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Horry & Georgetown Co. Birding



Hey Carolina Birders,

I'd been anxious to see how many bird species I could locate here along the
South Carolina coast in February.  For that reason, I birded several areas
in Horry and Georgetown counties yesterday.  These included Punchpole Road,
Hardwick Road, New Road, the Conway Sewage Ponds, Forestbrook Road, Myrtle
Beach State Park and Garden City Beach in Horry County.  Also in Horry
County, I checked the feeders of Gary Phillips and Phil and Sharon Turner as
well as my own.  In Georgetown County, I birded around Murrells Inlet, Sandy
Island Road, the south end of Pawleys Island and Huntington Beach State
Park.

Although nothing very unusual was seen, 116 species were located, not
including Black Swans, Mute Swans and a Cockatiel that has been in the
Garden City area at least since the Litchfield/Pawleys Island CBC.  (I
understand the status of the Mutes in our immediate area is debatable.
Their population is, without question, on the increase.  I had a high count
of 14 one day last year. several of those were either on or building nests.
Additionally, immature birds are being encountered more often as well.)

There was a noticeable drop in the number of ducks and duck species in our
area just within the last few days.  I did not find a single Northern
Shoveler, Canvasback or Redhead.  Many of the other duck species were found
only in very limited numbers.  Additionally, I was unable to locate any of
the scoters.  Other birds that I felt as though I'd find in this area and
did not were Horned Grebes, Great Cormorants, Piping Plovers, Great
Black-backed Gulls and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.

The weather was beautiful from early morning until around 2:00 pm or so.
Winds began to increase around that time and the temperature dropped
considerably.  Even so, I enjoyed the birding immensely (as always).

For those who care to see the list, I've posted it below.  For species that
were seen in only one location, I've given an abbreviation beside the
species.  The abbreviations are as follows:

Punchpole Road (PR), Hardwick Road (HR), New Road (NR), the Conway Sewage
Ponds (CS), Forestbrook Road (FR), Myrtle Beach State Park (MB), Murrells
Inlet (MI), Sandy Island Road (SI), Pawleys Island (PI), Huntington Beach
State Park (HB), Gary Phillips' House (G)

Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Bluebird
Bufflehead
Northern Cardinal
Gray Catbird (HR)
Carolina Chickadee
American Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Crow
Fish Crow
Eurasian Collared Dove (MI)
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Short-billed Dowitcher
Ring-necked Duck
Ruddy Duck
Wood Duck (CS)
Dunlin
Bald Eagle (MB)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret (HB)
House Finch
Northern Flicker
Gadwall (HB)
Northern Gannet
American Goldfinch
Canada Goose
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
Pied-billed Grebe
Bonaparte's Gull
Herring Gull
Laughing Gull (MB)
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Harrier (HB)
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk (CS)
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk (CS)
Great Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron (PI)
White Ibis (HB)
Blue Jay
Dark-eyed Junco
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Belted Kingfisher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red Knot (PI)
Horned Lark (HR)
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Mallard
Eastern Meadowlark (HR)
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Northern Mockingbird
Common Moorhen (HB)
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Brown-headed Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch (MB)
Baltimore Oriole (G)
Osprey (PI)
Barred Owl (PR)
Eastern Screech Owl (FR)
Great Horned Owl (PR)
American Oystercatcher
Brown Pelican
Eastern Phoebe (CS)
American Pipit (HR)
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover (HB)
American Robin
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper (CS)
Purple Sandpiper (HB)
Western Sandpiper (HB)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (HB)
Lesser Scaup
Loggerhead Shrike
Black Skimmer (PI)
Wilson's Snipe (CS)
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow (HR)
House Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow (HB)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
European Starling
Tree Swallow (HB)
Blue-winged Teal (HB)
Green-winged Teal (HB)
Forster's Tern
Brown Thrasher
Hermit Thrush (MB)
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Towhee
Wild Turkey (SI)
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Vulture (FR)
Turkey Vulture
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
American Wigeon
Willet (HB)
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker (NR)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker (NR)
Carolina Wren
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs (CS)
Common Yellowthroat (CS)

Good Birding!
Ritch Lilly
Myrtle Beach, SC
scbeachbums@hotmail.com