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Re: Huntington Beach SP, 12/4/99



Greetings from the big sky country:

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed birding with the Columbia and 
Charleston Audobon societies.  I appreciated your patience and the time you 
took for the generous explanations of your state's natural history.  Sunday 
morning found me at the jetty at daybreak.  Unfortunately, the purple 
sandpipers remained elusive and they will have to wait for another trip.  
However, I did return to the sandbars west of the jetty where I discovered 
15 American Oystercatchers and 3 Black Skimmers.  They were just where ya'll 
had said they would be.  Additionally, I saw an Osprey perched near the 
jetty and a Grey Catbird back near the marsh along with several Eastern Blue 
Jays.  Finally, I watched two Alligators on a small island adjacent to the 
causeway.  Very exotic, indeed!  


Thanks again,

Mike Menahan
40 Olive Street
Helena, MT  59601
mmenahan@co.lewis-clark.mt.us


>>> "Donna S. Bailey" <dsbailey@conterra.com> 12/05 9:19 AM >>>

The Columbia Audubon Society and the Charleston Natural History Society =
had
their "joint" venture to Huntington Beach SP yesterday.  While the two
groups did not (as usual) manage to meet (Columbia never arrives in time),
we did (as usual) run into each other and exchange notes.  A special guest
on this trip was Mike Menahan from Helena, Montana, who had been at USC =
the
previous week for a seminar.  Birds (and others) of note below:

Alligator (1 heard and seen well as he bellowed at the group in one of the
observation gazebos along the causeway, answering bellows from across the =
water)

Common Loons
RED-THROATED LOON
Horned Grebes
Great Cormorant
Western Sandpipers
Dunlins
Red Knots
Black-bellied Plovers
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs (calling in the dusk around the Marsh Boardwalk)
Sanderlings
Ruddy Turnstones
Greater Black-backed Gulls (no adults but several juveniles)
Northern Gannets
Tri-colored Herons
Little Blue Herons
Black-crowned Night-herons (calling in the dusk around the Marsh Boardwalk)=

Reddish Egret (seen up close and personal as he perched on a piling not =
too
far from the jetty)
Hooded Mergansers
Ring-necked Ducks
Buffleheads
LONG-TAILED DUCK (formerly known as OLDSQUAW, seen from the jetty out at
some distance in the water)
Black Scoters (mostly female, but including one nice male for Mike M's =
benefit)
Northern Harriers=20
MERLIN
Bald Eagles (3 - one immature, two adults flying together and calling)
Yellow-rumped Warblers (many many)
Orange-crowned Warbler
Palm Warblers (found and enjoyed by Mike M - oddly enough, contrary to =
their
usual ground-hugging ways, these guys were flitting around in several =
cedar
trees)
Savannah Sparrows (including one of the Ipswich race seen well)

Unfortunately, the Purple Sandpipers stayed hidden, apparently on the far
side of the other jetty, and though we had perfect conditions for seeing
rails - an incoming tide at sunset - the winter twilight dwindled too =
fast.

A fun trip (as usual)!

Donna Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com=20
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey=20
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey/audubon=09
    "Columbia Audubon Society"