Back to September and Captain Sams Spit

A Crowded Beach Scene: Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, Herring Gulls -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

            With as many posts as I have written on Captain Sams Spit on Kiawah Island, some of you may wonder if I am obsessed with this place.  OK, I confess, I am.  This place brings in the birds... and thus, me.  It is, to my knowledge, the birdiest beach in the Lowcountry that is not limited to boat-only access.  Indeed, after driving to Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, you simply walk 1 mile south-west down the beach to the inlet.


View Captain Sams Inlet -- Birding Destination in a larger map

         Of course, during September, many gulls and other shore birds are migrating south or are preparing to, and so it is a good time to still find some birds of summer as well as significant migrating populations of northern-breeding birds.

Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

             One of the species migrating through that rests and feeds here is the Black Skimmer -- one of my favorite birds to photograph, as you will see.  Their angular, colorful and comical appearance presents so many wonderful photographic opportunities!

Landing gear down -- Black Skimmers -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Touching down -- Black Skimmer -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Black Skimmers -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Black Skimmers -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Black Skimmers -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

           In English, we call them Black Skimmers because of the manner in which they fish, skimming their lower beaks along the surface of the water, nabbing small fish just below the surface.   The French name for this bird, bec-ciseaux  -- which translates to scissors beak, is well portrayed in the photos below of this juvenile.

Juvenile Black Skimmer, Bec-ciseaux, Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Juvenile Black Skimmer, Bec-ciseaux, Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Juvenile Black Skimmer, Bec-ciseaux, Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

            I also saw 8 of another favorite species, the Piping Plover.  Seriously, who can not just admire the spunk and the attitude of this little bird?

Piping Plover -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

             A Piping Plover can easily qualify as a "Bird of the Day" on most visits to a local beach due to it's threatened status.  I am always grateful to be able to find them.  However, the Piping Plover was trumped on this day, September 4, 2011, for that nomination by a seagull!  Imagine that!  Now this was not any ole seagull -- not Laughing, not Ring-Billed, not Herring, not even Great Black-Backed.  This seagull became life bird no. 316 for me -- my first Lesser Black-Backed Gull! 

Lesser Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Lesser Black-Backed Gull standing behind a Herring Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

          Perhaps he was becoming a little bored with being the center of my attention in this next photo...

Lesser Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

I was not originally sure what this gull was.  So I submitted a link to his photos to the Carolina Bird Listserv and received a positive identification as a Lesser Black-Backed Gull. 

          I was pleased to see several Ring-billed Gulls on the beach.  These gulls over-winter here but they breed in Canada and in the very northern reaches of the mid-western United States.

Ring-Billed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

 
         I also found a pair of stragglers -- Wilson's Plovers.  Wilson's Plovers, also a threatened species, breed on our beaches.  But generally, they head south for the winter, and most have left for those southern climes by this time.

Wilson's Plovers -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

             Besides the Black Skimmers, several other species of terns rested on Captain Sams Spit.   Royal Terns do breed in our area and some Royal Terns do pass their winters here although most head south...

Royal Tern -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Royal Terns -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

A juvenile Royal Tern still begging from a weary adult -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Royal Tern with landing gear down -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Royal Tern and and the smaller Sandwich Tern -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

              Sandwich Terns were also present.   They too breed along our southern beaches in huge colonies along side Royal Terns and Brown Pelicans and they generally winter further south along the Gulf Coast, in Florida and on the coasts of Central America.

Sandwich Tern -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

        Another tern found was the one below.  I have struggled with the identification of this tern.  Initially, I decided it was a Common Tern.  But then I wondered if it is simply a Forster's Tern which had not finished molting into it's winter plumage and thus it still shows signs of a dark nape, rather than the whitish nape of a completed winter molt on the Forster's.  The dark, carpal-bar on the wing that should be visible on the winter plumage of a Common Tern seems extremely light.  Is it there or is that merely a shadow?  Well, I suspect and I hope that my expert birding buddies will chime in to let me know what they think of  this tern.  Comments are welcome, my friends!

Common Tern or Forster's Tern? -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

         For the final tern species of the day, I found a small group of Caspian Terns with this fussy juvenile among them.

