114th CBC South Carolina Regional Summary

By Dennis M. Forsythe, Ph.D

This summary is dedicated to Barry Lowes and Charlotte White, compilers of the Hilton Head Is CBC and to Olvis Spencer, complier of the Sun City-Okatie CBC.  All three are retiring after many years of service.  We wish them well in their future endeavors.  There were 26 counts conducted during the 114th CBC count period, one less than during the 113th.  The main event this season was the weather.  While the Santee N.W.R. count experienced unseasonably warm weather so that count participants had to watch for Eastern Cottonmouths, 13 counts (50%) experienced fog, high wind, heavy rain, or some combination of these resulting in fewer participants and lower numbers and species of birds.  There was no noticeable winter finch or Red-breasted Nuthatch irruption this winter.  But very cold weather further north produced an influx of sea ducks including White-winged Scoter especially on inland lakes.

Hilton Head with 186 and Sun City-Okatie with 160 had the most participants.  Sixteen counts had 15-51 participants, while eight counts had 14 or fewer counters.  Half of the counts had feeder watchers; while 18 counts did some owling.

Despite the poor weather on count day, the Coastal McClellanville was the top count with 175 species.  The highest Coastal Plains-Sand hills count was Santee N.W.R. (129 species), while the top Piedmont/Mountain Count was Keowee (88).

There were nine coastal counts.  The weather-plagued ACE Basin count (141 species) had one new species, Least Bittern; three record counts: Gadwall, American Bittern, and four Merlins; and eight new lows including only one Black-bellied Whistling-Duck.  New species to the Charleston count (148) were Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Nelson's Sparrow, and Baltimore Oriole.  A reported Townsend's Warbler was later rejected by the SC Bird Record Committee.  There were four new highs including four Peregrine Falcons and five Wilson's Plovers.  Among the eight new lows at ACE Basin were declining species like American Black Duck and Field Sparrow.  Rain reduced the total for Hilton Head (133).  Notable were a remarkable 302 Anhingas and a feeder visiting male Summer Tanager.  Litchfield-Pawley's Island (155) had their first Eared Grebe and Painted Bunting.  There were seven new highs including: Wild Turkey, Snowy Egret, Sora and Virgina rails, Pileated Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, and Golden-crowned Kinglet.  They also had four lows: Red-throated loon, Northern Gannet, and the rapidly declining Northern Bobwhite and American Kestrel.  Heavy rains devastated the Low Country CBC (115) but they still had four new species: Gadwall, Common Eider, Wilson's Plover, and Gray Catbird.  A record count of 21 was encouraging for the endangered Piping Plover. The McClellanville count (175) had their first Sandwich Tern and a record 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls but 15 new lows reflecting the heavy rains throughout the day. The 2nd Sea Island count (154) also had very poor weather—cold with high winds.  They had 19 new species, notable among them were an Ipswich race Savannah Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, Long-tailed Duck, and White-winged Scoter.  High winds and heavy rains also affected the Sun City-Okatie count (128).  Yet they had two new species, Black Scoter and Painted Bunting, and 12 new highs including 17 Horned Grebes, 28 Wild Turkeys,  and 249 Black Vultures.  Seven lows including the declining Rusty Blackbird.  Winyah Bay (168) had four new species: Cattle Egret, Wilson's Plover, an Archilochus sp. hummingbird, and Bachman's Sparrow.  There were 29 new highs with some remarkable numbers: 596 American White Pelicans, 1026 Brown Pelicans, eight American Bitterns, 66 Bald Eagles, and 31 Purple Sandpipers.  There were nine new lows including Mallard and Mottled Duck.

Fourteen counts were held in the Coastal Plains and Sandhills.  Aiken (82) had their first Ruby-throated Hummingbird; also tallied were record numbers of Fish Crows and Eastern Bluebirds but a new low for the troubled and declining Field Sparrow.  The Carolina Sandhills N.W.R. CBC (69) only lasted from 0645 to 1300 hours.  Horned Grebe and Osprey were new; there were record counts of Eastern Phoebe, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, White-crowned Sparrow (7), and Northern Cardinal but record lows of Ring-necked Duck, Black Vulture, Killdeer, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Palm Warbler.

