Mesmerized by Shorebirds at Breach Inlet, Sullivan's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Black Skimmers and Ring-billed Gulls at Breech Inlet, Sullivan's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

            After spending a day birding from the window and at the computer last Saturday, I was ready for a change of pace.  The eBird reports to which I subscribe had listed several birds that I wanted to add to my year list all within the Mount Pleasant & Sullivan's Island areas.  The most intriguing reports came from birders who had stopped at Breech Inlet with a sighting of 30 Purple Sandpipers!  Oh my word!  It is sometimes difficult to get just one Purple Sandpiper in our area.  Thirty of them!  Breech Inlet was definitely a stop on the itinerary for Sunday.

           I arrived at about noon on a rising tide.  Upon arrival, I noted immediately Savannah Sparrows in the brush near the parking area.

Savannah Sparrow -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

 
I also immediately noted a large flock of Laughing Gulls and Black Skimmers, all tucked-in ...

Click on the photo for a larger version -- Black Skimmers & Laughing Gulls -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

... as well as an abundance of Ring-billed Gulls, many of whom appeared to be looking for a handout.  The juveniles played chase across the shrubbery.   

Ring-billed Gulls -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

      The eBird reports had indicated that the desired birds, the Purple Sandpipers, would be on the first rock groin south of the bridge.  So after attempting to count the skimmers, I headed past the rock groin to look for the birds in good light.  And there they were!  About 16 (upon initial count) of them, along with multiple Ruddy Turnstones, some Willets and some Red Knots!  What a bounty!

Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, & Red Knots -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014       Click on the photo for a larger version.

 

Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, & Red Knots -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014       Click on the photo for a larger version.

       I could observe the birds at a decent range without disturbing them.  I hoped that if I stayed in one spot without moving much, that the incoming tide would push some of them closer for better photos.  As I waited, I was entertained by some closeby willets.

Willet --  Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014      

Willet -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

         Then, to my delight, this guy showed up and swam towards me -- He came within 20 feet before turning away!  What a show-off!

Bottlenosed Dolphin -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Bottlenosed Dolphin -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Thank you, Mr. Bottlenosed Dolphin for being so cooperative!  They are hard to photograph unless the slow down and keep their heads up out of the water. 

         As the tide rose, more Ruddy Turnstones and a few more Purple Sandpipers flew in.  The rocks were becoming more slippery (even for a shorebird) and more crowded.

Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, & Red Knots -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

My opportunities for good shots increased as the tide rose.  I was completely mesmerized by the Purple Sandpipers -- thrilled to see SO many at one time and at relatively close range.  Due to my lack of movement, the birds became more accustomed to me and approached closer and closer.  It was thrilling to see and shoot them.  Clickety-click!  I could not stop taking pictures!  Now, you are going to see just how good it got!  Here are the best of the photos in the order they were taken.  

Red Knot arriving and settling among Ruddy Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers -- Breach Inlet, Sullivan's Island, SC       January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper --  Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Willet -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Sanderling -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Ruddy Turnstone and Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

A group of Ruddy Turnstones and Red Knots flew to the beach to bathe and a decent sized group of Purple Sandpipers joined them  I had never seen them ever leave a rock for the beach before. 

Ruddy Turnstone -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper surrounded by Red Knots primarily -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

An altercation between two Purple Sandpipers -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Ruddy Turnstones and a Red Knot -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- After eating & bathing, comes sleeping! -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Red Knot -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

A plump Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Inter-species co-mingling?  There's plenty of room on that rock! -- Purple Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Now how do they do that without shaking their whole bodies?  It seems he lost his beak!  -- Purple Sandpiper & Ruddy Turnstone -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

A good head shake cures everything!  -- Ruddy Turnstone -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

A group were still handing out on the beach -- Purple Sandpipers with Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones & Willets -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014  Click on the picture for a larger version. 

Black Skimmers & Ring-billed Gull -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpipers -- more napping -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper portrait -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

Purple Sandpiper -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

          OK, so maybe I have gone bit overboard for these delightful birds.  I spent 1.5 hours there on that little piece of beach observing and photographing the wildlife.  It certainly was the best part of my day.  I consider every moment of that time as fundamentally awesome!  I counted and reported 32 Purple Sandpipers but now I am wondering if I under-counted them.  When I made my final tally, I counted the group on the beach and the group on the rock at the time that I took this photo.  Take a look at it -- remember to click on it to get the larger version -- and you tell me how many Purple Sandpipers you see! 

Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Red Knots & Willets -- Breach Inlet, Sullivans's Island, SC -- January 26, 2014

         I lose count every time I try!  It is almost like trying to estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar because you know some of them are hiding!  Have fun and tell me what you think!  Or, take a trip out to Breach Inlet and then tell me how many you see!  

"Birding" Out the Window and on the Net Saturday, January 25, 2014!

Baltimore Oriole -- Parc Perlière -- James Island -- Charleston, SC -- January 25, 2014

         We woke up to a temperature of 26F Saturday morning.   It was just a bit too cold to keep the sugar water from freezing and thus the work lamp was used to provide a heat source until the sun came up.  Though the four day work week made for a short week overall, I had put in significant hours planning, writing and researching materials for the new course that I am teaching.  As such, Saturday, I needed time at home to catch up on reading e-mails and finding out what has been happening in the birding world before I ventured forth for outdoor birding this weekend.  And, I must say, it was great to simply sit at the dining room window and watch my birds.  All of the usual suspects showed up, including our female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird -- Parc Perlière -- James Island -- Charleston, SC -- January 25, 2014

Since I often go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, I do not have an opportunity to observe our birds as much as I would like.  So I chose well to just sit and watch our birds while I surfed the net.

