilies were an entirely different and far rarer species, Nymphaea mexicana. Restricted primarily to the immediate coast from N.C. down and around to Mississippi, this species is probably introduced. (Radford, Ahles, and Bell. 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, UNC Press.) Bulls Island is always producing rarities it seems.

water-lily, Nymphaea mexicana

My eBird checklists for the two outings are available at:

https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S38574075

https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S38660880

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

Thurs 24 Aug 2017 5.6 ft high tide forecast at 10:30 AM

Fri 25 Aug 2017 5.5 ft high tide forecast at 11:17 AM

David

Hint: Can’t find the second juvenile Least Bittern? Look just above and behind the first, out-in-the-open bird for the head and neck of a second in profile facing right.

A hot day on the island for fall migration to begin

Fri 14 July 2017

And just like that summer is over and fall begins. On my last posting I recounted the arrival of summer with the full-on summertime green in the Spartina alterniflora saltmarsh grasses. On Wednesday's waterfowl/shorebird survey I saw early fall Western Sandpiper migrants. Last year I reported Western Sandpipers (50) and a banded Piping Plover from the 8 July 2016 survey, so there may be a developing consistency of early migration dates.

Rob Dillon and Madison Stelljes joined me for Wednesday's waterfowl/shorebird survey. Rob is a freshwater malacologist so enjoyed wading into several of the impoundments looking for freshwater snails. Rob "looks down" for snails and says that I "look up" for birds; he's fond of classifying things whether species or behavior. Nonetheless he did point out, without using binoculars, the one Marbled Godwit that we found on the day and numerous other birds. Rob also has recently posted on his blog (http://fwgna.blogspot.com/) a fascinating account of numerous freshwater snails found among the breast feathers of an Indigo Bunting; scroll down to the Friday 26 May 2017 posting to read about this unexpected snail/bird connection. Madison joined me on the 13 June 2017 survey and apparently enjoyed it enough that she came back for more. Her birding skills have improved greatly over the past month.  My thanks to both for their help with the survey.

 

Beyond the early Western Sandpiper migrants we also tallied other birds of interest including high counts of Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, and Spotted Sandpipers as well as Black Scoter, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a juvenile Reddish Egret, and a Common Nighthawk. We had many fewer Least Terns than on recent surveys and no Mottled Ducks. Our eBird checklist for the island is at: https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S38127403. We tallied 18 species on the boat ride, 55 species on the island, and 58 species on the day's outing.

We also had a few non-avian sightings including fox squirrels, Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, butterflies, damselflies, deer flies, and one horse fly. The North Beach dune line continues to grow (the sea oats are growing gangbusters!), and the construction crew is installing new culvert pipes beneath the new dike.

It was a hot and humid day on the island, but the real heat came from a fire burning off of Alligator Alley close to Old Fort Road. Trisha Midgett, the volunteer coordinator for the Cape Romain NWR, was leading a group of orphaned boys around the island, smelled and saw smoke, and called me to track down the location of the fire. (Trisha and her group made their discovery just as they were leaving the island so had no time to locate it specifically.) In almost no time at all the maintenance crew, including the refuge manager, had bulldozed a fire line around the small fire (about the footprint of small house) and was preparing a tank of water to douse the flames and quench the embers. A lightening strike is presumed to have been the cause; fortunately the resulting fire was low, slow, and smoldering rather than fast and ravenous. Good recent rainfall also has kept the island rather moist, so that helped also.

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

Tues 25 July 2017 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:06 AM

Wed 26 July 2017 5.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:59 AM

Thurs 27 July 2017 5.2 ft high tide forecast at 11:51 AM

David

Summer is here

Th 29 June 2017

Summer has finally and fully arrived at the Cape Romain NWR. You can tell either by the calendar, as I am fond of remembering the solstices and equinoxes, or by the Spartina alterniflora (saltmarsh cordgrass) that never seems to fully green up until very late June. Well, the grasses are finally and fully green, and the transformation of the marsh vista is equally subtle and fantastic. For months I've been watching the Spartina grow greener as the brown tips fade slowly. Summer is here.

And the birding wasn't too bad either. Summer is "supposed" to be the slow time for birding, but that really doesn't seem to be reflected much in the species count that I had on the day: 18 species on the boat ride, 55 species on the island, and 57 species on the day. Not too bad for the "slow" time of the year. There were several highlights including my FOY Reddish Egret, Common Terns, Wood Stork, Whimbrel, and Black Scoter. There were also fairly high counts of Least Terns and Black Terns (LETE were nesting on Bulls in May, BLTE may be nesting there now). Among the shorebirds there were high counts of Short-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. 