Rains affected the Columbia count (70), where Anhinga was new and high counts were reached for Ruddy Duck, Sharp-shined Hawk, and Eurasian Collared-Dove (a declining species because of Cooper's Hawk predation?).  Red-headed and Pileated woodpeckers and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had new lows.  Despite some light rain, Congaree National Park (109) had a banner day because of the addition of a couple of private properties, one intensively managed for waterfowl resulting in 11 new species, seven of which were waterfowl, and 21 new highs, nine of which were waterfowl. There were some remarkable numbers including 15,158 Wood Ducks (the North American high), 1459 Green-winged Teal, and 3001 Ruddy Ducks.   Other notable news birds were King Rail, Sandhill Crane, Northern Parula, and Yellow Warbler.  Four Hole Swamp (103) recorded its highest species total in its 5-year existence.  Highlights there included nine species of warblers, two new sparrows (Le Conte's and Vesper), as well as five others (Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Great Horned Owl, Sora, and Horned Grebe).  There were high numbers of Fish Crow (1702), Ruddy Duck (41), Savannah Sparrow (462), and Swamp Sparrow (424) but low numbers of Yellow-rumped Warbler (530) and Rusty Blackbird (5) which is surprising considering the potential habitat in the count circle.  New to the Lower Saluda Count (81) was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Spotted Sandpiper, Bonaparte's and Herring gulls, Great Horned Owl, Bared Owl, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, and Orange-crowned Warbler reached new highs; while Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Egret, Red-tailed Hawk, and House Sparrow reached new lows.  An immature Brown Pelican was a surprise find on the PeeDee CBC (84) as was an adult male Wilson's Warbler.  Also new there was a Merlin.  American Robin and Baltimore Oriole reached record counts.  Hooded Merganser and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher reached new lows as did the declining Field Sparrow.  Sadly no American Kestrels were seen.  Light rain all day reduced the numbers of participants and species on the Pinewood count (95).  This is reflected in the 33 new lows.  Yet there were four new species: Bufflehead, Sora, Common Gallinule, and Bonaparte's Gull.  Ttere were 5 new highs including 103 Wild Turkey and an encouraging 111 Rusty Blackbirds.  The Santee N.W.R. count (129) experienced record high temperatures.  One area was not covered because of reduction in Refuge staff.  Notable was a count week Red-necked Grebe.   American White Pelican and Great Black-backed Gull were new.  There were record counts of Tundra Swans, Winter and Sedge wrens, and a remarkable 20 Laughing Gulls.  But there were 11 new lows including the declining American Kestrel and Loggerhead Shrike.  Despite the good weather, the Savannah River Site (101) had few soaring birds. A photographed Black-throated Green Warbler and a well described Veery were new.  Both birds were probably late migrants.  A new boat team gave better coverage with record counts of Canvasbacks but some duck numbers were down, especially on Par Pond.  A  Red-breasted Nuthatch was one of the few reported this season.  Grasshopper and Bachman's sparrows were found but no Henslow's.  At least 14 species had new lows including Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, and Rusty Blackbirds, all species with declining population trends.

Seven Piedmont/Mountain counts were done.  Clemson (62) was hammered by heavy rain all day resulting in limited participation and low number of species.  Tundra Swan was the only new species there.  The Keowee count (88) in its 2nd year had 14 new species including nine White-winged and one Black scoter.  A count of 169 Black Vultures was remarkable.  Also two Red-breasted Nuthatches and one Purple Finch were notable.  Long Cane (69) had a Redhead new to the count, 28 American Coots were a record high count, and nine new lows including Bald Eagle and American Kestrel.  North Greenville (85) had three new species: Snow Goose, Red-breasted Merganser, and a well-documented Calliope Hummingbird.  There were eight high counts including 314 Blue Jays, and 10 new lows including the declining House Sparrow.  New for the Rocky River Count (68) was a Eurasian Collared-Dove and there were 14 new lows including the declining Loggerhead Shrike.  Spartenburg (87) experienced 34 mph winds.  An immature Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a feeder was new there.  Bald Eagle and Rufous Hummingbird were also noteworthy. There were record counts of 46 Eastern Phoebe and 83 Eastern Towhee.  Wild Turkey numbers were down and there were only two Northern Bobwhites.  The usually common Savannah Sparrow was also absent.  The York-Rock Hill count (55) had two new species: Great Egret and Cooper's Hawk, and five new lows: American Kestrel, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, and Eastern Meadowlark.