        And now, I can share with you some of the interesting "birding world" stories that I have learned on my morning of surfing.  First, a previously unknown, record-breaking 16,000 mile migration route for a rare little Scottish bird, the Red-necked Phalarope, has been discovered by researchers in Scotland.  It had been previously thought that this bird flew south to the Arabian Sea like its Scandinavian brethren.  Via geo-locator technology, researchers found that the Scottish population is flying across the Atlantic (via Iceland & Greenland), then down the Eastern Seaboard, across the Carribean and Mexico to sites on the shores of Peru and Ecuador where it joins other Red-necked Phalaropes that have migrated from places such as Alaska.  You can read more detail and view a video about this discovery in this BBC article.   

        By surfing around the net yesterday, I discovered a new soon-to-be released (March in select theatres and for streaming) award-winning birding movie, A Birder's Guide to Everything!  Yea! The story line features high school-aged bird nerds in pursuit of a possible new species!  Take a look at this one minute preview and a gander at the facebook page.  Then, add it to your Netflix queue ... or better yet, maybe it will show in a theatre near you.  Hey, besides the teen actors, Ben Kingsley has a prominent role in this film.   Personally,  I cannot wait!

         To finish off this post, I will add just one more gem that I found from my surfing the net.  Believe me, there are more! -- which I will share very soon.  Right now, though, it is time to put this post out there.  I have multiple topics to cover on new discoveries, so stay tuned.  Here is the final gem for this post:  Imagine if you were a bird what you might see as you fly over our planet! -- Here are 27 Incredible Views You'd Only See If You Were a Bird!  Enjoy, my birding friends!

Birding My Way Into January -- New Year's Day!

         Indeed, I have been birding my way into January.  How I love this time of year!  The Lowcountry is at its birdiest with all of our winter-vacationing species.  Christmas Bird Counts continue up to January 5!  And over the Christmas holidays, my 2 weeks of vacation stretch over into January!  Knowing that I had to return to work on the 6th, I decided to "bird on" (borrowing a phrase from my friend, Pam) those first 5 days of the year.  This short post focuses on our New Year's Day's forays into the rain for the birds!

         My regular readers may recall the post script from my last post in which I wondered if the Great Horned Owl that I was hearing at 11:40 pm on New Year's Eve --- my last bird of 2013 --- would be my first bird of 2014.  If that owl was hooting just past midnight, I would never had heard him due to the loud, continuous booms, crackles and pops of the fireworks.  If I had been that owl, I would have flown as far away as I could.  As it turns out, when my "helpful" cat woke me up at 5 am, the owl was hooting again!  And thus, my last bird of 2013 was my first bird of 2014 -- the Great Horned Owl.

         The weather forecast for January 1 proved to be accurate -- dreary and drizzling with heavier rains predicted for the afternoon.  But at midnight, I had seen my year eBird list count tick over to ZERO.  The challenge was on.  I needed to put some birds down for the New Year!  Of course, with a birdy yard, I can get a decent set of species just looking out my windows.  Looking at the forecast and considering that I had another Christmas Bird count coming up on Sunday, I actually considered staying in.  But Carl had an errand to run -- transporting a kayak stored at my family home on Schooner Creek (James Island) to a friend in West Ashley -- and he needed my assistance.  This West Ashley location is rather close to Magnolia Gardens.  Last year, we had birded there on another gloomy (weather-wise) January 1.  It really is a great place to start a New Year's list (we are talking birds, not resolutions)!  We could and would bird there after the kayak delivery.  Thus, we loaded the car with binocs, cameras and rain gear and set forth.

        Birding from the dock at my family home proved to be very productive -- Bald Eagles, Brown Pelicans, American Oystercatchers, Cedar Waxwings, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Clapper Rails, Willets, Double-Crested Cormorants, Little Blue Heron, Ring-billed Gulls, etc.   It was all quite good!  After the kayak delivery, we continued to Magnolia Gardens.  The rain was just an intermittent, light drizzle but we knew more was coming so we limited our visit to the Audubon Swamp.  As we came in the entrance, we drove by the Audubon Swamp.  We noted a white bird in among the Canada Geese.  I thought it was probably just domestic hybrid duck that had found its way into the swamp.  But we stopped and checked.  It had all the features of a Snow Goose!  So we continued to the entrance, checked in and returned to the swamp to confirm our ID.  YES!  A Snow Goose had come to the Audubon Swamp to hang out with the Canada Geese!

Snow Goose -- Audubon Swamp at Magnolia Gardens -- Charleston, SC -- January 1, 2014

          We continued to bird around the busy swamp.  The birds were quite active before the heavier rains began.  We accumulated a variety of passerines for our New Year's Day list with my favorites being the Black and White Warbler and the Hermit Thrush.  We noted that a couple of pairs of Great Blue Herons were already nest building!  We worked our way towards the far end of the swamp to find more ducks.  We had already noted both Blue-Winged and Green-Winged Teal.  We found a strong flock of Gadwall and  with a solo American Wigeon.  Of course, the entertaining Pied-Billed Grebes had mixed in as well!

          We soon needed to leave as the drizzle had turned into a downpour and it was close to 5 pm.  We had spent quite a nice day birding together!  No longer would my eBird list read ZERO -- I had saw 61 species for the day.  My favorite birds of the day were the Great Horned Owl and the Snow Goose!  I felt pretty darn good about how I starting my year -- Birding!   Happy Birdy New Year's Day!

Snow Goose -- Audubon Swamp -- Magnolia Plantation and Gardens -- January 1, 2014