July, 2010                       Gene Howard, Editor, eugenefhoward@bellsouth.net
     
Volume 39, No. 4

JULY MEETING: Augusta-Aiken Audubon will hold its bi-monthly meeting on Thursday, July 8, at 7 pm. The meeting location is the North Augusta Community Center, located at 495 Brookside Ave. in North Augusta, SC. The public is invited to all meetings, programs, and field trips sponsored by Augusta-Aiken Audubon.

PROGRAM: "Congaree Swamp--20 years after Hugo." Dr. Rebecca Sharitz, Senior Research Ecologist with the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, will provide a look at the recovery and health of the Congaree Swamp following the effects of Hurricane Hugo. The "swamp," most of which is within Congaree National Park (just a 1.5-hour drive from Augusta), is home to champion trees and a great variety of bird and other animal life. This program allows a virtual visit without the mosquitoes!

Millions of birds are nesting and breeding in the path of what may well become America's worst environmental catastrophe. Oil continues to stream uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of a destroyed drilling platform.

The deadly and growing slick has already reached sensitive coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippii and Alabama. Globally significant Important Bird Areas - essential to survival of already-imperiled species - are at risk from Louisiana to Florida's Gulf Coast. The danger is real for all kinds of birds

VOLUNTEER: Audubon is working with many other public and private conservation organizations to recruit and coordinate volunteers and connect them with oiled-wildlife response leaders to help in the recovery effort, in the event that the oil spill reaches the gulf coast marshes, beaches, barrier islands and other ecologically sensitive areas. Hands-on work to protect and save birds and other wildlife will be a complex and potentially dangerous process, and first and foremost it is important that only trained volunteers participate on the front lines. Untrained volunteers can pose a risk not only to themselves, but to the birds and wildlife they are trying to save. They can use volunteers with many different skill levels, so please fill out a volunteer registration form if you are interested and can travel to the affected areas.

DONATE: Audubon is soliciting donations to aid in their attempt to rescue wildlife affected by the oil spill.

To obtain a volunteer registration form and/or donate, Click Here

“Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 7! The annual Storks & Corks event at Silver Bluff Audubon will take place from 6-9 pm., with this year’s event celebrating the 25th season of Audubon’s efforts toward the recovery of the endangered Wood Stork population. This fundraiser for Silver Bluff offers close-up looks at the Wood Storks and other wading birds, followed by heavy hors d’oeuvres and a variety of wines to sample. A silent auction featuring exquisite photography and art work rounds out the evening of fun. You must pre-register (space is limited) by calling the Audubon South Carolina state office at 843-462-2150. The price for Storks & Corks is $35, all of which benefits the stork program at Silver Bluff.”

Augusta-Aiken Audubon's field trips are open at no charge to all chapter members and the public. We encourage everyone to come out and join us! Some tips to make the trips more comfortable: bring a hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, and drinking water. Sturdy walking shoes are recommended as is having raingear nearby. Morning trips during the winter usually begin at 9 a.m. and end around noon; warmer weather trips generally begin at 8 a.m. and end around 11 a.m. If you have questions about a field trip, please contact the listed field trip leader.

July 17, Saturday. Butterfly Count for the North American Butterfly Association. We will take part in this national count. There will be 2 teams. One will meet Lois Stacey at Phinizy Swamp Park at 9am to form one team. Meet at the parking lot. Others will meet Paul Koehler at 9am at Silver Bluff Audubon Sanctuary to form another team. Meet at the stork ponds. The count will be all day but you may help in just the morning if you'd like. If you plan to spend the day, bring a lunch if you are at Silver Bluff. The Phinizy Swamp group will eat fast food at Wendy's.

July 31, Saturday. Lover's Lane and Merry Ponds. 8-11. Meet at Popeyes at the corner of Walton Way and Gordon Hwy. to carpool. We will bird these 2 areas looking for possible post breeding birds as well as late nesters. Anne Waters leads.

August 21, Saturday. Phinizy Swamp. This time of year waders wander about after they have finished breeding and we usually see a lot in the constructed wetlands. We will travel in the back of Judy's pickup truck to the back wetland cells to look for these waders such as Tri-colored Heron. Meet at the Phinizy Swamp parking lot at 8am. We will go until about 11:00. Bring sunscreen. Anne Waters and Lois Stacey lead.

September 4, Saturday. Silver Bluff Audubon Sanctuary, Wings-N-Things Nature Walk. 8-12. Meet at the ponds. We will look for dragonflies, butterflies and birds. Lois Stacey leads.

September. 11, Saturday. Fall Migration Walk for Phinizy Swamp. 9-12. Meet in the front parking lot. This walk is sponsored by Phinizy Swamp Nature Park and the cost is $3 for members and $5 for non-members. We will walk the trails and boardwalk looking for migrants. Ruth Mead and Anne Waters lead.

