Each February, a world-wide birding event is held called the Great Backyard Bird Count. The event encourages people to get out and share their love of birds. As of Tuesday evening, with submissions still coming in, eBird reported 7,769 species reported in almost 285,000 checklists worldwide.
SIB members’ checklists are among those numbers. We asked individuals to also share their submissions with SIB. plus We also had 3 organized activities. To date, 32 individuals have participated with a resulting 92 species seen on 33 checklists. But the numbers don’t tell the story.
Some of the individual reports are among the most interesting. Gina Sanders had an invasion of American Goldfinches. In discussions with other members, these winter residents were making good work of many members’ feeders. She also has a recurring Pine Siskin visiting her feeder in Greer. Interestingly, Joleen Ardaiolo also had a Pine Siskin visiting her Bird Buddy feeder on Seabrook Island. Unfortunately, Joleen couldn’t report it since the camera in the feeder saw it but she did not.
The weekend was also the annual Winter Baltimore Oriole Survey. Patricia Schaefer, Jennifer Jerome and Joleen Ardaiolo had this beautiful specie visit their feeders. Jennifer was able to capture “her bird” multiple times including snacking on its grape jelly.
In addition to the Baltimore Oriole, Jennifer Jerome had 31 species on her list for Friday. A White-eyed Vireo, a Golden-crowned Kinglet and Red-shouldered are among the species.
Dean Morr had a life bird…. his first Black-and-White Warbler. From the comfort of his backyard, he also saw a Wood Stork walking down the tidal creek and on another day 6 juvenile White Ibis checked out the area. The only Wild Turkeys reported by SIB members was also seen in his backyard.
On Friday, 11 people enjoyed a beautiful afternoon on North Beach. (Yes, your backyard can be anywhere you see birds). The usual suspects of Brown Pelicans, Sanderlings and Willets were among the 30 species seen. Our resident Oyster Catcher U5 and it’s mate were also seen. 270 Red Knots were seen as well as a juvenile Great Black-Backed Gull (I wish I had been there to see this).
Sunday was the day for a variety of SIB walks. The day started at 8:00am in the Club Maintenance Area then on to the Equestrian Center. 7 Lesser Scaup were the “rarest” siting (for Seabrook Island) among the 34 species. But maybe more interesting was that the greatest activity was in a bush/cinder block pile in the corner of the maintenance area. We don’t know what attracted all the birds but we saw Song Sparrows, an Orange-crowned Warbler, Palm Warblers, Carolina Wrens, House Wrens and other birds in an area that was unattractive to us.
On our way to Palmetto Lake, a few of us caught a glimpse of the Great Horned Owl. At Palmetto Lake, 33 species were seen. It’s always fun to see all the birds that don’t seem to mind all the people, dogs and bikes in the area. One Double-crested Cormorant was distracted by a peer who wanted the huge fish it had caught. Unfortunately for the birds, the fish got away. Amazingly, 2 Green Heron were seen along the edge of the lake. They must not have read the chapter that said they don’t return to South Carolina until Mid-March or April.
SIB’s walk down Boardwalk 2 then Bobcat Trail and Six Ladies trail was a nice walk but had no surprises in the 43 species seen. Jenkins Point was a good end to a long day. 27 species were seen including our first Snowy Egret, Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills of the day. For the organized walks of the day, a total of 64 species were seen.
The Great Backyard Bird Count continued through Monday. SIB again participated as a group with birding at Crooked Oaks Golf course. We split into two groups and not surprising saw some different birds. Both groups got a good view of a Black-and-white Warbler. An Eastern Phoebe nicely posed on a hazard stake for both groups to see….it must have known it was SIB’s bird of the week. The highlight for one group was seeing a beautiful male Painted Bunting on a millet feeder along the course. Between the two groups, 45 species were seen. The species with the highest number were the beautiful Cedar Waxwings that continued to fly over the course and roost in trees as if to say “look at me”.
The weather cooperated for 4 days of Great Backyard Birding. I look forward to participating again next year.
Submitted by: Judy Morr
SIB 