Great birding for late August

Wed 24 Aug 2016

   Irvin Pitts and Nolan Schillerstrom joined me for Monday's waterfowl/shorebird survey on Bulls Island. Irvin, as he often does, arrived early at Garris Landing and began finding Painted Buntings, Yellow Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Summer Tanagers, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Northern Waterthrush among others. All that before we got into the F&WS boat for our ride over to Bulls!

   Between that great start at Garris Landing (47 species), the boat ride over (25 species), the survey proper (44 species), and the whole island (65 species), we tallied 87 species on the day. That made for a terrific August day's birding. Our eBird checklist from the island is appended below, FYI.

   Notable spices included Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (specifically including 7 juveniles…evidence that the species is breeding on the island), Piping Plover (interestingly seen on the mud/sand flats in Jack's Creek and not on the beaches proper), Stilt Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, Prairie Warbler, and the largest kettle of Barn Swallows that I've likely ever seen (very conservatively estimated at 200 flying all over the Spartina alterniflora marsh immediately behind the island). We each added to personal lists whether year, county, or life lists. With this great mix of summer resident species and fall migrants (both shorebird and passerine), the birding was good.

   The next survey has been scheduled for Tuesday 6 Sept 2016; all seats for that survey are taken.

David

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

Aug 22, 2016 9:56 AM - 4:20 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.0 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing Bulls Island waterfowl/shorebird survey with Irvin Pitts and Nolan Schillerstrom. Effort: 9.8 mi and 1 hr 30 min by vehicle plus 3.2 mi (estimated as pedometer needed fresh battery) and 4 hr 30 min by foot. Weather: clear, sunny, warm, and humid; temps 83 F to 88 F; AM winds N at steady 5 mph to 8 mph, PM winds E at steady 10 mph to 12 mph; barometer 30.07 in Hg rising to 30.09 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.8 ft high at 11:26 AM.  <br />Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.6 Build 75

65 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  14     7 mature plus 7 juveniles.

Blue-winged Teal  24     A fairly accurate count.

Double-crested Cormorant  2

Anhinga  1

Brown Pelican  75

Least Bittern  2

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  148     A fairly accurate count.

Snowy Egret  96

Little Blue Heron  1

Tricolored Heron  5

Green Heron  6

Black-crowned Night-Heron  2

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2

White Ibis  29

Glossy Ibis  3

Turkey Vulture  10

Osprey  2

Mississippi Kite  1

Red-shouldered Hawk  1

Clapper Rail  1

Common Gallinule  13

Black-necked Stilt  4

American Oystercatcher  4

Grey Plover  97     A fairly accurate count.

Wilson's Plover  2

Semipalmated Plover  231     A fairly accurate count.

Piping Plover  1     No leg flags or bands seen.

Ruddy Turnstone  45     A fairly accurate count.

Red Knot  125     A fairly accurate count.

Stilt Sandpiper  2

Sanderling  71     A fairly accurate count.

Pectoral Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  25

Western Sandpiper  16

peep sp.  135     Peeps too distant to ID to species.

Short-billed Dowitcher  88

Spotted Sandpiper  10

Willet  20

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Laughing Gull  102

Herring Gull  2

Least Tern  109     A fairly accurate count.

Caspian Tern  10

Black Tern  42

Common Tern  4

Forster's Tern  230     A fairly accurate count.

Royal Tern  206     A fairly accurate count.

Sandwich Tern  47

Black Skimmer  106     A fairly accurate count.

Mourning Dove  1

Belted Kingfisher  2

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1

Red-eyed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  1

Barn Swallow  100

Marsh Wren  1

Carolina Wren  2

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Redstart  1

Prairie Warbler  3

Northern Cardinal  2

Painted Bunting  1

Red-winged Blackbird  30

Boat-tailed Grackle  2

Brown-headed Cowbird  1

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31224121

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

Early fall migrant shorebirds continue moving through Bulls

Fri 5 Aug 2016

   Even in the summer heat and humidity there are still good birds to be found on Bulls Island. I made it out today for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey. Once Coastal Expeditions' Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Nick Johnson got me out to the island they both joined me for the morning's birding. We were able to cover Jack's Creek from the Old Fort and the North Beach before I got them back to the dock for the midday ferry service. After that I completed the day's birding solo.

