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September and October are incredible months to experience BIRDS throughout South Carolina's Lowcountry. During this time fall migration is at its peak with millions of birds migrating at night. Many of these migrating birds will stop in South Carolina for nourishment and rest. This season I spent a lot of time outside to find and observe these amazing birds. From mid-September through mid-October I experienced over 150 species of birds in Charleston & Dorchester Counties!
The Lowcountry has so many wonderful parks and refuges that truly help these migrating birds complete their journey to their wintering locations. This fall I visited 9 beautiful parks looking for a variety of migrating birds. The natural habitats that these parks provide are essential for migrating birds to survive their incredible journey.
In September I visited Patriots Point located at the southwest edge of Mount Pleasant. This park still has areas of great habitat with native plants to attract a variety of birds. On this day I encountered an interesting Empidonax Flycatcher. The flycatcher provided lots of clear views and even vocalized. Flycatchers can be some of the most challenging birds to identify as they look nearly identical to other flycatcher species. I was lucky enough to observe this flycatcher's behavior and record the bird's vocalization. Adding all of the details together and sharing with a few fellow birders helped me determine that I experienced an Alder Flycatcher! This was an exciting new bird for me, a Lifer!
Later in September I led a bird walk for the Charleston Parks Conservancy at West Ashley Park. This massive park encompasses over 260 acres with amazing habitat for wildlife and birds! The park has miles of trails through mature and diverse woodlands, wetlands, along waterways, and even an uninhabited wooded island. Our wonderful bird walk group counted over 40 species of birds with several highlights including a Yellow-throated Warbler!
I explored Fort Moultrie National Historical Park on over 10 occasions in September & October. Fort Moultrie is my favorite birding location especially during Fall Migration. Fort Moultrie has open brushy fields, maritime forest, dunes, beach, wetland and open water habitats that all offer sanctuary and food for migrating birds.
Every year we get to see one of the most impressive songbird migrants visit the wild fields at Fort Moultrie. These truly amazing birds will travel over 12,000 miles round trip every year! Bobolinks travel from breeding grounds in Canada & the Northern United States to wintering grasslands in Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.
We have been fortunate to experience numerous rare migrants at Fort Moultrie each year and one that we have come to expect is the Clay-colored Sparrow. However this year the first Clay-colored Sparrow showed up at Pitt Street Bridge! Two weeks later and possibly the same Clay-colored Sparrow was observed at Fort Moultrie and then later in October I was lucky enough to see 2 Clay-colored Sparrows at Hampton Park!
Hampton Park has become one of my favorite birding locations for its beauty, and attractive habitats for songbirds. This 60 acre historical downtown Charleston park offers a diverse variety of vegetation that blooms throughout the year providing food & shelter for many birds. On a clear day in October I counted 250 individual birds, mostly songbirds. Here are a few of the birds I enjoyed that you may not expect to find in a city park. A Swainson's Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch and a late migrating Summer Tanager.
On a pleasant Sunday afternoon in October I decided to walk the Marsh View Trail in Mount Pleasant. This wonderful hidden gem of a park walks you past a pollinator garden and under a picturesque Live Oak canopy. The path continues until you reach vast long distance views of open salt marsh habitat.
I visited the park on an active bird day! I experienced 5 raptors including 2 owl species. And at the end of my walk I stumbled upon the hard to find mixed warbler flock getting close views of Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Cape May Warbler and more!
Over the course of this fall migration I encountered a total of 24 Warbler species in the SC Lowcountry! The most uncommon warbler I experienced was at the awesome Ashley River Park in Summerville. This was an exciting October day that yielded 11 warbler species actively foraging throughout the park. And amongst the activity was a Black-throated Green Warbler, a rarity in this part of South Carolina.
During migration I refer to a super interesting bird migration tool called BirdCast. BirdCast provides live data on bird migration over the United States with a map using radar to show the actual bird migration movement across the country. On some nights the migration map will show nearly a billion birds in flight at the same time! BirdCast also offers 3 day forecasts and specific migration data for local counties.
On a few high migration nights I woke up early, made a fresh cup of coffee and sat in the peaceful darkness of my yard. I listened for migrating birds passing overhead, many can be identified by their distinctive flight calls. On clear and calm nights it was truly amazing to hear so many birds passing right over our my home. The most prevalent and easy to identify migrants were calling Swainson's Thrush, they make a clear weep or peep call in flight.
Fall is such an exciting time in the Lowcountry to get outside in your backyard or visit a local park to experience birds and connect with nature. We are now moving closer to winter and many of our winter birds have arrived with more birds continuing to arrive in the coming weeks. An exciting variety of songbirds will spend the colder months with us in South Carolina including sparrows, kinglets, warblers, waxwings and more! This is also the time of year migrating waterfowl, loons and grebes begin to arrive on our coastline, bays, rivers, lakes, & ponds. So get outside and enjoy the birds!
eBird Trip list for all 151 birds I experienced from 9/17-10/17:
Happy Birding!
Charles
Thank you Charles for sharing your incredible knowledge and beautiful photography.
Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos and your experiences. Birds are truly beautiful and amazing. Glorious creations of God.