Alas, I listened for and looked for the Black-whiskered Vireo that we found two weeks ago but did not re-locate it. My eBird checklist from the island is available at:

https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S37867582

Non-avian sightings included a black racer (snake), several fox squirrels, American alligators, and Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Largely absent were the mosquitoes, thanks mostly to the persistent NNE winds on the day. I did see a couple of turtle crawls on the North Beach and noted several marked loggerhead nests on the same beach. I think that the turtle patrol folks are having a busy summer. And the dune vegetation working to stabilize the dunes on the North Beach has finally recovered from hurricane Matthew (October 2016) that had flattened many of the newest and lowest dunes. The sea oats are really taking root and growing tall now.

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

Wed 12 July 2017 4.5 ft high tide forecast at 10:29 AM

Thurs 13 July 2017 4.6 ft high tide forecast at 11:10 AM

David

A day of firsts, including likely first state record of Black-whiskered Vireo

W 14 June 2017

Irvin Pitts and Madison Stelljes, one of this summer's Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) folks working at Cape Romain NWR, joined me for yesterday's waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls. It was a day of firsts for everyone in the group. For Madison, who has lived her whole life here in the Lowcountry, indeed she is a fourth generation Lowcountry resident, yesterday was her first ever trip to Bulls Island, so everything was new to her. She will spend her summer at the Refuge helping with the turtle patrols, staffing the Sewee Visitor Center, doing general and odd jobs about, and, I hope, helping more with our survey. 

For Irvin, we were keeping close count of his first-of-year (FOY) sightings when we had a first-for-everyone. After that we kind of lost track of his other FOY sightings, but it must have ended up at 8 or 9 FOY sightings for him. 

We were on Alligator Alley on the dike separating Jack's Creek from Pool 3 listening for Least Bitterns and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (which we did get). Irvin then heard a persistent vireo calling from the wooded edge of Jack's Creek. He immediately thought of Black-whiskered Vireo (BWVI) that he had previously seen and heard in the Florida keys; but BWVI is a Florida species and "shouldn't be here." We compared recordings of BWVI with similar looking and sounding Red-eyed Vireo (that we of course do have here in S.C.). We thought that we were much more likely hearing a REVI with a sore throat or some other aberrant song than a BWVI. Irvin sheepishly said "You might think I'm crazy, but I really think that this is what we're hearing," and he showed me Sibley's app image of a Black-whiskered Vireo. "Then what we really need is for this bird to come out of the woods and show itself," I said. Then the bird flew over our heads and perched in a couple of trees for binocular views and photos. Black-whiskered Vireo!

Black-whiskered Vireo. Photo by Irvin Pitts.

Here is part of my description of this Black-whiskered Vireo submitted with our eBird checklist: "From binocular view, bird showed to clearly be a vireo, long pointy bill showing smooth transition from head through to bill tip, black whiskers (malar stripes) down lateral throat, yellow vent, notched tail, eye line, unmarked dorsal body and wing. First thought to sound like a slightly off REVI but kept making the 'chip chip Phillip' call." My full description of this BWVI encounter, along with an audio recording of its song and additional pictures, can be found on our eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S37588214. First indications are that this is a first record of Black-whiskered Vireo for S.C.; we will be submitting a full report to the state records committee soon.

Not to be outdone by that excitement the rest of our survey was also very rewarding. We had 22 species on the ferry, 68 species on the island, and 70 species on the day. Highlights included two White-rumped Sandpipers (one of which was about our very first survey bird of the morning and the other of which was exactly where we saw the same species two weeks ago on the survey), Wilson's Plover family (male, female, plus chick on the North Beach), Black-necked Stilt chick hiding in a sparse tuft of grass in Jack's, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flyover, and a Purple Gallinule (flying from Upper Summerhouse Pond to Lower Summerhouse Pond over Turkey Walk Trail). 

Mammalian species were well represented on the day's outing, too, with sightings of fox squirrels, a marsh rabbit, a raccoon, and Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. We chased a black racer snake out of the roadway and had many giant swallowtail butterflies all over the island. 

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

Mon 26 June 2017 5.2 ft high tide forecast at 10:26 AM

Tues 27 June 2017 5.1 ft high tide forecast at 11:23 AM

Wed 28 June 2017 5.1 ft high tide forecast at 12:19 PM

David

The young'uns stole the show

Wed 31 May 2017

Pam Ford and Ed Blitch joined me for Monday's waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls, and we really took good advantage of having our own F&WS boat and, thus, our own time schedule. Except for some of the turtle volunteers and three kayakers who landed on the North Beach, I believe that we had the island to ourselves. It was a great way to spend Memorial Day.

