2024 Atlantic Cup Sets Sails From Charleston

The Atlantic Cup sailing race returned to the calendar after a multi-year hiatus and also returned to the familiar start line at the Charleston Maritime Center. The 2024 format included two long-distance legs up the Atlantic Coast, and one coastal racing series in Maine. The first leg is 708-nautical miles from Charleston to Newport, Rhode Island and challenges can include shipping traffic in the Gulf Stream and inclement tropical weather. The second leg is 249-nautical miles from Newport to Portland, Maine, and then the teams will race a 30-nautical mile course there on June 5 and June 6 to determine who win the Atlantic Cup.

20204 Race Start in Charleston Harbor;
Acrobatica in Yellow

Team Acrobatica won both Leg One and Leg Two and Day One of Maine races to WIN the 2024 Atlantic Cup.

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

To view past blog entries from the Atlantic Cup click on 2016 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - Inaugural Atlantic Cup Race Start

To view past stories in Tideline click on Paddling For Pups Photos - 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 Beidler Forest - 50th Anniversary Celebration

Male Prothonotary Warbler with
Bug and Four Leg Bands

The May 11 date of the 50th Anniversary of Beidler Forest began with temperatures in the 50's and the unseasonably cool weather with sunny conditions made made for a glorious day to spend in the swamp. A day full of scheduled events began with a guided walk, included the banding of a prothonotary warbler, and finished off with a Who's Who of Audubon at a 2 PM ceremony at the Meeting Place on the boardwalk next to a 1000-year old Cypress Tree. Wildlife sightings during the day did not disappoint including warblers, snakes, gators, damsel flies and some visitors saw much more. Since May 11 fell on the Second Saturday, their monthly policy of free admission allowed for everyone to enjoy their visit for free.

Ebony Jewelwing in Display Mode

To view my feature article on the Beidler 50th Anniversary click on Tideline.

To view past blog entries from Audubon / Beidler Forest click on 2023 Birding By Ear - 2021 Flora and Fauna - 2022 Silver Bluff - 2021 Name That Snake - 2017 Audubon Insectarium - 2016 Prescribed Fire -  2015 Boardwalk Bonanza - 2014 SAMBI Award - 2013 Audubon Aquarium - 2012 Audubon's Aviary Book- 2011 Audubon Magazine - 2009 Wildlands Philanthropy Book  

Water Moccasin on the Move

Grandson of Francis Beidler 
speaks to Audubon faithful

To view past stories in Tideline click on Paddling For Pups Photos - 2024 Atlantic Cup - Silvopasture Forestry - 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 Professional Outdoor Media visit Pinewood, S.C.

POMA members at the SCWA waterfowl overlook
after riding in the Honda Pioneer 1000

The annual membership meeting for the Professional Outdoors Media Association (POMA) rotates throughout the U.S. and the 2024 meeting was held in South Carolina. This was POMA's first meeting in S.C. since 2013 but I predict they will return to the Palmetto State sooner rather than later thanks to media-friendly host, South Carolina Waterfowl Association (SCWA). SCWA is transforming their footprint from a hunting operation, to a newly expanded campus for shooting sports and corporate meetings, with the proceeds to benefit youth education operations on site. The setting along the banks of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie is where meeting co-sponsor Santee Cooper Country operates 12 months out of the year, and plenty of hunting and fishing opportunities abound for both locals and visitors.

Chef Danny Hieronymus after his 
Lowcountry Boil cooking demo

The POMA meeting did not fall during a hunt season, but the first order of business was to send writer sea photographers out on the Lake for a Monday morning fishing trip for catfish! The three-day conference ran from Monday, May 6 though May 8 and features a jam-packed schedule of sessions focused on content creation, gear access and even first-aid education. POMA members coming from many states gather together for all meals and lodging which creates a setting where idea exchanges can take place, and future stories can blossom. SCWA founder David Wielicki received an award for POMA one day, and was back to giving personally-guided tours to media members the next day.  SCWA marketing director Mark Copley is the contact to learn more about the future at SCWA.

POMA members during Airboat Ride 

To view past blog entries from POMA click on 2014 / Knoxville, TN. - 2013 / Columbia, S.C.

