Archive for the ‘Birdwatching Stories’ Category
Tri-Colored Heron and Alligator at Savannah NWR
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010I took a drive out to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on Sunday – I wanted to get in one last visit before the Laurel Hill Drive closed down today (June 1st). I got some interested videos, including this one of a Tri-colored Heron hunting for his lunch in a lagoon along with an alligator:
Tri-colored Heron and Alligator at Savannah NWR
The alligator was not all that big compared to some of the ones that I’ve seen at Savannah NWR – only about 6 feet long or so. But the Tri-colored Heron was definitely keeping an eye on him!
Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive Closing at Savannah NWR – June 1st!
Saturday, May 29th, 2010I just got the following message from Amy Ochoa, the Refuge Ranger in charge of the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex: Laurel Hill Drive in the Savannah NWR is going to be CLOSED to all visitors starting on June 1st and continuing through the end of the year! Read her full message below for the details.
Laurel Hill Drive is the main route that visitors and birdwatchers take through the refuge’s water impoundment areas, so this is a MAJOR setback for visitors to the Savannah NWR. Ranger Ochoa also noted that the new Visitor Center will remain open during its normal hours throughout the construction project. (It is a very useful and “user-friendly” place to learn more about the refuge.) She also told me that “… all the dates of closures and phases of the project are subject to change. We’ll keep our website updated, so you and your users can keep current there: http://www.fws.gov/savannah.”
Of Birds and Men
Monday, May 24th, 2010(or “Mr. Cardinal’s Sticky Situation”)
It all began when my wife came up to my office late one morning and told me, “There are some strange thumping noises in the garage – you’d better go check it out.”
Being the brave man of the house, I immediately went downstairs, grabbed a convenient weapon (an old broom) and went out the side door into the garage. My wife had just been working outside with the garage door up, so we expected that some creature had unknowingly been trapped inside when she put the door down. I pressed the button to put up the overhead garage door and moved forward, weapon in hand, ready to defend our turf from any hostile visitors.
What I found was entirely unexpected. (more…)
Lady Hummingbird in our back yard
Thursday, May 20th, 2010Since I don’t have a lot of flowering plants or shrubs around in the back yard (other than a Bottle-brush Bush), I don’t see a lot of hummingbirds there. But I just saw a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on a bare branch in the sun this afternoon.
At first I thought it was one of the dragonflies that come up from the lagoon and occasionally rest awhile there. But then I saw it more clearly as it paused and actually sat still on the branch. Of course by the time I went to grab my video camera and came back, she had flown off in search of nectar. Next time!
Welcome to the Lowcountry Birder!
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010The Lowcountry Birder is a labor of love produced by a “Damn Yankee” (Translation: a Northerner from “Away” who decided to stay instead of going back North when vacation was over!) who now lives with his wife and adult “special needs” son just a couple of miles inland (“as the osprey flies”) from Pinckney Island NWR and Hilton Head Island.
I’ve been involved in watching birds and nature for 45 years now – since my childhood growing up on a farm in western PA. I started out with a pair of 3x binoculars and the “Golden Book of Birds.” At age 12, my grandfather gave me his pair of Binolux 7×50 binoculars and his old (1947 edition) of Roger Tory Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds” – and I was hooked! (I still have that field guide – it’s been all over the country!)
Living here in the Lowcountry of SC is like living in a birder’s paradise – you never know what “exotic” bird may fly over or swim past in the back yard. Being able to share it with all y’all makes it even more enjoyable.
I hope that you find this site useful – I’m just getting started, but have lots of plans to make it an interactive “hotspot” for birdwatchers living in or visiting the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Look for lots of pictures, videos, events, etc. to be added soon!
Mr. LCB