My New Favorite Spot

After a cold, calm night, I discovered a number of late fall migrants had arrived in South Carolina. I was happy to find 44 species of birds in my local patch, including the first fall Juncos, White-Throated Sparrows, and Winter Wrens.

I recently discovered one little spot that is fast becoming one of my favorite places in the world! Down by a fairly broad river, there is a solitary picnic table that sits at the end of an overgrown trail. It overlooks a tiny weedy field and is bordered by woods. On the far side of the river, past a number of tall dead trees and agricultural fields you can see for miles (?) to the horizon.

This combination makes for some wonderful birding just by staying in one spot. This morning I was delighted by Pied-Billed Grebes floating by on the river, Wood Ducks flying over the water, a perched Red-tailed Hawk, and a group of jays pestering a very energetic Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Birds were constantly emerging from the tiny weedy patch: Swamp, Song, Field,  and White-Throated Sparrows, Indigo Bunting, Goldfinches, Common Yellowthroats, House and Carolina Wrens. Finally, on the wood edge were a White-Eyed Vireo, and Brown Thrasher.

The thing to learn from this I think is that often times local spots in the areas around where we live that aren't famous or heavily birded can be great spots for birds. I think combinations of habitats such as this little area are what to look for. 

View of the River from the Picnic Table

Weedy patch on the left, bordered by woodlands

Warbler Woods

My new (mobile) home is located in an oak-hickory forest. Within a 1/2 mile there is a small lake and a decent sized river. I have been amazed at the number and diversity of warblers that I have seen from my office window, and within the woods and habitats nearby.

In about 2 months of birding, I've seen 70 species of birds, including 15! species of warblers, which include about 10 seen just from my office window. By far the highlight has been not one, but two male Golden-Winged Warblers. One was in the trees above my house in late September, and the other I saw last week in a small weedy area. Other birders have assured me that Golden-Winged is not a common bird here in South Carolina (I thought it might be more common here than in NJ or VA).

Other warbler highlights have been Blackburnian, Hooded, and Worm-Eating, as well as a number of Tennessee Warblers.

I was also surprised how common Summer Tanagers are here. I think they are mostly gone now, but in August and September it was unusual if I didn't see or hear one on a walk. Brown-headed Nuthatches squeak high up in the pine trees, and Yellow-throated Vireos hide way up in the deciduous trees.

All that to say, I'm thankful God brought me to a place where trails and good habitats are right outside my door!

Rainy start to October has been excellent!

Well with yet ANOTHER camping weekend being washed out, Deb, Ron, and I were bummed out a bit. But, Deb and I decided to get some birding in anyway yesterday, even in the rain. The morning started well, as I was checking the weather we had this Cape May Warbler visit our stream/pond out front!
Having done Cape May, Brig, and Donio park a million times in the last month, I decided to go to one of my spring herping/birding routes to see what I could come up with. So we hit Jackson Road and Cedar Lake first. 2 Cape May Warblers and 2 Yellow Rumped Warblers were the highlights here amongst a modest flock of migrants.

Then Heislersville WMA. Rain coming down. Not much in the impoundments. So we decided to call it quits. On our way out, In a pretty steady rain, we ran into a very large flock of migrants, and while trying to keep the rain off our lenses, we started calling out lots of birds!
Baltimore Oriole, Redstart, Magnolia, Waterthrush, Yellow, B+W, BTB, Yellowthroat, Parula, Palm, White Eyed Vireo, Red Eyed Vireo, Phoebe...Bald Eagle above!

So in about 3 hours of birding we ended up seeing 63 species!

So I decided today I would do my usual lazy route: Donio, then the backyard.
Donio was loaded with great shorebirds. 13!! Pectoral Sandpipers! Semipalmated, Least, L Yellowlegs, 27 Killdeer, and a solo Spotted Sandpiper.

The house was even better...12 migrating Ospreys, Merlin, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Redstart, Yellowthroat, Cape May Warbler, RE Vireo, House Wren, 5 Indigo Buntings.

So even though we didn't camp, we got our fair share of birds!

Milestones:
Yard Bird #115 - Tennessee Warbler
Atlantic County Bird #222 - Northern Waterthrush
Cumberland County Birds #166-168 - N Waterthrush, BTB Warbler, Magnolia Warbler