On April 11-13 a select group of this year's ornithology students spent the weekend along the South Carolina coast. Saturday we birded in Huntington Beach State Park and Sunday we drove down the coast to the Santee Coastal (Mosquito) Reserve.

Some of the birds we saw, captured via digi-scoping:

 
Snowy Egret.

  
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (not a great picture, but this bird was a long way away!)

Common Ground Dove.

Wilson's Plover.

Ruddy Turnstone molting into his alternate (breeding) plumage.

Pop-quiz on tern identification! Name these species.

The boardwalk through the cypress swamp in Santee. Wonderful habitat, full to the brim with Prothonotary Warblers!

SOUTH CAROLINA BEACH TRIP
11-13 APRIL 2003

The Un-annotated List:

Common Loon x
Pied-billed Grebe x
Red-necked Grebe x
Northern Gannet x
American White Pelican x
Brown Pelican x
Double-crested Cormorant x
Anhinga x
Least Bittern x
Great Blue Heron x
Great Egret x
Snowy Egret x
Little Blue Heron x
Tricolored (Louisiana) Heron x
Cattle Egret x
Green-backed Heron x
Black-crowned Night Heron x
Yellow-crowned Night Heron x
White Ibis o
Glossy Ibis x
Wood Stork x
Canada Goose x
Wood Duck x
Mottled Duck x
Mallard x
Blue-winged Teal x
Bufflehead x
Red-breasted Merganser x
Black Vulture x
Turkey Vulture x
Osprey x
Bald Eagle x
Northern Harrier x
Red-shouldered Hawk x
Red-tailed Hawk t
American Kestrel x
Merlin x
Clapper Rail x
King Rail x
Virginia Rail h
Common Moorhen x
American Coot x
Black-bellied Plover x
Wilson's Plover x
Semipalmated Plover x
Piping Plover x
American Oystercatcher x
Black-necked Stilt x
Greater Yellowlegs x
Lesser Yellowlegs x
Willet x
Spotted Sandpiper x
Whimbrel x
Ruddy Turnstone x
Sanderling x
Purple Sandpiper x
Dunlin x
Short-billed Dowitcher x
Laughing Gull x
Bonaparte's Gull x
Ring-billed Gull x
Herring Gull x
Caspian Tern x
Royal Tern x
Sandwich Tern x
Forster's Tern x
Rock Dove x
Mourning Dove x
Common Ground Dove x
Yellow-billed Cuckoo o
Ruby-throated Hummingbird o
Belted Kingfisher x
Red-headed Woodpecker x
Red-bellied Woodpecker x
Downy Woodpecker x
Red-cockaed Woodpecker x
Pileated Woodpecker x
Eastern Wood Peewee x
Great-crested Flycatcher x
Purple Martin x
Tree Swallow x
Barn Swallow x
Blue Jay x
American Crow x
Fish Crow x
Carolina Chickadee x
Tufted Titmouse x
Brown-headed Nuthatch x
Carolina Wren x
Long-billed Marsh Wren o
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher x
Eastern Bluebird x
Gray Catbird x
Northern Mockingbird x
Brown Thrasher x
Cedar Waxwing x
European Starling x
White-eyed Vireo x
Red-eyed Vireo h
Northern Parula Warbler x
Yellow-rumped Warbler x
Yellow-throated Warbler x
Pine Warbler x
Prairie Warbler x
Palm Warbler x
Prothonotary Warbler x
Common Yellowthroat x
Summer Tanager o
Northern Cardinal x
Indigo Bunting x
Painted Bunting o
Eastern Towhee x
Bachman's Sparrow h
Chipping Sparrow h
Savannah Sparrow x
Swamp Sparrow o
White-throated sparrow x
Red-winged Blackbird x
Eastern Meadowlark t
Boat-tailed Grackle x
Common Grackle x
Brown-headed Cowbird x
House Finch x
Total species seen                                110
Total species heard only                         4
Total species only by the other group  7

GRAND TOTAL                                   121