Palmetto Pro Birders at ACE Basin

Thanks to all of the bird lovers that joined us for this winter's Palmetto Pro-Birder walk at Bear Island WMA! Thanks also to Jessica Kinsella, Stewardship Coordinator for ACE Basin, which is managed in partnership with SC DNR, for teaching us about the property and showing us how a rice trunk works!  We viewed 85 species total, including a Black Skimmer that was chasing Tundra Swans and ducks.  

We also viewed trees filled with dozens of Roseate Spoonbills, and saw a cute little rail called a Sora weaving in and out of the marsh grass. SCWF loves sharing special places like this with you, and we hope to see you at our next nature adventure! 

Here is the list of the 85 species we saw and/or heard!

  1. Tundra Swan

  2. Gadwall

  3. Wood Duck

  4. Blue-winged Teal

  5. Green-winged Teal

  6. Northern Pintail (photos of a high-flying flock captured by Zach)

  7. Mottled Duck

  8. Northern Shoveler

  9. Bufflehead 

  10. Hooded Merganser

  11. Pied Billed Grebe

  12. Sora

  13. American Avocet (one seen flying in and then landing in the far end of Mary's Pond)

  14. Common Gallinule

  15. American Coot

  16. Bonaparte's Gull

  17. Ring-billed Gull (two flyover birds at Bear Island)

  18. Forster's Tern

  19. Caspian Tern

  20. Black Skimmer 

  21. Double-crested Cormorant

  22. Anhinga 

  23. Green Heron

  24. Great Blue Heron

  25. Little Blue Heron

  26. Tri-colored Heron

  27. Snowy Egret

  28. Great Egret

  29. Black-crowned Night Heron

  30. White Ibis

  31. Glossy Ibis

  32. Wood Stork

  33. American White Pelican

  34. Roseate Spoonbill

  35. Greater Yellowlegs

  36. Lesser Yellowlegs

  37. Killdeer

  38. Mourning Dove

  39. Eurasion Collared Dove

  40. Turkey Vulture

  41. Black Vulture

  42. Northern Harrier

  43. Red-tailed Hawk

  44. Red-shouldered Hawk

  45. Bald Eagle

  46. Barn Owl(In the nesting box on Bear Island)

  47. Belted Kingfisher

  48. Fish Crow

  49. American Crow

  50. Blue Jay

  51. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

  52. Red-headed Woodpecker

  53. Red-bellied Woodpecker

  54. Pileated Woodpecker

  55. Downy Woodpecker

  56. Northern Flicker

  57. Red-cockaded Woodpecker

  58. Carolina Chickadee

  59. Tufted Titmouse

  60. Tree Swallow

  61. Ruby-crowned Kinglet

  62. Carolina Wren

  63. Marsh Wren

  64. Eastern Bluebird

  65. American Robin

  66. Swamp Sparrow

  67. Song Sparrow

  68. Chipping Sparrow

  69. Eastern Towhee

  70. Red-winged Blackbird

  71. Common Grackle

  72. Boat-tailed Grackle

  73. Eastern Phoebe 

  74. White-breasted Nuthatch 

  75. Brown-headed Nuthatch

  76. Northern Mockingbird

  77. Gray Catbird

  78. Eastern Meadowlark

  79. Blue-gray gnatcatcher 

  80. White-eyed Vireo

  81. Northern Cardinal 

  82. Pine Warbler

  83. Palm Warbler

  84. Common Yellowthroat (A cute warbler that we heard at both places). 

  85. Yellow-rumped Warbler