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Orangeburg sod farms and Folly Beach, 23 Sep 2000



Hi C-Birders,

Today Caroline Eastman and I decided to play hookey from Tim Kalbach's field
trip to Lynches Woods (and so missed some great birds), since the lure of
the coast immediately after the passage of a tropical storm was too great.
We spent an hour or so at the Orangeburg sod farms (Orangeburg Co., SC) on
our way down to Folly Beach (Charleston Co., SC).

Considering all the standing water there was not much at the sod farms.
Probably the most unusual bird was a Pied-billed Grebe in a rain pool on the
side of a turf field.

At Folly Beach and James Island we searched unsuccessfully for the Reddish
Egret at Fort Johnson and also for a reported Roseate Spoonbill in marshes
along Harbor View Road.  We found one good bird at Folly Beach, a great look
at an adult Black-legged Kittiwake within 50 yards of us along the beach!
(This bird was flying along the beach about 350 yards southwest of the
fishing pier). There was also a nice swallow migration under way along the
beach, mostly Barn Swallows, but also a least a few of Cliff Swallow (second
most numerous species!), Tree Swallow, and Bank Swallow. We could not change
any of the Cliff Swallows into Cave Swallows.

Here is our sod farm list:

Pied-billed Grebe -- 1
Great Egret -- 1
Snowy Egret -- 1
Turkey Vulture -- 6
Mallard -- 25 (in the pond at the Orangeburg City/County Industrial Park)
Blue-winged Teal -- 10 (in the pond and flying over the turf fields)
Bald Eagle -- 1 immature
Red-shouldered Hawk -- 1
Red-tailed Hawk -- 2
American Kestrel -- 2
Killdeer -- 50
Greater Yellowlegs -- 4
Lesser Yellowlegs -- 25
Semipalmated Sandpiper -- 6
Least Sandpiper -- 10
Pectoral Sandpiper -- 100
Common Snipe -- 8
Mourning Dove -- 20
Common Ground-Dove -- 3
Loggerhead Shrike -- 2
Blue Jay -- 2
American Crow -- 25
Horned Lark -- 20
Tree Swallow -- 10
Bank Swallow -- 10
Cliff Swallow -- 2
Barn Swallow -- 100
Carolina Chickadee -- 1
Eastern Bluebird -- 1
Northern Mockingbird -- 4
Brown Thrasher -- 1
European Starling -- 1200
Northern Cardinal -- 5
Indigo Bunting -- 1
Painted Bunting -- 1
Eastern Meadowlark -- 2
House Sparrow -- 12