Huntington Beach

   Today is the last day of the year 2015. Berry and I quietly decided to continue birding in South Carolina. We drove out of Folly Beach and headed north to the little seaside town of Georgetown. The town of Georgetown has some neat shops along its old style front street shopping district. We parked the car and started to walk down the boardwalk. There was a Red Throated Loon (Gavia Stellata) floating and diving in the harbor near the boardwalk. It did not have a red throat, as its name describes. Its “non-breeding plumage” is what it wears when it is not courting. At this time, its white face and white neck are diagnostic. We saw the white face and neck today.

   High up on a pole, standing like a police officer, overseeing everything that happens on the water, the Osprey (Pandion Haliaetus) spread its wings and flew across the cove. The Ospery builds large stick nests in trees or on human-created nesting platforms. The Osprey is the “Sea Eagle” of books and legends and is quite majestic.

   We love seeing the terns. Strafing the surface of the water, staring down at the water to catch sight of a fish, the Forster’s Tern (Sterna Forsteri) flies closer to the water than the Osprey. The Forster’s Tern is a small tern with pale grey upperparts and white underparts. Its legs are red and its bill is red, tipped with a splotch of black. In winter, its forehead becomes white and it wears a characteristic black eye mask.

   We took lunch at a seafood place on the boardwalk named The Big Tuna. Garlic clams and the She Crab Bisque and Robert could finally get a salad. We sat at an outside table so we could watch the wildlife. Fortunately, we were just finished eating when it started to sprinkle. Later in the afternoon we stopped on Pawley’s Island and shared an order of Mixed Berry Cobbler with Roasted Banana Ice Cream at the Bistro 271. South Carolina is also fun to eat.

   Down the highway, we came to Huntington Beach State Park. At the Park, we stepped out on the large sandy stretch. I noticed that the sand was white, some of it was tan colored, and some of it was silvery. We walked into the sun and were immediately derided by a Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus Atricilla). It raised its head and cackled in our direction. Its voice really does sounds like human laughter.

We saw a single gray Willet (Tringa Semipalmata) as we walked in the deep sand. On the beach, the owner of a medium sized black dog told us its name was “Cooper”. We both remarked that there seems to be a lot of dogs in this area. People had their dogs at the hotel last night, we have seen them on all the beaches, and it looks like every third person has a dog on a leash. Most of the dogs are well behaved and since we both love dogs, we find it charming. We were enjoying the beautiful weather as well as the dogs.

   Huntington Beach State Park is considered by many to be among the top birding spots in South Carolina. Signs warned of aligators. We saw the snout and eyes of an aligator in the marginal area near the bridge. We took pictures with the IPhone, but they were not in focus. But we did see an aligator today.

We drove over the causeway: to our right was a managed freshwater marsh impoundment known as Mullet Pond, to our left were the tidal salt marshes of Murrells Inlet. We parked at the end of the causeway and walked back across on the sidewalk. I noted that there were five different birds standing in the shallow water all within thirty feet of each other. The five birds were a Wood Stork (Mycteria Americana), a Double Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Auritus), Snowy Egret (Egretta Thula), a Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias), and a Little Blue Heron (Egretta Caerulea).

   We did a lot of walking while at the Park, so when we left it, we were ready to find our hotel and rest before dinner. As we drove into the parking lot of the hotel, there was a telephone line leading to the building. Who would have guessed? We spotted a Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia Decaocto), balancing on said wire. It has a black hyphen on it neck, which makes it look “collared”. This bird is a migrant from Europe.

   We had dinner at a resturant next door to the hotel. Robert had Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and a whole Flounder. Berry had Scallops and Filet. We welcomed in the new year in our hotel room barely able to stay awake, but with a New Year’s kiss. Happy New Year to our family and friends.

Berry and Robert

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

From Fiddler Crabs to Folly Beach

   The weather app on my IPhone showed rain and thunderstorms. There was only very dense fog, and it was as thick as pea soup. We found a cute little artesan bakery where they made gooey pastries. Robert had an omelette and hot tea. I had the French toast and coffee. After breakfast, we drove about twenty miles south of Beaufort to the beautiful Hunting Island State Park. We stayed all morning there by the ocean. The park has salt marshes and Palmetto Palm trees and more than four miles of beach and a large lagoon. The State Park also has a tall lighthouse, which we elected not to climb. The fog lifted by mid-morning and the sun came out. The weather was perfect to bird.

   Immediately upon arrival we went to the white sand beach and were treated to a flock of Ring Billed Gulls (Larus Delawarensis) resting on the shore. Targeting fish in the water, Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis) dove head first into the surf. We saw some American White Pelicans (Pelecanus Erythrorhynchos) flying over the water. The Double Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) were drying their wings by balancing on the buoys in the sun.

