2024 Birds of a Feather Toast at Caw Caw

There is quite a bevy of birding options in the Lowcountry and the Fall season is a great time to test your abilities to identify migratory songbirds and raptors. The birding community goes beyond the conservation crowd because it includes youths, newbies, folks who recently moved here as well as knowledgeable veteran birders. Charleston County Parks understands this well and wants to build on their twice-weekly birding walks at Caw Caw Interpretive Center by introducing the inaugural Birds of a Feather Toast this Saturday Sept. 28 from 5 to 7. 

To view the feature article in the Post and Courier click on Tideline.

To view Birding blog entries from 2024 click on Carolina Bird Club - Earth Day / Kiawah - Spring Island - Southeast Shorebird Festival - Hammock Coast Birding Festival - Huntington Beach State Park - Yawkey Center - Yemassee CBC - Edisto CBC 

To view past blog entries from Tideline click on Photography Tips - Riton Optics - Lighthouse Inlet Preserve -  Coosawhatchie WMA -  Holy City Tarpon Tourney - Int'l Fly Fishing Film Festival - Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Tips for Budding Outdoor Photographers

Pole Position Pelican

When the photography bug bites, the outdoors offers a multitude of pursuits. Flowers, wildlife and birds in flight are some of the most popular subjects. Modern camera equipment comes ready to take lots of photos, including a rapid-fire burst mode, but those results can sometimes be hit or miss.

As it turns out, dialing in the cameras settings is the tried and true method for taking better photos outside. Practice making photos in the field, and then reviewing the images, helps one to explore those options. Eventually an outdoor photographer will build up a muscle memory around what works best, and develop habits that will deliver sharper images on cue.

To view the feature article in the Post and Courier click on Tideline.

To view past blog entries from Tideline click on Riton Optics - Lighthouse Inlet Preserve -  Coosawhatchie WMA -  Holy City Tarpon Tourney - Int'l Fly Fishing Film Festival - Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Riton Optics Helps Target the Outdoors

Binoculars and a spotting scope
plus a Bird ID book are a great combo

The end of September welcomes many deer hunters back into the woods with the start of doe harvest season, but the preparation of deer stands and sighting in of hunting rifles begins much earlier. When a hunting buddy offered a chance for me to view a new rifle scope by Riton Optics he acquired for this coming deer season, I was game. Manufactured in Arizona, Riton Optics is about ten years old and they also make binoculars and a spotting scope that are excellent for birdwatching during the Fall migratory warbler season.

To view the feature article in the Post and Courier click on Tideline.

To view past blog entries from Tideline click on Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve -  Coosawhatchie WMA -  Holy City Tarpon Tourney - Int'l Fly Fishing Film Festival - Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve

Bobcat sighting at Lighthouse Inlet on August 22

Growing up in Charleston, summer vacation usually included a week’s stay at Folly Beach near the famed Washout. The beach was wider back then, and the rock groins offered a linear jungle gym of options for youthful pursuits. A buddy and I could tote a 48-quart cooler to the beach by taking one handle each, and then carry fishing rods and a dip net in our free hands. Filled with ice, bait and can soda drinks in the morning, the cooler would eventually be filled with blue crabs and whiting by the afternoon. It’s hard to quantify the amount of joy we experienced by soaking chicken necks and smoked herring at the water’s edge, but the natural resources then were both bountiful and beautiful. 

The best spot at Folly Beach to enjoy all three outdoor pursuits of birding, shelling and fishing today is at the North end of the island. What is now known as the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve Trail is a great place to spend as much time as possible.

To read my feature article in the Post and Courier click on Charleston Choice.

To view past blog entries from Tideline click on Coosawhatchie WMA -  Holy City Tarpon Tourney - Int'l Fly Fishing Film Festival - Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Coosawhatchie WMA - Now Open For Public

Birders at the Yemassee Christmas Bird Count

The Coosawhatchie Wildlife Management Area (WMA) opened on August 1, 2024 and combines three properties into one sprawling natural resources treasure trove that includes mature upland pine woods and rare hardwood bluffs, guarding 36-miles along the Coosawhatchie River, Tullifinny River and their tributaries. 

To read my story in the Post and Courier click on Tideline. 

To view past blog entries from Tideline click on Holy City Tarpon Tourney - Int'l Fly Fishing Film Festival - Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Holy City Tarpon Tournament

Capt. Rupert and 2024 Marsh Wear sign

The 2024 Holy City Tarpon Tourney was fished in windy conditions on Sept. 6 and 7.  Captain Addison Rupert managed to release three tarpon on Day One and added one more release on Day Two, in order to win the 2024 event. The Captain's meeting was held at Salty Mike's and the Awards went down at the Royal American Brewery. 

To read my story in the Post and Courier click on Tideline.

To view past blog entries on tarpon click 2022 Tarpon Bluff Invitational - S.C. Tarpon Law - Ultimate Tarpon Book - DOA Writer's Event - Tide magazine/ CCA article - My First Tarpon / 2010

To view past blog entries from Tideline click Carolina Kingfish Classic -  Fishing For Mountain Trout -  Hooked On Miracles -  HMY Lowcountry Cup - Turkeys For Tomorrow-  Carolina Ladies Billfish Classic - Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry- Beidler Forest 50th Anniversary - Charleston Race Week Photos - Southeast Shorebird Festival - ACE Basin Day Photos - Santee Big Cat Brawl - Carolina Marsh Tacky Association - SEWE Photos - Five Birding Hotspots

2024 Birding Journal Observations - July / August

Hot and Dry weather will be the hallmark of the summer of 2024, with one splash of Tropical Storm Debby mixed in. Above normal heat index nearly every afternoon kept the birding activity subdues, except perhaps for duck, dawn and peak feeding times. A lack of hummingbirds is my biggest observation for July / August, and that was not everywhere, but in some areas the hummers simply left for a while, and then returned in late August on the wings of Fall migration. American redstarts are a reliable early migrant  and they began showing up by the end of August too, with some red-eyed vireo's mixed in. 

Ibis, Great Egret, Sri-Color Heron, Snowy Egret, Wood Stork and Roseate Spoonbill on Augst 14, 2024

Birding for wading birds was a bit less dramatic this summer with what seemed like a down year for roseate spoonbills, although sighting frequencies picked up by the end of August. I personally saw a Reddish Egret at Seabrook Island, which was a Life Bird for this Lowcountry native. Beach birders were reporting lots of shorebirds on the coastline including red knots and marbled godwits. In other news, Deveaux Bank was designated as the 50th site in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network or WHSRN, where a concentration of whimbrels was reported by Felicia Sanders.

To view the most recent Birding Journal Observations click on May / June 2024.

To view past Birding Journal Observations from July / August click on 2023 -  2022 -  2021-  2018- 2017- 2016 - 2015- 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2009