2023 Hunting Island State Park - Fall Shorebirds

Shorebirds circle the North Spit of Hunting Island State Park on Sept. 1

A group of birding enthusiasts from the Statewide Master Naturalist alumni gathered on Friday, September 1 to look for shorebirds on the northern tip of this barrier island, at the inlet by Harbor Island. This trip had to be postponed by one day due to Tropical Storm Idalia hitting the area on Wednesday, causing the State Park to be closed for clean-up on Thursday. A few folks could not manage the date change, but our core group was on time at 8 a.m. and ready to walk a mile or so down the beach, for a training session on Shorebird ID, with World Shorebird Day designated as September 6!

Shorebirds occupy a small green island as the tide and wind drives water on the beach

Master Naturalists at Work

Our guide Andy Jones had scouted the area a week before, saying that unless the birds moved away due to Idalia, we should see multiple species of shorebirds. Well it did not take long for us to start finding them, partly because a robust wind had the tide well up on the beach and the birds (and us) only had so much beach to work with. Keeping our distance by using binoculars and spotting scopes we began identifying birds, and we had two Shorebird Stewards from Audubon S.C. there to provide background information, like recent migration movements and leg banding data.

We saw over 2000 individual birds and recorded 32 different species on this day. We saw an American oystercatcher with a red leg band on each leg, and were told a red band means it was tagged in Georgia. A solitary lesser black-backed gull was in this flock, and it stood out mainly by its height. Roughly 15 white pelicans were spotted on a sandbar offshore, and these were the first sightings (this summer) of a species that migrates to S.C. for the winter. Other shorebird sightings included black-bellied plover, semi-palmated plover, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Short-billed Dowitcher and Greater Yellowlegs.

To view past blog entries on Shorebirds click on 2023 Sea Islands Festival - 2022 Harbor Island Shorebird Walk- 2020 Shorebird Protection on Botany Bay WMA - 2021 World Shorebird Day -  2018 Shorebirds Talk at Seabrook Island Birders -  2017 Shorebird Symposium by Kiawah Conservancy - 2016 Spring Shorebird Synergy - 2016 The Narrow Edge Book Review - 2015 Manomet Workshop at Yawkey Preserve - 2015 World Shorebird Day - 2014 Moon Bird Book Review - 2014 / Inaugural World Shorebird Day

To view past blog entries from Hunting Island State Park click on 2022 Turtle Patrol - 2021 Lighthouse / Beach - 2021 Wildlife Sightings - 2017 Reopens after Matthew

To view 2023 Birding Trips click on  Sea Island Shorebird Festival - Beidler Forest - Harbor Island- Kiawah Island -  Webb Wildlife Center - Whooping Crane Pond - Jarvis Creek Park - Caw Caw Bio Blitz - Hammock Coast Birding Festival  -  Botany Bay WMA - Pinckney Island NWR - ACE Basin NWR Combahee Unit

To view past blog entries on S.C. State Parks click on Givhans Ferry - Cheraw - Barnwell - Hickory Knob - Huntington Beach - Hampton Plantation - Edisto Beach