While we did see some good birds, it was the very young that really got our attention. On the North Beach we watched a mother Wilson's Plover (WIPL) protect her chick from an aggressive Ruddy Turnstone. This family was really checking out a horseshoe crab, one of the very few that I've seen this year. I recall one recent May when the North Beach was so littered with horseshoe crabs that Wil Christenson and I returned 72 crabs to the ocean in less than one hour. Horseshoe crabs this year have been greatly reduced in number on local beaches making me wonder what annual cyclic variations in horseshoe crab spawning may be at work. Anyway, this one WIPL chick had found this dead horseshoe crab to be an appropriate home base from which to explore the beach. 

Wilson's Plover, mother and chick. Photo by Pam Ford

We saw 4 Killdeer chicks exploring the sandy edges of Jack's Creek under the supervision of their parents. One KILL pair was taking turns apparently incubating an egg in their "nest" immediately on the shoulder of the dike. 

Killdeer on nest. Photo by Ed Blitch

And the annual nesting of Barn Swallows at the emergency shelter at the picnic grounds also vied for our attention.

Barn Swallow chicks. Photo by Ed Blitch

But the best family show for the day came from the large pod of at least 14 Atlantic bottlenose dolphin that we slipped through when we left the island. One adult repeatedly slapped its tail on the surface of the water, another fully breached out of the water, and several young calves displayed their best synchronized swimming with momma dolphin. I've never seen such a large pod, nor had I ever witnessed the tail slapping behavior. That pod was the brightest moment in a jewel of a day on the island. 

But about the birds, we tallied 23 species from the boat, 62 species on the island, and 63 species on the day. I also had Cattle Egrets in the Hwy 17 median (used to be a common sighting many years ago but not recently), Wild Turkeys on Bulls Island Road going into and leaving Garris Landing, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos at Garris that didn't make it onto an eBird checklist. Other notable species included Piping Plovers, Red Knots, Least Bitterns, American Coot, and White-rumped Sandpiper (that was a life-list species for Ed). Our eBird checklist for the island, filled with wonderful pictures thanks to both Pam and Ed, is available at: https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S37290704.

White-rumped Sandpiper. Photo by Pam Ford

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

Mon 12 June 2017 4.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:15 AM

Tues 13 June 2017 4.3 ft high tide forecast at 10:54 AM

Wed 14 June 2017 4.3 ft high tide forecast at 11:35 AM

David

A tale of two days, one a Spring Bird Count and one a waterfowl/shorebird survey

Tues 9 May 2017

Sunday 7 May 2017 was the annual Charleston Spring Bird Count. It is essentially a spring version of our annual Christmas Bird Count using the same 15 mile diameter counting circle and the same subdivisions for counting within that circle. As I recall hearing, the count circle was placed where it was precisely to include Bulls Island. We've always divided the island into north and south halves, each counted by different teams of birders. For several years Felicia Sanders and Mary Catherine Martin have counted the north half of Bulls, sometimes with the assistance of other birders, and Starr Hazard has helped me count the southern half of Bulls, also sometimes with the assistance of other birders. This year just we four covered the island and the marshes between the landings, with special thanks to both Felicia and MC for the boating arrangements. 

Unfortunately for the shorebird counting, the noon low tides on Sunday left the shorebirds scattered away from their usual high tide roosts. Felicia and MC did however discover many Least Terns incubating eggs right on top of the new, uncompleted dike crossing Jack's Creek. While I had noticed that numbers of skimmers, gulls, terns, and shorebirds were resting along central lengths of the new dike I did not know that the Least Terns were nesting there. Here's hoping that the Least Terns have a successful nesting season on that dike. Maybe other terns and skimmers will likewise use the dike top for nesting in a few weeks.

Starr and I enjoyed relaxed time to bird the picnic grounds and lawn at the Dominick House, one of my favorite birding spots on the whole coast line. I always anticipate these counts that allow me to focus on areas of Bulls that I don't have the luxury of birding during my biweekly waterfowl/shorebird surveys. We heard and saw several Least Bitterns (always a special treat), several Anhingas,  numerous Tricolored Herons and Green Herons (mostly as flyovers), a Wood Duck, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Common Nighthawks, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, Bobolinks, and Orchard Orioles. Always a special treat, we saw three Bald Eagles; one mature eagle was standing right on the low-tide front beach.

