Venture to Townville, SC
March 20, 2005
What a day! With mostly sunny skies, a warm (most of the time) breeze and great birding all morning, the Townville area really came up trumps with a great welcome to spring. Getting to Townville never takes as long as you think and we were soon enjoying the early spring sunshine and watching newly-arrived Purple Martins circling around a gourd colony. The sides of the roads were carpeted with early Small Bluets and Field Pansies and it really did feel like spring had arrived. Horned larks were circling high overhead singing their jangling songs, and eventually we did get very close views of a male as it walked in an adjacent field. The ponds along Dobbins Road had an excellent selection of waterfowl present, including Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler and Gadwall. Tree, Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallows fed overhead while Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants fed in the shallows. It was also a day for blackbirds and we had excellent views of two males and 1 female Brewer's Blackbirds as they fed amidst the cattle. It was good to see the rich purple gloss on the heads of the males.
Lunch was near the Beaverdam WMA, where a White-eyed Vireo was singing in the still brown woodlands. Rusty Blackbirds were calling in the wetlands and we ended up with great scope views of several males. It's not often that one gets both Brewer's and Rusty Blackbirds in the same day!
The afternoon was a lot slower than the morning, but we still managed a recently arrived Louisiana Waterthrush, some migrant Bonaparte's Gull and a Eurasian Collared-Dove at an abandoned school building. The latter is certainly indicative of a spreading population. We finished the day with about 75 species, an excellent total for mid-March.
Simon Thompson
| Birds | |
| Double-crested Cormorant | Barn Swallow (4) |
| Great Blue Heron (2) | Blue Jay |
| Canada Goose | American Crow |
| Blue-winged Teal (1 pr) | Fish Crow |
| Gadwall (5+) | Carolina Chickadee |
| Northern Shoveler (8) | Tufted Titmouse |
| Green-winged Teal (10+) | Carolina Wren |
| Bufflehead (1♀) | Winter Wren (1) |
| Ring-necked Duck (10+) | Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2) |
| Ruddy Duck (1) | Eastern Bluebird |
| Black Vulture | Hermit Thrush (1) |
| Turkey Vulture | American Robin |
| Northern Harrier (2) | Northern Mockingbird |
| Cooper’s Hawk (1) | Brown Thrasher (2) |
| Red-shouldered Hawk (Heard) | American Pipit (5+) |
| Red-tailed Hawk | European Starling |
| American Kestrel (3) | White-eyed Vireo (1) |
| Killdeer | Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| Greater Yellowlegs (1) | Pine Warbler (1 pair) |
| Pectoral Sandpiper (2) | Palm Warbler (1) |
| Least Sandpiper (4) | Common Yellowthroat (2) |
| Wilson’s Snipe (2) | Louisiana Waterthrush (1) |
| Ring-billed Gull (2) | Northern Cardinal |
| Bonaparte's Gull (8+) | Eastern Towhee |
| Rock Pigeon | Chipping Sparrow |
| Mourning Dove | Field Sparrow |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove (1) | Savannah Sparrow |
| Belted Kingfisher (Heard) | Song Sparrow |
| Red-headed Woodpecker (1 adult) | Swamp sparrow (2) |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | White-throated sparrow |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Heard) | Red-winged Blackbird |
| Downy Woodpecker | Eastern Meadowlark |
| Northern Flicker | Common Grackle |
| Pileated Woodpecker | Rusty Blackbird (5+) |
| Eastern Phoebe | Brewer’s Blackbird (3) |
| Horned Lark (3) | Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Purple Martin (15+) | House Finch |
| Tree Swallow (10+) | House Sparrow |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow (4) | |
| Butterflies | |
| American Snout | |