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CarolinaBirds for Wednesday, November 8, 2006
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Subject: Birding Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge
From: "Matthew Moskwik" <mpmoskwik(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 6:50am
Carolina Birders,
I recently moved from Spokane, WA for a job in Columbia, SC. I'm happy to
be part of the Carolina Birds community. I look forward to corresponding
and birding with some of you. I do have a few target birds on my wish list,
since I moved from the West Coast. I will be inquiring about them shortly.
On Sunday, I birded Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge with the
highlight being a late Black-throated Green Warbler at the Nini Chapin pond.
Other birds observed include:
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Laughing Gull
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Sedge Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler (late)
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
Matthew Moskwik
Columbia, SC
mpmoskwik(AT)hotmail.com
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Subject: SC NAMC
From: "Jason Giovannone" <buteo2808(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 8:32am
Sorry for the delayed post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm
taking over the responsibilities of compiling all the data for SC NAMC. If
you have data for this past fall please email me your data off list. I know
everyone is getting excited about CBCs, but if you would like to participate
in the NAMC next spring please let me know, and we can get you hooked up
with someone or get you a county to cover, if you desire. Thanks & Good
Birding!
Jason Giovannone
Columbia, SC
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Subject: Rufous Hummingbird
From: Blayne and Anne Olsen <bolsen187(AT)earthlink.net>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 9:58am
Monroe, NC
The hummingbird I assume is a rufous is still here. Although it did not show up
at the feeder I spotted it on the callicarpa americana this moring. I could
easily see the bird from my second story window. Fortunately I keep an old pair
of binoculars upstairs for such emergencies.
I assume it will stay around today but as I am at school I cannot keep an eye on
it. I will keep you posted.
Anne
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: mint seeds for sparrows/greens for you to eat--wild
rice/dragging for rails
From: "Frank Enders" <fkenders(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 11:53am
I think I have found two mints which provide a lot of seeds for some birds.
When Whitethroats first arrived here this late October, they flocked in to
some tall (1m) mints I have growing here. One is a native "horsemint",
quite common in wet area, the other a planted Oriental green "shiso", in a
small patch 2m x 4 m. Some scores (more than 100?), mostly White-throats
with some Song Sparrows, busied themselves in the horsemint area (5m x
100m), attracting my wife's attention. These birds represented most of the
sparrows on our 6 acres. Up to 20-30 sparrows were seen working the shiso.
This activity lasted maybe two weeks.
But, now the sparrows have spread out and declined in numbers (40?).
When I checked the two mints, I found they have round mottled tan seeds,
about the size of crucifers (rapeseed is used for birdseed), 1-2mm in
diameter. Quite tasty to me and apparently the right size for the
Whitethroats. I was rather surprised by the appearance of the seeds as I am
used to mint seeds being black and angular-elongate.
I had propagated the shiso by seedlings, never using the seeds. Shiso is
pretty good as a green, having no significant pests here, and growing well
in moist or even normally dry situations. Good to cook/eat in summer, when
many greens give out or become grossly pestiferous.
It surprises me how ignorant I am, that I had never noticed this attack of
the sparrows before, but I guess they just clean out the easily available
seeds and then move on to leaner pickings elsewhere, so I do not notice
sparrows using these mint seeds.
And, I have only grown shiso for about three years.
For some time I have wondered what the real value is of plants which are
reputed to provide birds with food, since I don't notice birds eating their
fruits, such as of Virginia creeper. Probably the consumption is just a
transient phenomenon. One has to happen to notice.
One example is an Amelanchier I have had for some 10 years. Each year it
has up to a dozen berries which disappear when they are ripe; sometimes
Mockingbirds are seen eating the fruit.
But, I still do not have any plant which serves birds as well as a feeder
tray! Nothing lives up to the rep or the hype. Even the wild cherries,
which can attract a flock, do not hold up long.
Wild rice is supposed to be wonderful for fattening bobolinks and sora
rails, but I have yet to get in a wild rice marsh (locally Gordon's Island
on the Chickahominy River close to the James River in Virginia) at the right
time; by late October this year there were only one Bobolink and a score or
so of Soras at Gordon's Island. Bent's Life Histories describes big flocks
of birds in the Chickahominy marshes. By late October I found mainly
Redwinged Blackbirds at Gordon's Island. Maybe next year I will hit the
marshes in early and mid October, as the rice ripens, before the rice is
stripped by the birds. (The Chickahominy in Virginia appears to be as far
south as big stands of Wild Rice occur, though there are some spots in ne NC
I have still to check out.)