Unfortunately there was almost no activity at the rookery spot well south along Mills Road. We saw only a pair of Green Herons that flushed from there and saw no nests at all. For years the egrets and herons have used that site as a rookery. The site appears to retain several of the bare, "leggy," dead trees that held the stick nests in prior years and the water level appears to remain high. The nests just aren't there right now. 

We got to talking about Spotted Sandpipers (SPSA) and how it was nice to see them in their alternate (breeding) spots for a short time before they migrate away. Turns out that SPSA are much more widespread in their breeding range than any other North American sandpiper. Their breeding range spans the entire width of North America from roughly Kansas northward about to the tree line in the North American arctic (which is primarily where all other migratory sandpipers migrate to for their breeding). Additionally SPSA are polyandrous, i.e., one female will mate with more than one male, a very unusual mating system for birds. This leads to sometimes vigorous competition between females for limited males who, by mid-season, are too busy incubating eggs to be available for mating. In SPSA the female will lay a clutch of up to 4 eggs (one egg weighs approximately 20 % of the weigh of the female bird), leave those to the incubation care of a male, then move on to mate with another male to produce another clutch. This behavior seems to come with costs of frequent emigrant movements due to reproductive failures,  relatively short life expectancy (3.7 years), high numbers of eggs laid (into multiple nests with multiple males), and low nest success. 

David

P.S. Information presented on SPSA comes primarily from: Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988 The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to the  Natural History of North American Birds. Simon & Schuster Inc.: New York. p. 131.

Tues 16 May 2017

Julie Mobley joined me yesterday for the waterfowl/shorebird survey. We had the luxury of our own F&WS boat so weren't committed to any particular time schedule but our own. We put that to good use on the ride out to Bulls when we stopped at one point to observe a few shorebirds; while drifting in the tidal currents and wind we heard the distinctive "water sizzling on a hot skillet" sound of a Nelson's Sparrow. I quickly killed the motor and heard repeated calls from the sparrow hiding in the Spartina. We never had a good look at the bird, but the repeated call was so distinctive that it became an easy identification. That may have been the first time that I've ever heard a Nelson's Sparrow. Pretty cool beginning to our outing.

Good news for the Least Terns found nesting on the new dike in Jack's (read about their discovery above under 9 May 2017 section). Significant lengths of the new dike have now been closed to any access to allow the Least Terns, and hopefully other terns, gulls, and skimmers, to nest. In a fortune of good timing, the construction shovels appear to have been removed from the island very recently. I'm hopeful that this means the dike construction is nearing completion.

Shorebirds continue to hang around the island, many in full-on alternate (breeding) plumage including Black-bellied Plovers, Wilson's Plovers (nesting on Bulls, we saw two juveniles), many Spotted Sandpipers, many Red Knot (uncommon on Bulls; the 43 that I tallied is likely the highest count that I've ever had on Bulls), Sanderling, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Additionally we had a Stilt Sandpiper, a Black Tern, a trio of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a few Common Terns, a couple of Caspian Terns, and many Sandwich Terns (47, a very high count). 

Anecdotal observations by differing SCDNR folks, consistent with my own observations, are that the usual May spring tide influx of horseshoe crabs laying eggs, a favorite food of many shorebird species (especially Red Knots), hasn't been happening this year, at least not yet. Rather than seeing scores of horseshoe crabs coming ashore I've seen few to none. I've noticed that many fruit and nut trees only produce decent crops either biennially (i.e., every two years) or triennially (i.e., every three years). Makes me wonder whether horseshoe crabs exhibit similar multi-year cycles in their mating and egg laying. If anyone has knowledge or thoughts on this I'd appreciate hearing from you.

The most unexpected sighting was a flyover Sandhill Crane while we were on the North Beach. It soared in off of Bulls Bay directly overhead showing it's red crown. New species for the survey (I think) and new eBird species for Bulls Island!

We tallied 66 species on the island and 72 species on a beautiful day's outing. Combining my Sun 7 May 2017 Spring Bird Count (read about that above) and this waterfowl/shorebird survey gave 93 species! Our two main eBird checklists for  Bulls are available online at:

https://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S36653885 (Spring Count)

https://ebird.org/ebird/iss/view/checklist/S36911111 (waterfowl/shorebird survey)

Cathy Miller sent me a link to a story about BO:X,g, a.k.a., Old Man Plover. Since you made it this far into this blog posting, I'm going to share it with you:

http://www.birdscanada.org/news/endangered-piping-plover-pays-a-visit

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

Sun 28 May 2017 5.2 ft high tide forecast at 10:42 AM

Mon 29 May 2017 5.1 ft high tide forecast at 11:41 AM

David