Report on North American migration Count, May 8, 2010.

We had 20 observers who came out to count in Aiken County on May 8th which resulted in a very good count of 122 species. In all we counted 4,111 different birds. Some of the more unusual waders were seen in Crackerneck WMA including Yellow-crowned Night Heron and White Ibis. Blue-winged Teal were found at Horse Creek Water Treatment area and N. Augusta Brick Ponds. Our best raptor was the Swallow-tailed Kites seen at Crackerneck and Silver Bluff Sanctuary. Lee Dane added a King Rail from her property. 7 species of shorebirds were found including a Pectoral Sandpiper from Horse Creek. 6 people spent 9 hours looking for nocturnal species and were rewarded by finding 3 species of owl and both the Chuck-wills Widow and Whip-poor Will. Bobwhite, hard to find lately, were found near Jackson. Fortunately Lee Dan found Hairy Woodpecker on her land because they weren't found elsewhere. Cliff Swallows were found nesting under the Palmetto Parkway and Tree Swallows were at Horse Creek Swamp. An unusual find was made at Christine Huzella's property when a Brown Creeper was seen creeping up a tree. Another lingering winter bird was the Blue-headed Vireo found in SRS. The only Shrikes were found by the Brenneman's. Migrant warblers included a Yellow Warbler and Blackpolls at Horse Creek Swamp, a Blue-winged Warbler at Lee Dane's, a Black-throated Blue Warbler & Ovenbird at Crackerneck WMA, and Redstarts in several places. All of the local nesting warblers were found including Swainson's Warbler at Lee Dane's. Bobolinks were also here in a field. So we had an excellent day of counting.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help. Anne Waters

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, May 15, 2010

We had an excellent field trip on May 15th. 7 people attended. We started at 8am on the boardwalk and Mary spotted 2 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks sitting up in a cypress. While trying to put the scope on them, they flew across the swamp in front of us clearly showing the white on the wings. They landed in a large dead cypress by the bridge over the swamp and as we watched them, first l then the other went into a cavity in the tree. We didn't see them come back out and walked on around and came back across the bridge and saw no activity in the tree but did see a feather in the entrance.

The Black-bellied Whistling Duck was first seen in Phinizy in June 2007. They have been seen off and on in the swamp since then with as many as 13 being seen in June 2009. The internet reports that pairs stay together for many years and the parents share incubation, and rearing of the young. They prefer to nest in hollow trees. Ducklings leap from the nest cavity within 2 days of hatching and can feed themselves but stay with parents for up to 8 weeks. So everyone coming to the swamp needs to watch for them. It would be nice if we could confirm nesting.

The only migrant we had on the field trip were 2 Redstarts which we heard up in the thick leaves. Nesting warblers included N. Parula, Prothonotary, and Yellow-throated Warblers. There was a very large Cottonmouth Moccasin lying on a log in the swamp. A Yellowlegs was on the side of the Mayor's Fishing Pond and as the morning grew warmer, Mississippi Kites began to soar especially over the river and airport.

Anne Waters

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, June 12, 2010

Six people came out in the summer heat to look for nesting birds at Phinizy Swamp. We were able to find 38 species, including the White-breasted Nuthatch who is not on the park list yet. Now it is! The best birds were the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks again. We had 2 different pairs in the cypress trees of Butler Creek. Looking for breeders, we saw a Mockingbird nest with 3 babies, and also saw a Barn Swallow nest and Eastern Phoebe nest. On the boardwalk we saw a Great-crested Flycatcher go into a nest hole in a cypress with food in his mouth. There were 2 singing painted Buntings and 1 singing Indigo Bunting. In the sparrow field we heard a Yellow-breasted Chat. We also had singing Parula and Prothonotary Warblers who were seen. Their nests are hard to find.

We also looked at dragonflies and saw the Widow Skimmer, 4-spot Pennant, Cyrano Darner, and a new dragonfly for the park, the Dragonhunter which is a very large clubtail dragonfly.

We saw a few animals as well including an alligator, 3 deer, a rabbit and a raccoon who was sleeping on a limb in a Cypress Tree with his limbs hanging down. He looked for all the world like he had a bad night!

Anne Waters

Augusta-Aiken Audubon Society
4542 Silver Bluff Rd.
Jackson, SC 29831
Phone: 803-471-0291

A-AAS Web Site: http://augustaaikenaudubon.org/

Georgia Rare Bird Alert: 770-493-8862
Carolina (No. & So.) Rare Bird Alert: 704-332-2473

A-AAS Elected Officers 2006-07
President: Gene Zielinski, 706-650-8959
Vice-President: Ken Badke, 706-855-1955
Secretary: Nancy Demko, 803-648-7973
Treasurer: Gerald May, 706-860-3249

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in Phinizy (Gene Howard)