I guess I should wise up to the fact that this is why bird have wings, to
find and eat the crops. And maybe this is why those so-called naturalists
go on about species diversity, even in the plant kingdom.
But, I suggest you try some shiso, for yourself and the birds. I do not
know if the horsemint is edible for humans. So. let's all go out and grow
invasive pest species! (No, shiso is not kudzu nor honeysuckle, though it
seems to hold its own against other plants.)
Bayberry, Pokeberry and Poison ivy I have noticed as useful fruits for
birds. But, Yellow-rumped Warblers this year have not yet hit my wax
myrtles. I guess there is some growth/ripening process such that the birds
hit the myrtles later on.
I do not have any shiso seeds to send people, but if somebody wants the
plant, perhaps I can send some seedlings in May. There are two types of
shiso, the one here being purple rather than green. Turns green when
cooked, of course.
And, if anybody wants to drag marshes for rails or borrow a 14' boat to get
to some places, that might be arranged. I wish I knew somebody who has two
ATVs to drag wet fields of grasses (Panicums?, maybe Andropogons) along the
coast. One should be able to work up some regular sites for Yellow Rails as
is done at Red Slough, Arkansas or coastal Texas.
I would be pleased to drag one side of a rope for rails, given birders
typically lack ATVs, but most of us have two working legs! I understand it
only takes a few hours to find the rails in Red Slough.
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC
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Subject: Lower Saluda River 11/08
From: "Jason Giovannone" <buteo2808(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 3:26pm
The best bird around the zoo today was a Herring Gull heading down river
towards town. I've only got a couple records for this species around the
zoo. The Northern Pintail continues to hang around on top of Mill Race
Rapids as well. I stayed on the Lexington county side, and spent most of my
time today on the power line right of way trying to find some good sparrows.
Lots of activity with a big push of Chippies moving through. Good Birding!
Jason Giovannone
Columbia, SC
Full List
Wood Duck - 3
Mallard - 9
Northern Pintail - 1
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Great Blue Heron - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Killdeer - 3
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Herring Gull - 1
Rock Pigeon - 29
Mourning Dove - 6
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 3
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Loggerhead Shrike - 1
Blue Jay - 4
American Crow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Carolina Wren - 6
House Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 9
Eastern Bluebird - 1
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 23
Northern Mockingbird - 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 11
Eastern Towhee - 3
Chipping Sparrow - 22
Field Sparrow - 2
Song Sparrow - 20
White-throated Sparrow - 20
Dark-eyed Junco - 2
Northern Cardinal - 6
Red-winged Blackbird - 70
Common Grackle - 144
House Finch - 5
American Goldfinch - 4
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Subject: White Pelican
From: "philshar(AT)earthlink.net" <philshar@earthlink.net>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 6:47pm
Hi All,
I was in the parking lot of the Ed. Center( Huntington Beach S P) around
noon today and looked up in time to see a White Pelican coming from the
ocean, it circled one time and headed in a northerly direction.
While on the causeway with a group of birders this morn. there were at
least 20 Ospreys in sight at one time. Most of them were just sitting in
the trees at the far side of the fresh water pond. The most ospreys I have
seen at one time!
Sharon & Phil Turner
Myrtle Beach,S C 29588
philshar(AT)earthlink.net
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Subject: Lake Julian Bald Eagle
From: "Brett Hopkins" <blh(AT)delcam.com>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 7:17pm
I saw the previously reported Adult Bald Eagle soaring over the French
Broad river just West of Lake Julian near the intersection of I 26 and Long
Shoals Road at around 10:30 AM this morning. Great view so there was no
doubt about the sighting!
Brett Hopkins
Arden, NC
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Re: Mysterious nocturnal (avian?) vocalization
From: Kent Fiala <fiala(AT)ipass.net>
Date: 8 Nov 2006 9:15pm
Remember my mysterious nocturnal sounds from last July? (They are at
http://www.ipass.net/fiala/barr.html)
Listen to this video! http://www.devilducky.com/media/52983/
Well, not to the gnatcatchers.
Kent Fiala
Chapel Hill Township, NC
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