To view past blog entries from SEOPA click on 2018 / Florence, S.C. - 2015 Eufala, Alabama - 2014 / Fonatana, N.C. - 2013 / SW Louisiana - 2012 / East TN. - 2009 / Punta Gorda, Florida

Range Day is always a favorite 

2024 Birding Journal Observations - March / April

Male House Finch feeding a juvenile 4/26

Another mild winter came with a deluge of rain in March and April that recharged swamps to 'high tide' levels. This wet footprint on the landscape may have helped lead to several cool mornings and a fine Spring season. The neotropical migration season that comes during March and April seemed a bit delayed this year, with many first sighting not coming until April, and then many of those sightings were fleeting glimpses of birds that were solidly on the move to the North. Indigo bunting, Orchard oriole and rose-breasted grosbeak just cruised on through while blue grosbeak and summer tanager took up their stations for the remainder of the summer. The first hummingbirds I saw in Mid-April were migratory, and the ones electing to stick around came later in April.

Hawk in a Tree 4/10

To view the most recent Birding Journal Observations click on January / February 2024

To view past Birding Journal Observations from March / April click on 2023 -  2022- 2021- 2018-  2017 - 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 

Swallow-tailed Kite and Wood Stork 4/3

2024 Turkey Season - Last Day Hunt Drama

Last Day of Turkey Season Success

Who has ever said I have all the time I need in the Spring to hunt wild turkeys? Not hardly anyone, and I joined that club in 2024 with work conflicts, family commitments, and rainy / windy days all adding up to zero turkeys harvested with one day in the '24 hunt season left. I did have time to scout some along the second half of April, enough to know the whereabouts of some turkeys, and to have heard a few gobbles in the early morning. The hunting gear was dusted off and ready to go at a moments notice, but mostly it was just in the way on the back of a chair throughout April. However, there was never a panic or a shrug about a lost season either. It was just a period of time when I was not in the woods at dawn very much. 

The plan for April 30 was to clear the schedule so that I could hit the woods at dawn, and then hunt as long as needed in hopes of tagging a gobbler. At 6 a.m. I was on a creek bottom where turkeys had frequented in the past, but this year it had been wet late in the season, and as day broke I was nowhere near a turkey, but I did hear a mature tom in the distance and a young tom a bit nearer. No need to pursue a young tom, even if it is the Final Day, so I loaded my gear and began to rummage my way though the woods to strike a gobbler. Nothing. Wildlife was spotted, but the turkeys were invisible. It was 9:30 when I heard a tom gobble loud and clear, and I knew this was it, and suddenly the gear that had been heavy over 3.5-hours of prospecting felt just fine, and I crept slowly and silently towards the gobbler.

Mid-morning Set up April 30

I set up in a spot in the woods where a thicket was on my right and the gobbler was 100-yards ahead of me. I needed the gobbler to approach me satellite-style in order for me to have a shot. He would not budge, so I made a move a bit closer, and then it was on. He came towards me gobbling and strutting, and I could hear ever puff when his feathers blowing up. To be sure, he slowed down and started looking for the hen that my calls told him was nearby. This only served to increase the chance I would be detected, and that I should remain as still as a statue. I listened as the gobbler circled me, not daring a glimpse. As my limbs began to tighten up from the pressure, I never forgot this hunt would come down to my ability to aim the shotgun when the time was right. With only one shotgun shell in my gun, I swung my gun to the left and drew a bead on the head of the gobbler and squeezed the trigger with confidence.

To view blog entries on past turkey hunts click 2019 - 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2010 - 2009 

2024 Carolina Bird Club - Spring Meeting

Donnelly WMA birding on 4/26

The Spring meeting of the Carolina Bird Club came to Charleston April 26 - 28 and birders from across the Carolinas were in attendance. Beginning Friday morning, birders fanned out across the Lowcountry to known birding places up and down the coast. My job as leader at Donnelley WMA was to meet a party of 15 at 7:45 and show them the water features and birdy locales that I know on this property. Everyone was greeted by Wood Storks standing beside the road near the front gate, and it wasn't long and we saw a range of other birds such as summer tanager, mottled duck and anhinga. A cool morning with a strong breeze meant that everything was stirring and we experience the kind of magical day when 74 species were revealed to us by noon. On Friday afternoon, I joined a group of birders at Seabrook Island led by Judy Morr and we visited a rookery of herons that was exquisite, and included an osprey nest. 

Photographer making pics of Red Knots from a safe distance

To view past birding trips from 2024 click on Earth Day / Kiawah - Spring Island - Southeast Shorebird Festival - Hammock Coast Birding Festival - Huntington Beach State Park - Yawkey Center - Yemassee CBC - Edisto CBC 

Beautiful Bald Eagle with Nesting Material

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