Birding Coastal South Carolina with the Carolina Bird Club

I was warned that it could become "the Bataan Bug March," but thanks to cool temperatures and a steady breeze the deer flies and mosquitos were only a minor annoyance on the trip I led Santee Coastal Reserve last weekend.

A pleasant day for birding at Santee Coastal Preserve, 9/27/2013, photo by Natalia Ocampo-Penuela

It is not often that I venture south of the border to go birding and when I do, it's usually a Carolina Bird Club meeting that entices me to do so.  The difference with this CBC meeting at Litchfield Beach, was all the extra hats I was juggling. I was brought in not only to lead field trips, but also had the honor of delivering the Saturday night talk, a lecture on my dissertation research.

Title slide from my talk at the Carolina Bird Club fall meeting

And I had an executive committee meeting to attend since I was recently appointed to serve as a Vice President of the CBC representing Eastern North Carolina.

But y'all came here for birds...where were we...

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Santee Coastal Reserve

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Santee Coastal Reserve

That's right, birding Santee Coastal Reserve, a huge piece of public land that borders the Santee River and contains a diverse array of bird-filled habitats including a nice patch of well-managed longleaf pine savannah that seemed to be loaded with Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.

Tricolored Heron, Santee Coastal Reserve

It also has several large impoundments that provide habitat for wading birds and waterfowl.  While the ducks don't arrive en masse until later in the fall, we stumbled upon a small flock of early Northern Pintail, which was a nice surprise.

But the highlight for most of us on this trip was a rail.  We were hearing Sora calling from all over the place down in the impoundments and with some patience we were all able to see one picking its way along the edge of a canal.

Sora, Santee Coastal Reserve

This was actually the first Sora I had ever gotten a good look at and clears out the North American rails for my life list (at least until the Clapper/King complex gets split up).

The deciduous woods were hit-and-miss with warbler flocks and we ended up with about 70 species for the day, pushing my South Carolina state list well over the century mark.

I was supposed to lead the same trip the following day, but only one person signed up and it got cancelled.  This was fortuitous for me because I desperately needed to get my talk finished (so I could deliver it that night!)  It also allowed Natalia and I to slip off and bird one the best spots in the state conveniently located a couple miles from the hotel, Huntington Beach State Park.

White Ibis, Huntington Beach State Park

The causeway leading into the park provides phenomenal views into a vibrant salt marsh.  For a nice change, the crowds of visitors actually enhance the birding experience; because so many people are bustling by, the normally wary wading birds have little fear of people here.

Wood Stork, Huntington Beach State Park

There were approx. 80 wood storks working the marsh and some seemed pretty oblivious to onlooking hominids. 

But one of the big draws to this park in the warmer months are the Roseate Spoonbills.  We were lamenting the fact that we couldn't find them, when a pair flew right over our heads and settled by the boardwalk in front of us.

Roseate Spoonbills, Huntington Beach State Park

They make it up to NC every now and again, but this is about the northernmost spot they can found reliably found. 

Roseate Spoonbills, Huntington Beach State Park

I've been pondering the biogeochemical implications of that spatulate bill...

Contuing our good luck with rails, we managed to spot a Clapper Rail working the marsh, a life bird for Natalia!

Clapper Rail, Huntington Beach State Park

Just before leaving we finally got to see the male Painted Bunting at the feeders by the nature center.

Painted Buntings, Huntington Beach State Park

While the birding in the Palmetto State isn't a world apart from what can be had at the NC coast, it's always nice to bird some new hotspots and meet some new birders.  And the talk went over very well.  Who knew that bird biogeochemistry could be so comical?  Apparently birders are suckers for poop jokes.

The next CBC meeting is at the end of January in Wrightsville Beach.  Hope to see you there!

Birding Viera Wetland

The 9th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference brought me down to Orlando, Florida for a week of academic lectures and elbow-rubbing with some of the world's top wetland scientists.

I had been invited to give a 20-minute presentation on my dissertation research (which went great by the way) but I'd be damned if I was going to drive so far south without getting out to see some birds!

So I woke up early one morning and zipped out to Viera Wetland (aka Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands) for some birding appropriate for a wetland scientist.

Viera Wetland

 The place is a Mecca for wading birds with Ibises everywhere...

White Ibises

Glossy Ibises

...and a variety of herons...

Tricolored Heron

...and egrets...

Cattle Egrets

Dozens of Black-bellied Whistlling-Ducks were nesting in hollow palm trunks all over the place.   

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

I had only seen these cute guys once before and way down in Panama back in 2008 (ABA bird #338).

The same was essentially true of Roseate Spoonbill, a bird I had seen only once before seen in Nicaragua.

Roseate Spoonbill

They look so pretty from far away, but up close the bald head and red eye look downright sinister to me (well if you ignore the comical spoon-shaped bill). This one was my ABA #339!

Least Bitterns were calling everywhere and even a few showed...

Least Bittern

I saw three of them throughout the morning and one was even prowling around on lily pads!

Hiding in plain view

I guess it was doing a frog impression?  Life bird #1554!

telescoping neck!

And then there was a pair of Sandhill Cranes...

Sandhill Crane

Just more trash birds by Florida standards! 

As you can see the birders in this state are spoiled rotten for cool wetland species.  And the photographers who visit Viera Wetland are as well.  The site consists of 5 wetland treatment cells, each with a different water level for maximum habitat diversity.  And the border of each cell is a high drivable berm.  The result is the ultimate lazy nature photographer's dream; simply drive along until you see the right bird in good light and fire away.  No need to even leave your vehicle!

The one exception and only time I actually needed to use my scope was when a group of four Crested Caracaras flew along the treeline and landed in a distant pine.

Crested Caracaras

Of course it's tough to get a good shot from half a mile away, but I'm always amazed that the birds are even identifiable at that distance.  I had seen Crested Caracara's a handful of times in the tropics, but this was my first sighting in the US (ABA #341).
 
The only bird I was hoping to see and missed was Purple Gallinule.  But their "Common" cousins were ubiquitous and I even saw some downy chicks!

Common Gallinules with chicks

It took me a few loops around the wetland cells to get my real target bird...

Limpkin

...Limpkin!  This species looks like it should be a skulker like a rail, but that just isn't the case.  Limpkins aren't especially shy, they just aren't very common...

Yum! Lifer #1555

...and only found in areas with an abundance of their prey of choice: snails.

By this point my three hours were up and I had to race back to the convention center for more concurrent sessions and important networking opportunities.  But the visit to Viera Wetland was definitely worth the trip.  I'm not sure if there is another spot in this area that can offer up such a complete and reliable menu of so many cool species with such great opportunities for photos.

~~

On our way back north Katie and I dropped by Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in search of Florida Scrub-Jay, which proved to be easy enough.

The light was terrible for photos, but I was just glad to see this endemic, IUCN-listed species.  And I really like Jays.

Florida Scrubu-Jay

We also stumbled upon the most cooperative Bobwhite I had ever seen.

Northern Bobwhite

We did a little bit of exploring some of the refuge's vast tracts of wetlands and saw some other cool birds such as Wood Stork, Reddish Egret, Black-necked Stilt and more Roseate Spoonbills, but with a 10-hour drive back to Durham looming, we had to cut ourselves off and hit the road. 

Hopefully my next trip to Florida will include the Everglades and the plethora of specialties that can be found in the nether regions of the state.  But I have certainly had my wetland bird fix for now!