Venture to South Carolina:

Huntington Beach State Park, Georgetown and Santee Coastal Reserve

7-8 January, 2006

Brrrr was most definitely the feeling early that morning as we started our birding trip at Huntington Beach State Park. The temperature was hovering just above freezing, but the birds were close and very obliging. We started our birding by enjoying the flock of Cave Swallows that was wintering in the park - that evening the roost was close to 40 birds - amazing. Considering that we saw more Cave Swallows than Tree Swallows this weekend was most unusual! Single Bank and Barn Swallows were also very uncommon in the winter. The shorebirds in the salt marsh were typically wintry, but offered excellent close views and we could easily differentiate between Western Sandpiper and Dunlin. Flocks of Short-billed Dowitchers and Willet also fed close to us along the causeway. Dabbling ducks were scarce, but the number and diversity of diving ducks made up for that. Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser were common, while both Scaup species and a single drake Redhead swam at the back of the lagoon. Wintering ducks were also up at the jetty, where the single female Eider allowed us excellent views, along with a very smart immature male Harlequin, several Red-breasted Mergansers and both Red-throated and Common Loons. Skeins of Northern Gannets moved north, while small numbers of Red-throated Loons were moving south - hmm, makes you wonder what was going on!

The seafood in Murrell's Inlet was also wonderful and we ate at the same restaurant for both lunch and dinner. A brief stop at Georgetown WWTP on Sunday morning added a few common species, but more time at the Santee Coastal Reserve eventually gave us great views of Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, a large flock of Pine Warblers as well as a pair of displaying Bald Eagles. We finished the weekend with more food (full again) at the excellent See Wee Restaurant. Thanks also to Dennis Forsythe for helping us out on this excellent birding weekend.