Huntington State Park & Other Beach Locations 2018

Fabulous opportunities.  This is just a fraction of what I've seen.

Great Blue Heron, sandbar between North Pawleys and Litchfield

Laughing Gull with dinner

Painted Bunting singing from the top of a tree - must be an immature because of the changing color.

Painted Bunting at feeder

Immature Little Blue Heron - mottled due to changing colors

Anhinga saying "Praise Jesus!"  (actually drying his wings as they do sometimes)

Clapper Rail - the standard "marsh hen" of the coast - very secretive.  We've watched her several times run across the yard from one marsh to the other, sometimes with babies in tow.

Immature Summer Tanager

Two Prothonotary Warblers.  I tried so hard to get a good close-up picture of one, but it was not to be.

The picture of the day.  Seven Roseate Spoonbills with a snowy egret in the middle.  Lifers for us.

Dickcissel

Photos I got tonight of a dickcissel at Dobbins Farm Ponds.

Local Osprey Nest

This osprey nest is right on the main highway along the way to school!

Recent Birding

I've finally been able to get back on here after a break of several months.  Still doing it in a round about way, but it works.

This is the brown booby that was seen for about a month at Furman University.  According to the range maps, it should not be anywhere north of Miami, Florida.  Viewed early May, 2018

Dickcissel, Dobbins Farm Ponds, 6/12/18

Indigo Bunting, Dobbins Farm Ponds, 6/7/18

Prairie Warbler, Dobbins Farm Ponds, 6/12/18

New Bird at Feeder / New Lifer

Orange-crowned warbler.  Very non-distinct, no wing bars, orange crown very rarely seen.  It matches online pics and pics in Peterson field guide.

Feeders Going Crazy this Morning 1/17/18

We got a somewhat unexpected snow last night - Woke up to a dusting this morning, which continued until about 9:30.  I'd say we have about an inch out there.  No school, as the roads are not expected to warm up.  

The feeders have been like an airport.  We sat and enjoyed the traffic for about half an hour, and I got a few pictures.  I've enjoyed seeing the feeders finally get some decent action.  For some reason it's been slow this year.

Goldfinch - thistle feeder

Love this shot of a downy at the suet (which is snow-covered)

Downy is blurry in this one, and I think that's a pine warbler underneath, but this shot is included because of the red showing on the head of the ruby-crowned kinglet!

Another goldfinch, this time on the sunflower seeds.

I've never seen a robin in the trees near the feeders.  I'm not too crazy about robins to begin with, but seeing this one perched in the trees above the feeders, I had to get a pic of it.

I'm also not too crazy about red-winged blackbirds at the feeders, but I guess they've got to eat also.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler.  Also fondly known in the bird world as a "butter butt."

The obligatory snow photo of a cardinal

White-throated sparrow.  I didn't catch the head but wanted to document.  They are not common.  Two types exist - this one has brown and beige head stripes.  Another has black and white stripes.  I actually saw one of the other type very briefly this morning.

Pine warbler at the suet.

The behavior of the birds is fascinating to watch.  Some are alpha birds and the others know not to come around.  I watched the kinglet trying to get suet from the bottom without bothering the downy woodpecker which was gorging.

Most fascinating - All the birds left in one fell swoop.  Two or three seconds later, a Cooper's Hawk came swooping down.  Three cardinals in one tree were stock still for about ten minutes after the hawk left.  Amazing to watch.

Red on Ruby Crowned

We've had a ruby crowned kinglet, actually many of them, at our feeders over the years.  Today we saw the ruby crown, and we saw it many times.  The bird was feeding a good bit of the time, due to the extreme cold.