Thanks to all of the bird lovers that joined us for this winter’s Palmetto Pro-Birder walk at Bear Island WMA! Thanks also to Jessica Kinsella, Stewardship Coordinator for ACE Basin, which is managed in partnership with SC DNR, for teaching us about the property and showing us how a rice trunk works!  We viewed 85 species total, including a Black Skimmer that was chasing Tundra Swans and ducks.
We also viewed trees filled with dozens of Roseate Spoonbills, and saw a cute little rail called a Sora weaving in and out of the marsh grass. SCWF loves sharing special places like this with you, and we hope to see you at our next nature adventure!
Here is the list of the 85 species we saw and/or heard!

1. Tundra Swan
2. Gadwall
3. Wood Duck
4. Blue-winged Teal
5. Green-winged Teal
6. Northern Pintail (photos of a high-flying flock captured by Zach)
7. Mottled Duck
8. Northern Shoveler
9. Bufflehead
10. Hooded Merganser
11. Pied Billed Grebe
12. Sora
13. American Avocet (one seen flying in and then landing in the far end of Mary’s Pond)
14. Common Gallinule
15. American Coot
16. Bonaparte’s Gull
17. Ring-billed Gull (two flyover birds at Bear Island)
18. Forster’s Tern
19. Caspian Tern
20. Black Skimmer
21. Double-crested Cormorant
22. Anhinga
23. Green Heron
24. Great Blue Heron
25. Little Blue Heron
26. Tri-colored Heron
27. Snowy Egret
28. Great Egret
29. Black-crowned Night Heron
30. White Ibis
31. Glossy Ibis
32. Wood Stork
33. American White Pelican
34. Roseate Spoonbill
35. Greater Yellowlegs
36. Lesser Yellowlegs
37. Killdeer
38. Mourning Dove
39. Eurasion Collared Dove
40. Turkey Vulture
41. Black Vulture
42. Northern Harrier
43. Red-tailed Hawk
44. Red-shouldered Hawk
45. Bald Eagle
46. Barn Owl(In the nesting box on Bear Island)
47. Belted Kingfisher
48. Fish Crow
49. American Crow
50. Blue Jay
51. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
52. Red-headed Woodpecker
53. Red-bellied Woodpecker
54. Pileated Woodpecker
55. Downy Woodpecker
56. Northern Flicker
57. Red-cockaded Woodpecker
58. Carolina Chickadee
59. Tufted Titmouse
60. Tree Swallow
61. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
62. Carolina Wren
63. Marsh Wren
64. Eastern Bluebird
65. American Robin
66. Swamp Sparrow
67. Song Sparrow
68. Chipping Sparrow
69. Eastern Towhee
70. Red-winged Blackbird
71. Common Grackle
72. Boat-tailed Grackle
73. Eastern Phoebe
74. White-breasted Nuthatch
75. Brown-headed Nuthatch
76. Northern Mockingbird
77. Gray Catbird
78. Eastern Meadowlark
79. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
80. White-eyed Vireo
81. Northern Cardinal
82. Pine Warbler
83. Palm Warbler
84. Common Yellowthroat (A cute warbler that we heard at both places).
85. Yellow-rumped Warbler