Before I get too far, I just wanted to thank Linda for now 32 years of wedded bliss – well, except for the infinitesimally small fraction of time she scolds me because of a “perceived” bad choice on the trail – then she relents, puts me back together again and hops back on the “happy path” hehehe. I did admit she should get an extra year of service for what she has had to put up with these last few weeks. Restricted runners are a notoriously hard lot to deal with. The good news is the stitches are out of the elbow and everything looks really good. A ways to go before it is back to where I need it to be, but optimistic now that a lot of the swelling has dissipated and therapy has started loosening everything up. Unfortunately, photography is out of the question. Decided to take The Beast in and have it refurbished so it is ready when I’m able to lift it gain. In the meantime, we can live vicariously through another of Brad’s Huntington Beach State Park adventures. Take care everyone and thanks for all the well wishing and healing thoughts!
Take it away Brad…
This may have been obvious to many of you long-time readers of Intrigued, but Jan and I just started seeking out and photographing birds while we visit state and national parks on vacations. While we don’t necessarily chase them down, we will certainly take some time to look for what’s available wherever we are.
This is a sort of “greatest hits” post about many of the species we were able to see and photograph on a bird walk at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina, not far from Myrtle Beach. Now, having said that, please don’t all flock there (pun intended) all at once.
We were visiting the boardwalk overlook for the seaside habitats, when we bumped into a couple that had been birding for decades. He was wearing a Boston Marathon jacket, and since Jan had run the Boston marathon a few times in the past, I went up to him and said, “Hi.” We started talking and I could tell he was a bit anxious to be moving along. He introduced himself as Jack and his wife Janet, and explained they were about to be late for the bird walk that morning. During the off-season, there is one bird walk per week at 10am on Wednesdays. It was 9:58am. Off they went with Jan and I in pursuit. When we arrived, the bird walk had already started. The guide was introducing himself and telling us about the walk for the newbies (us included).
Most people at the walk had binoculars, spotting scopes, checklists or all three. Jan and I had our cameras with intermediate and long-reach zoom lenses. As the guide is talking, there are a dozen types of birds moving about. Some are flying, some are floating, others are wading, and one keeps smacking into the surface of the water, at high speed, hoping for a snack.
Hit the jump to read more about Brad and Jan’s finds at Huntington Beach State Park
It is a Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) and a +1 for me. Sporting only the black “mask” over its eyes, this one is a non-breeding adult. Breeding adults have a completely black cap and mask. This one has a small fish in its beak, but these birds won’t turn down small frogs.
Jan is up front taking photos as fast as the camera will let her. I’m in the back chatting with Jack and others about being newly retired and traveling from a much colder state to enjoy some of South Carolina’s warm weather. Some were from Michigan. Others traveled all the way (their words) from North Carolina (about 30 miles away).
Partway through the talk I asked Jack and Janet about their life list. He told me their life list included over 4,000 birds. He sometimes helps lead the bird walk on Wednesdays. But in a week or two he and Janet were flying (pun intended) off to South America, Africa, and New Zealand (I think) for some birding. And I thought South Carolina was a long way from home.
After about 45 minutes, our guide, Richard, asks if anyone would like to take the walk between the brackish pond and the freshwater pond. Most of us said we would, and off he went with the rest trailing behind.
As we left the boardwalk there were three birds just hanging around the boardwalk looking for something to snack on. This is a bird we have at home, but only from late winter to early fall. I usually hear them long before I see one. The sound takes me back to when I was about 10 years old fishing with my dad, uncle, and grandfather on Charlie’s farm pond. Remember, fishing does not imply catching.
He landed on the railing as soon as the bird walk participants left the area. There’s something about the trill of the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) that cuts right through any ambient noise and immediately transports me back to my bike, baseball, and fishing days.
Just sitting on a dead twig in a tree was this grey bird. It seemed to be making fun of the other birds. Mocking them, get it?
It’s a northern mocking bird (Mimus polyglottos). Another +1. I didn’t know that at the time. I didn’t really even find out until I downloaded the photos from the cameras and spent time looking up possible “grey birds in South Carolina”. That was the exact search phrase I typed into my favorite internet search engine.
And, who doesn’t like to see a little “butterbutt” during their bird walks? This yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata) was lounging in a tree, keeping a very close eye on us birders as we walked by.
At the next location on the bird walk (a short drive from the first spot), Richard gathered us to explain what would be next. We would be on a paved path to the other side of the park, at least ½ mile away. The path split two types of habitats so please keep our eyes open. A little way along the paved path, Richard stopped us so we would see the slightly eroded areas along the narrow path. To our right was the brackish and slightly tidal basin of water. To our left was a freshwater pond. He said the eroded parts were actually alligator “slides”. These were the favorite crossing points for the alligators.
Not ten steps later someone pointed and exclaimed “Alligators!” Wouldn’t you know, these guys were only a few feet away hiding among the reeds to our left in the freshwater.
They may have been first-year American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) based on their size, and the fact that they were still clustered together. That also meant mom may have been somewhere close by. I started identifying the slower tourists. Hehehe The gators were soaking up the midday sunshine. All were three feet or less in length. I wasn’t going to get close enough to measure them any more accurately.
Just after the alligators someone else pointed out this wood stork, just standing in the reeds on the edge of the brackish water.
Its mate was just out of frame behind some branches and reeds. Yes, a rare +1. Wood storks (Mycteria americana) are listed as a threatened species by the Federal Endangered Species Act. We were very lucky to see a pair of them. If they can survive the hazards of living “in a swamp”, wood storks can live up to 22 years in the wild. Wood storks build a fairly large and bulky nest of sticks in a tree that hangs over water. They take care of 1-5 eggs per season. Sadly, an average of only 1.5 chicks per nest survive to adulthood. We saw no evidence whatsoever that any human babies had ever been delivered by this pair.
And finally, I’ll leave you with the bird that everyone made fun of in the 1940s and 1950s B-western movies. I spotted this one near the far end of the bird walk. While everyone was still looking at the baby alligators, and counting them to make sure none doubled back behind the tour group, I saw movement in a tree just off the path. At first, I couldn’t find it, but then I saw the movement in the shadows, just above a broken branch.
I didn’t have any idea what kind of woodpecker it was, only being able to see its head and shoulders for a second or two at a time. Since the bird was so good at hiding, even Richard took a moment or three to find it. Once he saw it in the spotting scope, he said it was a yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius). Cha-ching, another +1. There were more than a few snickers in the group (a few oldsters that remember the westerns I mentioned; being called a yellow-bellied sapsucker used to be a bad thing).
At the very end of the bird walk, when nearly everyone else had left, Richard took us to the nature center boardwalk, where we spotted this critter in the water. I know, I know, it isn’t a bird. It is a raccoon (Procyon lotor). And it’s swimming through the tidal basin.
I’m not sure if it was looking for heron eggs, or trying to get out of the marsh before the water was gone stranding it on a small island of vegetation. First time I’ve ever seen a raccoon swimming.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more bird photos from our South Carolina winter escape, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
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