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Savannah NWR, 1/14/2001




Carroll Richard, Kathleen O'Grady and I ventured out to Savannah NWR
yesterday.  They were searching for the White-faced Ibis but I was just
hoping for Redheads.  While we found lots of ducks and even a dark Ibis,
neither target bird was found.  We found a nice selection of ducks,
including many Shoveler (easily the most numerous duck species), Gadwalls,
Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, and one
lone Ruddy Duck.  We found good numbers of American Coots and Common
Moorhens.  We found Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons and even
Black-crowned Night-herons in the marshes.  An American Bittern was seen
briefly by Kathleen.

The most interesting bird of the day, however, was a songbird.  Around the
restrooms at the beginning of Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, we found a
Yellow-breasted Chat hanging around in the underbrush with many
White-throated and Song Sparrows.  I had heard Chats winter in small numbers
on the southern coast but that is one of those things you really don't
believe until you see it.  But it was a Chat.  In winter, that yellow breast
is shocking against a background of brown and gray, fallen leaves and bare
branches, a different experience from finding warblers in the spring, when
their bright colors seem more apropos among the greening leaves and
wildflowers.  Running a close second in interest was a Rusty Blackbird, seen
well by all of us.

Another interesting bird of the day was unfortunately seen only by myself
and only very briefly.  I was lucky enough to glimpse the back half of what
I think was a King Rail based on my size estimate and the intensity of color
I could see on the flanks and breast.  It was enough.  Any look at a rail
is, as I said,  just luck, anyway.

It was a pleasant day and it was pleasant to bird in shirtsleeves for a
change, rather than three or four layers of clothing.

   
Donna Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"