After seeing the red cockaded woodpecker our class proceeded to South Tibwin within Francis Marion National Forest. South Tibwin is amanaged wetalnd complex. We began at 934 and by this time the day had warmed up and it was about 28 degrees celcius and very humid. Oh and did I mention the mosquitoes?? The entire class had a ball of mosquitoes following them even if they had sprayed loads of deet on!!!! We began hearing blue jays calling right away. We began walking down the trail and stopped at the beginning of a tidal marsh. The class was able to see a wood duck in non breeding plumage and heard a pileated woodpecker. We stayed for a while but it must been to hot for the woodland birds even so we proceeded to the larger wetland and marsh. The class was not being quiet as the mosquitoes we munching away on us but after we all settled down and began observing we saw a Louisiana waterthrush moving aroung the vegeatation in the water. We indentified the by the white eyebrow stripe and white throat patch size, shape. It was staying close to the wooded edge of the marsh in the grasses. Then above we saw a large sea bird flying in—what a beautiful sight , worth all the mosquitoes, a wood stork flew into to the wetland area. WE identified it by its large size about 5 in a half feet windspread, white except its head and very conspicous black wings and tail , and it’s lond decurced bill. A juvenile red shouldered hawk flew overhead after the class became silent again and we were able to identify it because it e=was obviously a bird of prey and had traslucent crescent shaped marking next to its wing tips. Another bird of prey ,smaller a t first Dr. Miles thought it was a merlin as well as the rest of the class but as we explored further and talked to the staff at the visitor center we discorvered it was actually a Mississippi kite. I had never seen a bird quite shaped like that before but flew over so quick it was hard to catch all of the didtinguishing characteristics. We continued viewing the wetalnd and saw a female indigo bunting foraging in the marsh grasses, what a different looking bird compared to the male blue color–the female was a small brown finch size bird, pale breast, no conspicous stripes. Aswe were standing and observing two osprey flew overhead within minutes of each other-They had large wing spans and were black and white undeneath with a gull like crook in the wind. Another woodstrok flew in and landed on the mudflats. We saw a platform across the marsh. We identified 6 snowy egrets around the platform and they were identifed by their white body, black bill and yellow toes. We also noticed a larger bird perched on the platform which we were finally able to identify as an immature Tri Colored heron. It was reddich brown down the head and neck,down back, had a white throat and breast.We saw a Great Egret standing in water and was identified by its size larger than snowy and had a yellow bill and black toes–opposite of snowy egret. Dr. Miles thought he saw a immature bald eagle flying over, he saw a flacsh of white under wings, he also saw a Palm Warbler feeding and pumping its tail–characteristic of warbler. We also spottted a Carolina Chickadee identified by its small size and black cap, grayish body. Tree Swallows and Rough Winged Swallows flying overhead. They can be diffirientiated by the rough winged swallows brown head and throat where the tree swallow has a white throat and chest. Dr. Miles heard a white -Eyed Vireo and a Northern Mockingbird. We saw Chimney Swifts flying overhead with their rapid flapping flight and small cigar shaped bodies. WE also saw a Bekted Kingfisher preched by the water but were not able to distiguish what color the band on its chest was so we could tell it was a male or female. A Northern Harrier flew over and it was identified by its size and white rump. AS we were leaving we saw around 25 white Ibisies feeding in the water. We identified these by their long bills and white color. An American Crow called and a Red Tailed Hawk called as we were leaving. We also flushed a brown thrasher in the woods as we were walking back. What a great expereince as a class we saw so mnay ird speceis that some of us had never seen before– It made the mosquitoes worth it.
South Carolina-South Tibwin -October 9,2009
Advertisement
