Hilton Head, SC 2/7-12/2022

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Fish Haul and Mitchelville Parks; February 8

The weather was the same today as it was yesterday - overcast, damp, and chilly. I had seen some good birds at these adjacent parks in 2016, and hoped for good results today.

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Fish Haul and Mitchelville Parks

I started out on the marsh boardwalk at Mitchelville Park, and then hiked the wooded trails along the marsh.

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Least Sandpipers

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Least Sandpiper

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Killdeer

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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A very buffy Yellow-rumped Warbler

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House Wren

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House Wren

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White-eyed Vireo

I then drove the short distance to the Fish Haul parking lot. At this point, I didn't know that there was a board walk from near the parking lot to Barker Field Park, and then another boardwalk to the beach. So I headed directly to the Fish Haul beach.

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Black-bellied Plover

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Royal Tern

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Snowy Egret

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Marbled Godwits, Dunlins, Black-bellied Plover, and Ruddy Turnstone

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Forster's Tern

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Willet

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Marbled Godwit

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Marbled Godwit

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Marbled Godwits and Willet(?) and (?)

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Dunlins

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Dunlin

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Sanderling

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Black Skimmers, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and Laughing Gulls

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Black Skimmers

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American Oystercatchers

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Semipalmated Plover

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Little Blue Heron

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Juvenile Little Blue Heron

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White-eyed Vireo

I returned to the Mitchelville Park boardwalk, and saw more shorebirds: Marbled Godwits, Dunlins, and Willets. The Willets looked stockier in shape than the ones I had seen on the beach.

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Shorebirds

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Shorebirds

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Shorebirds

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Shorebirds

New trip birds:

Mourning Dove
Sanderling
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Towhee
Pine Warbler
White-eyed Vireo
Least Sandpiper
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Willet
Forster's Tern
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Black Skimmer
Royal Tern
Semipalmated Plover
Dunlin
Laughing Gull

Coastal Discovery Museum; February 8

I returned to the nearby Coastal Discovery Museum, hoping to get better photos of the Orange-crowned Warbler. The sun was starting to come out. I didn't see this warbler species, but got a surprise - a Prairie Warbler - rare in South Carolina this time of year.

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Prairie Warbler

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Prairie Warbler

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Prairie Warbler

New trip birds:

Prairie Warbler

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Pinckney Island NWR; Coastal Discovery Museum; February 7
Fish Haul and Mitchelville Parks; Coastal Discovery Museum; February 8
Sea Pines Forest Preserve; February 9
Fish Haul and Mitchelville Parks; Coastal Discovery Museum; Audubon Newhall Preserve; February 10
Pinckney Island NWR; February 11
Hotel area birding; February 12

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