Thursday morning started the trek of BIOS 4710 to Hunting Island, South Carolina. With species identification happening as soon as we reached the vans, we packed up and headed on the road for a weekend of extreme birding. The birding will not and shall not ever end. Seeing a variety of birds, on telephone poles, flying through the sky and hanging out at rest stops, identification was always happening. Ten to twelves hour later with a detour off the highway, the Bran Van rejoined the caravan where we had dinner at Wren's Restaurant and praying for the rain to stop made the final trek to Hunting Island Area 2. With rain falling, the tents were set up and everyone went to bed with hopes that the storm would pass and the tents would not collapse or flood. Starting day 1 in South Carolina we were out walking the island starting at 8:10 in the lagoon. With complete cloud cover and thankfully no rain we began the southern birding and started the day with a Bald Eagle. A GBHE, TUTI and AMRE were some identified while in this habitat. We made our way onto the beach to see plenty of shorebirds that we normally cannot. From nonbreeding laughing gulls, brown pelicans, and willetts we were able to see some of these shorebirds and I was able to analyze and recognize them on a better scale than I ever had before. Plenty of Mourning Doves were seen giving me a chance to get a good sense of identification. Into the dunes, Carolina Wrens, America Crows and Northern Mockingbirds were seen. With a few of us standing back, we identified a Bald Eagle in a tree and seeing that through the large scope was quite a view. We noticed a Belted Kingfisher in a dead tree not to far away and Brandan expected the possibility of its nest being in there. The bald eagle flew to exactly where the belted kingfisher which was pretty interesting and cool to see. Back on the beach, besides the crazy amount of gnats swarming our faces and arms, we were still able to work our way through it. We saw Willets, a flock of Sanderlings and got to see Laughing Gulls and the Brown Pelican flying along the ocean, diving in to the water, and barrelling down and along the waves. When we saw the Merlin and saw the excitement from Kelly and hearing this was a first timer for her, it was pretty cool to be able to see this bird. It was showing itself very well so we were able to get a lot of views of it in the trees, flying and sitting among the branches and noticing a beautiful tail stripe. With various egrets, we were able to find those key characteristics by leg color and beak color to tell our Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets apart. Getting into the marsh/ edge wooded habitat we were seeing and hearing NOCA, CAWR, GREG, BEKI, OSPR, LAGU, NOMO, HOFI, and BLJA. Some others that were newer were the Palm Warbler, Little Blue Heron, Double-Crested Cormorant. After taking a lunch break,by 1:30 p.m. we were into the salt marsh, still cloud cover but the humidity was setting in. After morning we were starting to be able to recognize and identify some of the birds that we had seen in the morning. We were able to see SNEG, BRPE, LBHE, plenty of GREG's, a first sight of the Tri-Colored Heron and Clapper Rail, LAGU, and TUVU. At this location we actually came across a dead deer, and a large amount of skulls that were thought to be fish but not exactly sure. We even got to see a dolphin swimming through the marsh which was exciting. At 2:00 we went to the Marsh habitat boardwalk and continued to see and hear plenty of birds. PAWA flying among all the palms, CARW, TUVU, LAGU, CACH, RTHA, GREG, and GBHE. Getting into the coastal salt marsh up to the beach front were TCHE, GBHE, LAGU, WILL, OSPR. We got into a big questioning of the types Terns we were seeing across the way on the shore. It came down to both the Caspian and Royal Terns and Sandwich Tern. We were able to see 2 Black billed Skinners like Professor Williams showed us in class. Add in some SAND, WILL, FORESTER TERN, MODO, BRPL, an immature Herring Gull and continually outside the boardwalk a Red Winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal and Brown Headed Nuthatch and we were burnt out from Day 1. Heading back to camp, some of us threw on our bathing suits and crashed into the waves. It was a perfect way to spend the day in South Carolina. Spending our night making dinner, enjoying delicious jambalaya and walking along the star lit sky and even seeing a shark in the water was an enjoyable way for the trip to start.
Day 2 started with heading out of camp 7:30/8:00 a.m. to get to Pinckney Island on the border of Georgia and South Carolina by 9:00 a.m. The ride alone started our day with LBHE, White Ibis (WHIB), GREG, AND DOWO. With some cloud cover, a bit of wind and 65 degrees we began this hike among the varying habitats this island held. Getting into Salt Marsh habitat we were seeing and hearing TRHE, WHIB, SNEG, BLJA, RBWO, CACH, TUTI, WILL, SNEG, GREG, GRYE, GRCA, LAGU, TCHE, DCCO, and the differences between the juvenile and adult White Ibis. At the Ibis pond, we were seeing plenty of Ibis, juvenile and adult, hearing some fish crows, the Green Heron, and Aninga. My birding was put on hault as fire ants made there way all over my boots and pants yet my high socks and jeans created quite a barrier for the fire ants to actually have the chance to get to my skin.Making our way to another hill and pond where we were exposed to Common Gallinules, Pi-billed Grebes and their act of bobbing up and down through the water, REVI, CHSW, OSPR, PIWO, RHWO, CAWR, PIWA, BRNU, SNEG, CACH, TUTI, DOWO, TCHE. From the trail leading to the waters edge we heard the boat tailed grackle song and double chested cormiant, northern mockingbird. Seven or so miles later, a group of tired students packed back into the car to make their way for lunch and continuing the day at Savannah Wildlife Refuge. After lunch, quietly thanking that the drive tour is what we chose, at 3:30 p.m. at 84 degrees and scattered storms we began driving. and what all did we get to see and hear? The list continues. TUVU, RWBL, an alligator coming cautiously close to Common gallinules, a gorgeous Purple Gallinule which was another rare one to see, COHA, Sora Rail, Tree Swallow, and a few warblers such as YEWA, TEWA, and NEWA. Continually, WHIB, KILL, AND LBHE. With wide open land we got out and got a great view of a Red Shouldered Hawk among the trees. Seeing a bird from very afar at the top of a dead tree, it wasn't until we got the scope out and the ever so talented Kyle recognized it was a Great Horned Owl which was amazing to see, also SORA, COGA,CRGA and COYE. Driving along, we stopped at another small water stream through the marsh and saw Solitary Sandpipers, a gorgeous Aninga drying its feathers and showing off its beautiful feathers, Killdeer and Common Gallinule. Into denser area, the Boat-Tailed grackle, WEVI, NOMO were seen and heard. As we were finishing the tour, groups of birds were flying through the sky, we saw an Egret flock with Herons following, a flock of GREGs and SNEGs, and then a flock of all juvenile IBIS and one adult. Finishing our drive at 7:00 p.m., a solid 10 hour day of walking and birding left the Bran Van with a pack of slap happy students. I have to say I have not laughed that much in a long time. From man panties to TerriBill Cosby and plenty of laughs with no explanation for them, it was a great end to a long day. The group had a great final night with a fantastic dinner, smores and a lot of laughter.
Up by 6:30a.m., we began the packing, breaking down of tents and the final haul to leave Hunting Island. By 8/8:30 a.m. we were on our way. Between sleeping, donuts, Disney Who Am I , Bird Who Am I , and more Who Am I, the Bran Van made our way back to Ohio University and the South Carolina weekend was ended on a very positive and happy note. A huge thanks goes out to Kelly Williams and Brandan Gray for the opportunity and all they did for this trip!
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