Monday, September 10, 2007
Roseate Spoonbill Ajaia ajaja
Members of the Threskiornithidae family, the Roseate Spoonbills are cousins of other local favorite wading birds, the Ibises.
These birds spend much time feeding in the shallow waters of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on shrimp, small fish, snails, and aquatic insects, which they detect by their sense of touch as they rhythmically sweep their "spoon-shaped" bills from side to side. During the hottest part of our summer, the Roseates occasionally head further north into our coastal areas, exhibiting the same feeding behavior in shallow ponds, impoundments and saltwater flats in the lowcountry area.
We have seen them occasionally on Bull Island and as well on the Edisto River near Willtown Bluff. The most regular sightings, however, have been from Dewees Island, a privately-developed island just north of the Isle of Palms. The naturalists and landscape ecologists of the Deedee Paschal Barrier Island Trust have reported a regular group of the birds feeding and relaxing in the island's secluded impoundments. Contact the Trust with questions about Dewees Island programming and join Coastal Expeditions soon to catch the last fleeting glimpses of the Roseate Spoonbills before they head back south.
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Bald Eagles frequent the lowcountry normally over the winter months, nesting in our coastal plain and fledging their young before the warmth of spring breaks the winter chill.
These sightings have been regular over the last month, but who knows how long this will last. Come and join us on the Bull Island Ferry, the Island Cat, and cross your fingers in hopes of seeing this uncommon visitor.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Attack of the Sirenians!
The mammalian order Sirenia has just four species, three being different manatees and the fourth the dugong. The Sirenia is thought to have evolved from four legged land mammals over 60 million years ago, with the closest living relatives being the Proboscidea (elephants) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes).
The name manatee comes from the Spanish manatÃ, which itself comes from a Carib word meaning "breast." Over the summer months our waters play host to the West Indian Manatee Trichechus manatus. They regionally migrate to keep up with plant food resources, namely various seaweeds, and have been spotted as far north as
Half a manatee's day is spent sleeping in the water, surfacing for air regularly at intervals no greater than 20 minutes. They can been seen regularly here on Shem Creek where many dock owners hang garden hoses over the dock edge to give the manatee a much welcomed source of fresh water. Large tankers in the harbor sight bunches of manatee cruising the harbor and the researchers at
The manatee are an amazing sighting for anyone, even our naturalist guides who have been known to go absolutely crazy when spotting a group of manatee. Join us for a Shem Creek expedition and do the manatee dance ahead of time!
Rookeries Alive!
Paddle out from our headquarters on Shem Creek and into the
The island itself is off limits to foot traffic from March 15th to October 15th, but the low-impact nature of the kayaks and their shallow draft allow you an extremely close view of the birds. Around twelve species of birds nest on the island from spring all the way through early fall. American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers, many different species of terns, Eastern Brown Pelican, and a few Laughing Gulls situated in and amongst other species.
Please call our headquarters at 843.884.7684 to make a reservation for your birding adventure!
SCCCL Action Alert: Proposed Santee Cooper coal plant
DHEC Bureau of Air Quality will soon decide if they will issue a draft air permit to Santee Cooper for their proposed coal plant in southern
There is no need for DHEC to make this decision now, before Santee Cooper completes an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS will provide the information DHEC needs to make an informed permitting decision. Issuing a draft air permit now will undermine the EIS process.
The health and safety of
The proposed Santee Cooper Kingsbury Plant is planned to be built on the
The water quality of
Tell DHEC....There is no need to hurry
Don't issue a draft air permit for the proposed Santee Cooper coal plant until the Environmental Impact Statement is completed. Please let the decision makers know your opinion on the situation. Visit the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League's website, http://coastalconservationleague.org and follow the 'Take Action' tab to send out a letter.
Our heritage-rich and historical
Bull Island... Bursting with Birds!
As lowcountry locals know, the autumn and spring are the best times of the year to enjoy the outdoors. The temps are fantastic, mosquitos begin to die off and our wildlife never fail to impress.
Over the past month, all three have been spotted roosting and feeding in and around the inland wetland called Summerhouse Pond... offering up some amazing birding and photography experiences.
Mycteria Americana
Its late summer and the endangered North American Wood Stork, Mycteria Americana, is making its presence known.
The Wood Stork is easily identifiable by its huge size (our largest wading bird), long black trailing edge on underside of the wings (only visible in-flight), long downcurved bill, and when in flight it flies with both its feet and neck fully extended (un-like our herons, egrets, and pelicans), resembling the baby-delivering version from animated cartoon nostalgia. It requires fish filled shallows for working the mud with thier bill and snapping up fish. The speed with which they clamp down on fish is considered to be the fastest in the vertabrate world.
This avian giant was added to the endangered list in 1984 after decades of extreme population decline. The wood stork in considered a good bio-indicator species because its feeding and nesting sites are greatly effected by even subtle climate and habitat changes.
The Wood Stork population has shifted to the north in terms of nesting areas due to habitat alteration and destruction occuring in southern
Currently, wood storks can be seen throughout the lowcountry and we should continue to see them in the coastal region into the late-fall, after which they typically move further south and inland.
Shem Creek continues to offer sightings of wood storks resting on the wooden dock walkways behind shrimp boats. The
Wood storks also can be spotted in great numbers aboard the Bull Island Ferry in the Cape Romain NWR.
Join us on an expedition to add the wood stork to your life list of birding.