   We tallied 43 species on the survey proper, 61 species on the island, and 66 species on the day--better numbers than I had guessed on the departing ferry. Our eBird checklist from the island is appended, below, FYI. At the end of the day Wil asked me what the bird of the day was and I couldn't really recall a standout species until later when I finally remembered the Common Ground Dove that Wil spied flying over the dune line on the North Beach. Other species of interest included a Piping Plover (no bands), Whimbrel, Red Knot, many Sanderlings, Great Black-backed Gull, Forster's Tern, and Black Tern. Misses included Roseate Spoonbill (seen recently by others), Reddish Egret, Wood Duck, Least Bittern, Clapper Rain, Marbled Godwit, Western Sandpiper (seen on both July 2016 surveys) Gull-billed Tern (a common summer resident seen through late September 2015), and Black Scoter (seen often over recent summers but not seen at all this summer).

   Non-avian sightings included Atlantic bottle-nose dolphin (I had lunch while watching one of them), a white-tailed deer (very infrequently seen on the island but there), a few various butterflies, and hordes of mosquitos and deer flies (quite active in the calm winds today). 

   Wil and I are both ready for the fall birding to begin in ernest. Less heat, fewer bugs, and the fall birds are on the horizon. The Spartina alterniflora (saltmarsh cordgrass) remains in full-on summer green glory everywhere in the saltmarsh, they've mown the grasses in Pool 1 (amazing to my eye just how shallow Pool 1 is), the water level in Jack's crept up with a 3+ inch rainfall recorded Tuesday this week on the island, and early fall shorebirds are continuing. 

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

Sat 20 Aug 2016 5.7 ft high tide forecast at 9:43 AM

Mon 22 Aug 2016 5,8 ft high tide forecast at 11:26 AM

Tues 23 Aug 2016 5.8 ft high tide forecast at 12:23 PM

David

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

Aug 5, 2016 9:38 AM - 2:59 PM

Protocol: Traveling

13.2 mile(s)

Comments:     Conducting the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey with Wil Christenson and Nick Johnson (for the morning). Effort: 10.0 mi and 1 hr 30 min by vehicle plus 3.2 mi and 3 hr 15 min by foot. Weather: variably sunny to cloudy, warm, and humid; temps 86 F to 88 F; winds light and variable; barometer steady at 30.00 in Hg. Tide was forecast 5.1 ft high at 10:22 AM.  <br />Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.5 Build 73

59 species (+2 other taxa)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  2

Mottled Duck  11

Pied-billed Grebe  1

Wood Stork  1

Double-crested Cormorant  12     A fairly accurate count.

Anhinga  8

Brown Pelican  22

Great Blue Heron  4

Great Egret  31

Snowy Egret  29

Tricolored Heron  14

Green Heron  3

Black-crowned Night-Heron  13

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1

White Ibis  28

Glossy Ibis  2

Black Vulture  1

Turkey Vulture  6

Osprey  4

Mississippi Kite  3

Common Gallinule  19

Black-necked Stilt  32     A fairly accurate count.

American Oystercatcher  5

Grey Plover  19

Wilson's Plover  11

Semipalmated Plover  16

Piping Plover  1     No leg flags or bands.

Spotted Sandpiper  3

Greater Yellowlegs  3

Willet  24

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Whimbrel  4

Ruddy Turnstone  13     A fairly accurate count.

Red Knot  8     An accurate count. Scope view of birds resting on the beach with terns and Sanderlings. No apparent leg bands or flags.

Sanderling  147     A fairly accurate count.

Least Sandpiper  45

Semipalmated Sandpiper  70

peep sp.  120     Unable to ID to sandpiper species.

Laughing Gull  66

Ring-billed Gull  1

Herring Gull  2

Great Black-backed Gull  3     2 mature plus 1 immature.

Least Tern  10

Black Tern  5

Forster's Tern  8     An accurate count.

Royal Tern  64

Sandwich Tern  17

Black Skimmer  149     An approximate count.

Common Ground-Dove  1     Flyover dune line at North Beach.

Mourning Dove  4

Common Nighthawk  3

Belted Kingfisher  1

swallow sp.  8

Carolina Chickadee  2

Marsh Wren  3

Carolina Wren  5

Northern Mockingbird  2

Northern Cardinal  6

Painted Bunting  1

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Boat-tailed Grackle  6

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30984516

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