   There was a wooden boardwalk through a stand of Palmetto palms and the pine trees. We noticed tiny birds flitting high in the tops of the trees. Robert pointed out a Brown Headed Nuthatch (Sitta Pusilla) on the bottom side of a limb in the upper branches of a tall pine tree. We had never seen this bird before. It lives here in South Carolina. So this was our first life bird of this birding trip. Robert was on the phone when he saw it. We have seen other nuthatches. Scientists discovered that nuthatches have used a small chip of bark as a tool to dig for insects. Smart birds.

   Other animals that we saw at the Park were lots of irritating gnats, small brown squirrels, a small green spider inside a web, and tiny Fiddler crabs sidling to and fro on the mud of the salt marsh. Fiddler crabs are found along sea beaches and brackish inter-tidal mud flats, lagoons and swamps. Fiddler crabs are most well known for their having only one large claw; the males’ left claw is much larger than the minor claw while the females’ claws are both the same size. If a male loses his large claw on the left, he will grow another one on the opposite side. We were charmed by the fiddler crabs running around into and out of their holes in the mud and seeming to fight each other with the large claw.

   While driving to look for a place to eat lunch, we saw a Forester’s Tern (Sterna Forsteri) sitting on a bridge. There was a fishing boat in the water. The fisherpeople had stopped to untangle a net from its motor propeller. As he was getting the fish out of the net and tossing them in the water, he attracted a flock of pelicans. We also saw two Osprey (Pandion Haliaetus) joining in the action.

   We ate lunch at a good restaurant named The Steamer. Robert ate blackened scallops and Berry had a crab cake. We shared the squid. Then Berry drove carefully the one and a half hours to Folly Beach while Robert slept in the passenger’s seat. We are a team.

   When we arrived at the ocean, we again encountered the very dense fog. After the long drive and nap, we wanted to stretch our legs by walking on the beach. Everyone brought their dogs. Kids and dogs everywhere. Dancing and racing in the tidal pools, we saw the Sanderling (Calidris Alba)). This bird runs faster than any other peep, pecking at the sand in the tidal pools.

We caught dinner in the Blu Restaurant in our hotel. Robert had a Roasted Beet Salad and the Red Snapper on a bed of forro, which is a grain like barley. Berry got the scallops and Swiss chard. As we are publishing this, we are watching an old episode of the “Walking Dead” on the tube.

Berry and Robert

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

Voyage To Beaufort

   We got up this morning and had a pair of omelets for breakfast at the local IHOP. We headed out southwest to the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge. The ACE Basin represents one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems remaining on the Atlantic Coast. ACE Basin stands for the Ashepoo River, the Combahee River, and the Edisto River, which form the estuary and parts of this large Refuge boundary. We drove through hundreds of salt marshes full of marsh grass and thick forests with Spanish moss growing on most the trees. South Carolina has more swamps than the upper peninsula of Michigan. We elected to drive south to Edisto Beach.

   On the first turnoff from the highway, we spotted a flock of Wood Storks (Mycteria Americana) in a small marsh.

   The Wood Stork is a large wading bird that stands about 33 to 45 inches tall. It’s face only a mother could love. It is the only bird in the Stork family that breeds in North America. In June 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the status of the Wood Stork from endangered to threatened, which is a very positive development. This bird has been leaving their historic south Florida home due to loss of habitat and have moved north to places like the ACE Basin in South Carolina to nest. We have seen a lot of Wood Storks so far on this trip.

   Right at the end of a long bridge across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, there was a paved pull-off with a pier. There Robert took a work conference call and Berry used the spotting scope to investigate the Waterway. On the bridge abutments were lots of Double Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) holding their wings open to dry them. In the tall reeds were Great Egrets (Ardea Alba) and a Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias). These are majestic birds and we enjoy watching them wade in the shallow water.

   As we continued down the peninsula, we came to what we call a “honeypot” of Yellow Rumped Warblers (Setophaga Coronata). Yellow Rumped Warblers are one of North America's most abundant neotropical migrants. They primarily eat insects. They are perhaps the most versatile foragers of all warblers. Beyond gleaning bugs from under the leaves like other warblers, they often flit, flycatcher-like, out from their perches in short loops, to catch flying insects. We see them quite often, wherever we bird. We sas them in Mexico. They are especially cute and easily identifiable by the yellow spots on their rump and their sides.

   We had lunch in Edisto Beach at a little hole in the wall called the Dockside Grill. The food was pretty good. We sat outside on a covered porch. Gulls and egrets perched on the piles in the water. Robert had some fish soup, which he is now going to try to make at home. Garlic laden tomato base, a piece of white fish, onions and celery and some special South Carolina seasoning mix. Berry had a shrimp wrap. By the time we finished with lunch and Robert got off of his computer, it was around 3:30pm. We drove back across the top of the Ace Basin to Beaufort, SC.