Juvenile Caspian Tern -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

            Before leaving the front side of the beach to explore the inlet side, I spotted this Immature Great Black-Backed Gull eagerly feeding in the surf, and also seemingly limping.

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011 

 Then the reason for his limp became apparent.  He was dragging a fishing lure with hook attached.  Thankfully, it seems that the line was only wrapped around his leg and the hook was not digging into flesh.  Nonetheless, it was difficult to watch this bird knowing that there was nothing I could due to help it.

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Immature Great Black-Backed Gull -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

 I could only hope that this bird would free himself of the lure before the hook penetrated his flesh.   Now how did he get this lure?  Was it an accident that occurred as he was flying by a casting fisherman, for example?  Or was it because the lure was left as litter on a beach?   

          Next, I turned my attention to the shore birds, egrets and herons fishing and resting in the gullies on the inlet side of the beach.  I found a number of small peeps of which I could not capture good images as the light was beginning to fade.  They included Western Sandpipers, Black-Bellied Plovers, Semi-Palmated Plovers, and Sanderlings.  I also found a Lesser Yellow-Legs, a few Marbled Godwit, several Willets and  some Ruddy Turnstones.  I was able to obtain a decent photo of the American Oystercatchers.

American Oystercatcher -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

          The Great Egret fished calmly and pretty much ignored the feisty Snowy Egrets disputing fishing territories.
       

Great Egret -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Snowy Egrets -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Snowy Egrets -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

         Then, I spotted this notorious fellow, the infamous Tri-Colored Heron (hybrid?), who was the subject of much discussion in e-mails, on Carolina Bird Listserv and the ID-Frontiers listserv this past summer. 

Tri-Colored Heron (hybrid or not?) -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Tri-Colored Heron (hybrid or not?) -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

His unusual coloration and larger size caused some to initially identify him as a Reddish Egret.  I had seen and photographed this bird at the inlet in early summer.  I had never doubted his identity as a Tri-Colored Heron but I had noticed his unusually dark belly.  So when some fellow birders posted his picture to the Carolina Bird Club photo gallery calling him a Reddish Egret, I e-mailed the webmaster of the site and questioned the ID.  What ensued was much discussion on the Carolina Bird Listserv and on the ID-Frontiers listserv of the possibility of this bird being a hybrid Tri-Colored Heron / Reddish Egret or even a Tri-Colored Heron / Little Blue Heron.  The discussions were informative, but inconclusive.  Finally, it was noted that the only way to know for certain would be to gather either scat or a feather from this bird and to submit it for DNA analysis.

         Interestingly enough, on this day in September, I was able to capture this different bird in photos side-by-side with this true Tri-Colored Heron in the photo below.

A "normal" Tri-Colored Heron -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

A "normal" Tri-colored Heron with the "different" Tri-Colored Heron (hybrid or morph?) -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

A "normal" Tri-colored Heron with the "different" Tri-Colored Heron (hybrid or morph?) -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

The size and coloration differences are remarkable.  But I will also note, to my eyes personally, that the supposed differences in dimensions only seem to relate to the size difference. The jizz seems to be the same.  Of course, no one has taken actual measurements.   I am no expert, but I prefer to think of this bird as a Tri-Colored Heron in a strange morph rather than as a hybrid.  Again, unless DNA analysis is done to ascertain genetic make-up, no definitive answer can be given and we are all left with our individual opinions.  Thus, enough said.

         Having spent considerable time at the inlet and with that summer storm still pending on the horizon, I decided that I had taken advantage of all the photo opportunities afforded to me that day by Captain Sams Spit.  I turned away from the inlet to walk back towards Beachwalker Park where I had parked.  Apparently, silly me, I was wrong about exhausting the photo opportunities.  Nature can surprise you if you are even a little bit observant.   A Willet happily caught this crab for lunch and began to devour it in front of me!

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

Willet with crab -- Captain Sams Inlet, Kiawah Island -- September 4, 2011

           The above photo is the last shot my dying camera battery could manage.  So, indeed, it was time to head for the house.   I was quite happy with another great day of birding and photography at Captain Sams Spit!