Thursday, April 25, 2024

2024 Kiawah Conservancy - Earth Day Birding

2024 was my second year joining the Kiawah Conservancy for Earth Day, and it was a spectacular day
Black-necked Stilts on the beach

to be on a barrier island. Crisp cool weather and breezy conditions persisted all day, and it never did really get warm. A piece of property on Kiawah under a conservation easement known as The Preserve was the meeting place for this naturalizations walk with a Staffer. We traversed trails that shows signs of recent saltwater intrusion due to high tides and NE winds. A large observation tower there overlooks a beautiful pond that is situated between two linear hummocks that were actually once front beach sand dunes. A stunning trio-color heron was fishing there, and had the prettiest blue beak I could remember seeing. A kingfisher, egret and alligator rounded out the pond sightings. When I looked into nearby pine trees, and we were now at tree top level in the tower, I heard and then spied a male painted bunting perched on a dead limb in the sun. We heard a bald eagle and an osprey and took time to notice glasswort and dragonflies too. I stopped at the beach afterward and saw red knots, and some black-necked stilts. 


Painted Bunting at The Preserve 
To view past birding trips from 2024 click on Carolina Bird Club - Southeast Shorebird Festival - Hammock Coast Birding Festival - Huntington Beach State Park - Yawkey Center - Yemassee CBC - Edisto CBC 


Black scoters surfing on Earth Day

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