   Beaufort is where the US Marines are based. Our hotel room is just across the street from the ocean. We ate at the Plums Restaurant. Robert had a nice dinner of stuffed flounder and Berry had on the Mahi Mahi. We held hands and walked along the pretty ocean promenade back to our hotel. Even a bad day birding is better than a good day working.

   Berry kept spotting Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle Alcyon) one after another perched on anything and everything hanging above a marsh. We picked up the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis Phoebe) on several stops along the road. There was a pair of American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius), one male and one female, balancing on a power line. We noticed a kettle of Black Vulture (Coragyps Atratus) circling over a road in the morning and then we noticed that in the afternoon, all the Black Vultures were roosting quietly on a transmission tower.

Berry and Robert

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

Birding Charleston

   On Sunday, we left Memphis on a large Delta Airlines jet. We arrived in Charleston, SC around dinner time. The weather was perfect for our birding vacation. Temperatures around 70 F. Traveling itself was tiresome for me, so we got a hotel room in Charleston right away. We downed a delicious seafood dinner of Crab Cakes and Fish and Chips. We went back to our hotel and planned for the rest of the week.

   Monday we birded our way to the ante-bellum Boone Hall Plantation. It is one of America's oldest plantations. It has been continuously growing and producing crops for over three centuries. Once known for cotton and pecans, it now produces strawberries, tomatoes, and pumpkins. Driving onto the plantation property, we drove down a driveway with a beautiful row of oaks on both sides. We spotted an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis Phoebe) perched on the lower branches of one of the oak trees.

Robert parked the rental car in a dry spot on a muddy field. As we were leaving later in the day, some lady got stuck in the mud. Seven fellows were helping her, so Robert chose not to get wet and stayed in the car. We walked along the side of the field, staring at the trees and counting the birds. Circling lazily in the sky, there were two Red Tailed Hawks (Buteo Jamaicensis). As we approached the water, a flock of beautiful Wood Storks (Mycteria Americana) landed in formation. It was in this salty swamp that we saw a large flock of White Ibis (Eudocimus Albus). They had brown and white feathers, which distinguished them from the Little Blue Herons (Egretta Caerulea) which were mixed in with some Snowy Egrets (Egret Thula). This was a fun stop for us. South Carolina never fails to delight.

   A birding note about the Little Blue Heron must be made here. The Little Blue Heron is a medium sized heron. We only see it in very warm climates. It’s bill is blue or grey with a barely perceptible black tip. Adult Little Blue Herons have blue and grey plumage, except for the head and neck, which are purplish. Juvenile Little Blue Herons are entirely white; we look for the dull greenish legs. They gradually acquire their own blue plumage as they mature. Many of the Little Blue Herons that we saw today were the white juveniles. They can be distinguished from the Great Egret (Ardea Alba) that we also see by the difference in the color of their bills.

   Robert and I left the Boone Hill Plantation and had lunch at a nice soup place named “Ladles”. Robert had a Greek lemon chicken soup with feta cheese crumbles and a sandwich. Berry had the potato soup with bacon and a sandwich. For a pick-me-up, we both got spiced coffee from Starbucks.

   After lunch, we drove through the swampy low areas of James and Wadmalaw Islands just southwest of Charleston. Along the roads and in the fields, we saw lots of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis) and a tangle of Yellow Rumped Warblers (Setophaga Coronata). We peeked under a bridge at birds feeding in the mud. We found two Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus Varius) in front of a house. One of the woodpeckers attacked the other. We identified the local favorite, the Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus Maritimus), playing the the low reeds as we were leaving.

On the road to Rockville, Robert spotted and counted a large flock of seventy-five White Ibis (Eudocimus Albus).

   After a beautiful day of birding, it started sprinkling and got dark, so we got a hotel room. We ate a nice dinner at the Glass Onion, a natural food styled restaurant. They offered us brie cheese and jelly, corn bread with honey and pickled okra. Yum.

Below is a list of the birds we saw today

• Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes Cucullatus)
• Double Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Auritus)
• Great Egret (Ardea Alba)
• Turkey Vulture (Cathartes Aura)
• American Crow (Corvus Brachyrhynchos)
• Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis Phoebe)
• Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis)
• Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella Magna)
• European Starling (Sturnus Vulgaris)
• Wood Stork (Mycteria Americana)
• Little Blue Heron (Egretta Caerulea)
• White Ibis (Eudocimus Albus)
• Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes Carolinus)
• Snowy Egret (Egretta Thula))
• Eastern Bluebird (Sialia Sialis)
• Yellow Rumped Warbler (Setophaga Coronata)
• Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias)
• Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus Varius)
• Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus Maritimus)
• Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo)
• Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus Bicolor)
• Ring Billed Gull (Larus Delawarensis)

Berry and Robert

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia