SUN CITY HILTON HEAD BIRD CLUB | SUN CITY HILTON HEAD, BLUFFTON, SC 29909

Payable by check to the SCHH Bird Club
      Contact Penny Larson before April 28 at
           142 Cypress Hollow 705.9804

MAYFEST FIELD TRIPS

All trips (except Sun City Nature Trail outing) will leave from the parking lot at

Lake Summerset .   The Field Trips are free, but sign-up with Diane Rand at sunbirder@davtv.com.  Participants will be finished in time for the 10:30 program.

PINCKNEY ISLAND NWR

Walk from the parking lot to Ibis Pond in search of Painted Bunting and other spring migrants. If the Ibis Pond rookery is not active this year we will walk (time permitting) to the new lagoon to check for nesting activity there. Start time: 7AM

PALMETTO BLUFF

Palmetto Bluff is just off Highway 46 in Bluffton. The gated community offers miles of managed habitat, rich in diversity and wildlife. Involves walking less than 1 mile over dirt/paved trails. Olvis Spencer will lead a group of 10 to three distinct areas. Start time: 7am.

FISH HAUL CREEK/MITCHELLVILLE PARK

Enjoy the diversity of habitats ranging from maritime forest to seashore at these Hilton Head Island parks. There should be spring migrants as well as numbers of shore birds. This trip will involve walking dirt trails and beach. Wear shoes that can get muddy. Start time: 7 AM.

SUNCITY NATURE TRAIL

For those who want a more relaxed experience without having to drive out of Sun City, the Nature Trail should be alive with the songs of nesting warblers, vireos and other summer visitors. Meet at Col T. Heyward parking area at trailhead at 7:30AM.

For our Mayfest, the Sun City Bird Club will be treated to a presentation on pelagic sea birds in our area. Russ Wigh, a noted ocean bird researcher and photographer from Skidaway Island in Georgia, will present a program that is sure to inform and impress. Russ has over 25 years of birding experience, including a contributing role for Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and an upcoming collaboration on a National Science Foundation grant application at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography on the status and distribution of seabirds in the South Atlantic Bight.

Up Coming Events (Field Trips):

On Monday, April 28 Ann Shahid of Audubon S.C. will lead a bird walk for us at Beidler Forest in Harleyville, SC.
Warblers, vireos and other spring arrivals should be at their peak and we should find several species either building or already sitting on nests. Prothonotary Warbler is a specialty of the swamp forest at Beidler. The Audubon Center is officially closed on Mondays, so we should have the whole sanctuary to ourselves to enjoy the birds. Walking will be mostly on the 1.75 mile boardwalk and possibly some level trails.   Outing will be limited to 15 members. Cost to enter the Audubon Center is $7 or $6 for Audubon members (bring your member card).

We will leave Lake Somerset at 6:45AM to meet Ann by 8:30AM. Beidler Forest is located just north of I-26 outside the town of Harleyville so drive time should be about 1 and 1/2 hours. Directions will be sent to participants a few days before the trip. We can bring lunch and eat on the grounds after the walk.

Please check your calendars and if you are available and interested in joining, this field trip email Diane Marinaccio-Rand at sunbirder@davtv.com with your name and telephone number. Due to the limited number of spaces available, this trip will be for members only unless it does not fill by April 25. After that date, guests may be registered.

For information on Beidler Forest check http://sc.audubon.org/Centers_FBF.html

Other News Items:

On Tuesday, March 18, 21 SCHH Bird Club members spent over 4 hours at Parris Island on our latest field trip. The day alternated between windy/cloudy and sunny/pleasant. Blue Jays, Yellow Throated Warblers and Grackles seemed to be the birds of the day. We also so a Kestrel lots of osprey on nests and a number of wading and shore birds. We were able to ID 52 different species of birds. Thank you Martha and Olvis for organizing this trip while Diane was birding in Ecuador.

Jim Kyle reports that the new Purple Martin Condo donated to our Bird Club by new members Andrea and John Colonna was installed in a public area near their home at Reedy Place on Saturday March 22. As usual, Ken Swickard helped with most of the installation work.   Andrea and John will monitor this location and we thank them for their generous gift. We are sure everyone will enjoy watching the Martins that will hopefully occupy this and the eight other housed erected and monitored by the bird club at Sun City Hilton Head. We now have nine active Purple Martin condos and monitors have seen birds at most of the units. Two of the units have not attracted any visitors yet but Jim feels certain this is because of the high winds and the lower temperatures we have been experiencing. When the temperature dropped they moved away. Groups of 10 to 20 have been observed drinking and eating near several lagoons. They usually do not begin the nesting process until the weather is much warmer.

Some people have reported bluebird eggs in their houses and Jim Ennis reports that many blue birds are around the houses checking out the property. Get those mealworms ready to help them feed their young when they hatch!! Instead of my regular blue birds, I (JE) have 5 Chickadee eggs in my blue bird house this year.

Kevin Cahill will be the new HHI Audubon Sun City representative and committee chairperson.   Kenny Neitzke will be stepping down from that position and is now HHI Audubon vice president