The Cape Romain Bird Observatory organized a boat trip on Monday January 2, 2006 to Bull's Island in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. Field trip leaders were Nathan Dias and Will Whitsett. Our goal was to enjoy the abundant waterfowl, seabirds and shorebirds that winter at Bull's Island. We also hoped to re-find some of the rare birds discovered the day before during the Charleston Christmas Bird Count.
The weather was less than cooperative - overnight rains passed through the previous night / early morning and Monday afternoon was forecast to have high winds, squall lines and even a tornado watch. But the morning forecast was for relatively calm winds and the radar showed a break in the rain for a few hours around Bull's Island. So we decided to go ahead with the 7:00am departure from the mainland, but to leave the island by 1:00pm or so. Our birding was confined to the north end of Bull's Island and we only had time to cover a portion of the north end. A touch of early morning fog affected visibility, but it lifted around 8:00am.
Sadly, we did not refind the drake Eurasian Wigeon found the previous (sunny) day during the Charleston Christmas Bird Count. But we were treated to extremely close views of a Peregrine Falcon harassing a perched Merlin. The Peregrine was quite vocal as it dove at the Merlin, but the Merlin stood its ground and stayed perched on the dead snag beside Jack's Creek. We saw three species of falcons during the day.
We also enjoyed extremely close views and high numbers of Canvasback Ducks. Multiple flocks of Canvasback buzzed and circled over our party at low altitude. Hearing the wind rushing over the wings of the Canvasbacks at close range was exhilarating. It was very nice to see good numbers of Redhead ducks and Pintails. We saw around 2,500 American Coots and close to that many Ruddy Ducks in the Jack's Creek impoundment complex alone.
We spotted 19 waterfowl species in Jack's Creek impoundment (17 duck species, 1 goose, 1 swan), plus Coot and Moorhen.
The shorebirds of the day were a pair of Long-billed Dowitchers first spotted by Martha Sherman. We also saw two of the three Wilson's Plovers that have been wintering on the northeast tip of Bull's Island. The high tide shorebird roost contained hundreds of the following species: Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin and Semipalmated Plovers. There were dozens of Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones. We saw several dozen American Oystercatchers on the boat ride to/from Bull's Island.
Bird Highlights:
White Pelican, Tundra Swan, 1200+ Canvasback, 100+ Redhead, Greater Scaup, Mottled Duck, Northern Pintail, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Wilson's Plover, Long-billed Dowitcher (2)
Mammalian highlights included 9 Fox Squirrels and Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins. We also saw some very large alligators in and out of the water.
(click the image below to view a full-sized version)
Photo by Robert Bustle - Some of the CRBO trip participants standing in "The Boneyard" while scanning the ocean for birds.
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Complete bird species list (123 species seen, 2 more heard):
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Northern Gannet
WHITE PELICAN
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
ANHINGA
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Canada Goose
TUNDRA SWAN
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
CANVASBACK
REDHEAD
Ring-necked Duck
GREATER SCAUP
Lesser Scaup
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
BALD EAGLE
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
PEREGRINE FALCON
MERLIN
American Kestrel
Wild Turkey
Clapper Rail (h)
Sora Rail (seen and heard)
King Rail (h)
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
WILSON'S PLOVER
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER
Short-billed Dowitcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe
Laughing Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
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