Posts Tagged ‘hilton head’
Marbled Godwit and Gulls on Hilton Head Island
Sunday, July 18th, 2010I took this video of a Marbled Godwit along the shore of Port Royal Sound during spring migration this year. We were at Mitchellville Beach Park on the north end of Hilton Head Island and saw a lot of migrating shorebirds that day – this is a real birding hotspot during spring and fall migration!
I was using a small hand-held digital camera and it was a windy day, so the audio has some wind noise and the picture is a bit unsteady at times since the wind was blowing me around. But I think it still provides a great closup look at a Marbled Godwit feeding along the shallows of the Port Royal Mud Flats.
Video Tour of Fish Haul Creek Park and the Port Royal Flats on Hilton Head Island
Friday, July 2nd, 2010The northeast end of Hilton Head Island where the Port Royal Sound empties into the Atlantic Ocean is a “hot spot” for shorebirds to gather, especially during spring and fall migration. The Town of Hilton Head Island has preserved a large area of land along Port Royal Sound as part of Fish Haul Creek Park, which includes a tidal creek, marshlands, maritime forests, and a stretch of sandy shoreline.
This video provides views of the area from the shoreline, looking first up into Fish Haul Creek and its marshland area, then going around the shoreline and the “Port Royal Flats” area where hundreds of gulls, terns, skimmers, sandpipers, pelicans, herons, and egrets gather to feed, rest, and “hang out” on the sandbars.
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Hilton Head Island from the air
Thursday, May 27th, 2010A Flight over Hilton Head Island
I just created a new “hub” (an informational page) on HubPages.com with pictures from a flight that I took in a small plane over Hilton Head Island a few years ago – it’s quite a bit different looking down from the sky and seeing things that are usually hidden behind the trees!
My neighbor, who is a licensed pilot, offered to take me up with him in the small plane that he “time-shares” with some other folks. Although it was a hazy September morning, the view from up in the air was amazing. And being able to pick out landmarks that I usually drove past, or areas that you can’t see from the roadways, was a real treat. I thought I’d share my flight experience so you can appreciate the wonderful natural environment that makes Hilton Head Island special to so many people, both residents and visitors (over a million visitors every year!)
Burkes Beach, Folly Field and Port Royal from an airplane
Here’s the link to the hub “A Flight over Hilton Head Island” again: http://hubpages.com/hub/Hilton-Head-Island-Flight
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