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Santee NWR, 12/4/99
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Santee NWR, 12/4/99
- From: Jerrold Griggs <griggs@math.sc.edu>
- Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1999 00:32:49 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi!
I couldn't make the trip to Huntington Beach on Saturday. So, instead,
I ventured down to Santee NWR Sunday afternoon in search of sparrows,
etc. I had gone down last weekend on Saturday, after reading Tim
Kalbach's reports here, but was disappointed to discover that the
Cuddo Unit is closed on Saturdays from Sept. through Dec. Keep this
in mind if you are planning the same trip! The roads near there were
lined with many hunters that Saturday (none this Sunday).
I first checked the short trail at the Bluff Unit. Notable finds
there from the short boardwalk viewpoint, along with perhaps a couple of
hundred Canada Geese were:
3 Tundra Swans
10 Snow Geese (4 Blue, 6 White)
A displaying male Golden-Crowned Kinglet was also a treat there.
I headed up to Summerton, where I saw a fabulous rainbow just before
3pm (a low one, due to the early hour, but very wide and bright)
and, in parallel above it, a faint, but complete, second rainbow.
The double rainbow was Hawaii-grade!
Driving from there over to the Cuddo Unit of the Refuge, the birds
were active in the fields (sicklepod and grasses) along the road
starting at the entrance. Perhaps 30 E. Meadowlarks were flying
around. After carefully checking dozens of sparrows (seemingly all
Savannah), I got lucky and found a
*LeConte's Sparrow*
which stayed put long enough for me to get a scope on it and study it!
This was a lifer for me. It was a special find for me because this
species is named after my office building at work.
Well, maybe I have that mixed up. (I do indeed work in LeConte;
The LeConte brothers were at USC (east) at one time, before heading west...)
I was also surprised to hear the call of a
Common Loon (coming from Lake Marion, most likely!).
-----
I, too, can report a Brown Creeper at home, yesterday, in the Irmo
area of Columbia, our first of the season.
A more colorful sight this holiday season, which surprised me, has
been to see Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers apparently going after
Dogwood berries, besides their typical boring and monitoring holes.
-----
Happy Holidays,
Jerry Griggs j@sc.edu
Columbia, SC