Five “Low Hanging Fruit” in South Carolina, September 2020

One of my objectives for fall migration in 2020 was to focus on filling some gaps in my SC list.  Even after a year living in the area, I still had a number of “low hanging fruit” to pursue – birds that were regular migrants or residents that I just hadn’t been lucky enough to run into yet.  And now that I had nearly exhausted expected new statebirds in western NC, I could devote more time in SC during the upcoming fall season.

My first fall trip to SC was on 9/6, which actually began with a stop in NC at Guion Farm in the DuPont State Forest to meet up with Bill and Anita Hooker.  Red Crossbills had been reliable there for at least a couple months.  And since the site is just a short distance from the SC line, after some fun birding with Bill and Anita, I could head 20 minutes south from there into SC.  The Crossbills turned out to be most cooperative, with our first heard bird within minutes of our arrival.  After an hour we had multiple birds in site overhead and perched in nearby pines, as well as calling overhead and in the treetops.  Excellent observations of a local rarity. 

Then it was on to SC!  One of the species I heard on each of my 3 trips to Guion Farm this year was the Red-breasted Nuthatch.  I still needed that one for SC, principally because there were virtually none around the region the previous winter.  But since they were regular at Guion Farm, surely they should be in similar habitat just a few miles away in SC, right?  The problem was finding accessible suitable high elevation habitat in SC.  First of all, the elevation dropped off quickly once you crossed into SC, so higher elevation habitat was limited.  In this part of the state there was just a 3-mile stretch of US 276 from the stateline to Ceasars Head State Park that was at elevation.  And even though there were a couple trails in the area, they were in deciduous woodlands not typically appealing to a Red-breasted Nuthatch.  So my strategy to look for the Nuthatch was to pull-off on the side of 276 wherever I could find conifers – assuming it was safe to do so.

The first possible roadside location was literally right at the stateline where YMCA Camp Rd. intersected with 276.  Less than 20 minutes after leaving Guion Farm I reached the SC border and pulled onto the shoulder of the YMCA road.  There were several pine trees to the west so I was hopeful.  And sure enough within just a minute I heard the “toot toot toot” of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.  But which state was it in?  I listened more closely and heard the bird call again, allowing me to pinpoint exactly which direction it was calling from.  Now I had to find out where the stateline was.  I opened my GoogleMaps app and figured out how the line passed through the area.  The bird was indeed calling from SC, but no more than perhaps 50 ft from the stateline, and just 6 miles from Guion Farm “as the nuthatch flies”.  Success!

In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Red-breasted Nuthatch.  The 4 cross-hatched states are the last ones where I’ve yet to see it.  Although its regular throughout the continental US, it becomes rather rare in much in the southeast.

Another mile farther along the highway I made a stop at a spot labeled in GoogleMaps as “Greylogs Trail”.  This is a short gravel road and parking lot for a trail that was apparently never developed.  As luck would have it, I had a calling Red Nut here as well – needless to say I didn’t need to worry about where the stateline was to conclude that this one was also a SC bird.

Next stop was Ceasars Head State Park, and specifically the overlook there.  This is THE spot for Peregrine Falcon in the Upstate region of SC, as they are reliable at this location year-round.  But I had been here 3 prior times looking for a Peregrine without success.  Though in all fairness 2 of those times the mountain was fogged in.  Today the weather was great, so fog wouldn’t be an issue.  As I arrived at the parking lot I found that most of the lot was closed off, apparently to limit crowds on this Labor Day weekend during these days of Covid.  And there was just 1 open parking space – maybe my luck was looking up.  I parked in that last space and made my way over to the observation point to start my hawk watch. 

The hawk watch was pretty slow, with just a Red-shouldered and a Broad-winged Hawk passing by as likely migrants.  A young Red-tail and a couple Turkey Vultures circled below as presumably local birds.  After an hour I thought that maybe I should call it quits and try for the Peregrine another time.  But then I realized that conditions that day were ideal – not only was there great visibility, but also I had the observation point almost completely to myself.  And since I was free the rest of the afternoon, I decided to stay longer (I’m still trying to figure out how to take advantage of all my free time in retirement).  Another 30 minutes passed and I spotted the Red-tail again.  And just then a Peregrine passed by below me, starting to harass the Red-tail.  It would repeatedly dive bomb the bird, giving loud cackling calls the entire time.  Quite the show which lasted at least 5 minutes.  After 3 unsuccessful tries to see the Peregrine, I guess I was due for a cooperative bird.  Interestingly, all the raptors were below me at the overlook – a notable point for future visits.

Nice to get 2 new statebirds in the same day.  And SC was my 40th state for Peregrine.

 My next trip to SC came on 9/8 with a trip to Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve in Travelers Rest with Gary Harbour.  This was my first trip to this spot – sure wish I had been there before.  This 178-acre site has excellent diverse habitats, including various ages of successional fields, upland deciduous woodlands, and swamplands.  Gary showed me around the site visiting each of the habitats, including seeing the namesake endangered Bunched Arrowhead (which is a plant and has nothing to do with a group of Native American artifacts).  We were especially hoping for a few early migrants, which unfortunately were few and far between.  But I was lucky enough to get several glimpses of a less-than-cooperative warbler that turned out to be a Blackburnian – the last “easy” warbler I still needed in SC.

And speaking of “easy” warblers, I now have Blackburnian throughout the east except for VA and DE, and for several states in the Great Plains along the western edge of its migration range.  I’ve also seen this species in CA as a rarity.

My last two SC low hanging fruit in September came while participating in the Greenville County Fall Migration Count on 9/19.  My assigned territory consisted of the same sites I covered in the Spring Migration Count.  I started both counts at dawn in the Greenville Watershed which is an amazing area of extensive upland deciduous woodlands.  On my trips there in spring and summer I’ve tallied very high numbers of woodland nesting species as I drove along the roads through the woods.  But given that I would be birding in deep woodlands rather than along wooded edges, I wasn’t sure how many migrants I might find.  My key target was Gray-cheeked Thrush which was being reported in the area at the time, principally as a pre-dawn migrant.  But since I wouldn’t be arriving till dawn, I may well be too late.  All things considered, I was hopeful but not terribly optimistic.

I arrived at the Greenville Watershed a few minutes before sunrise.  Although there were no longer birds still migrating overhead, there were already a number of call notes coming from the woods nearby.  One of the first birds I heard was a Swainson’s Thrush, and soon there were multiple Swainson’s giving their “pit” and “weep” calls increasing in pitch.  And then I heard the first thrush call note dropping in pitch.  I listened carefully and heard this call again – too short and not clear enough to be a Veery.  I had my first Gray-cheeked.  I guess I shouldn’t have been too worried since I heard 3 others calling from the understory on my next 2 stops.  Another example of a target bird that isn’t too unexpected at the right place and right time – the perfect example of “low hanging fruit”.  And although Gray-cheeked is a regular species in much of the eastern US, I haven’t been in that right place at the right time to see it as it migrated through quite a number of those states. 

As I approached dawn one of the first birds I actually saw was a cooperative Canada Warbler in brush along the roadside.  Weeks later I realized that I needed Canada for my SC statelist – an unexpected surprise that I hadn’t even targeted.  From my statebird map it looks like I need to make Canada Warbler a target in quite a number of states.  Though I did find one in WY years ago as just the 5th state record at the time. 

The 5 new low hanging fruit statebirds bring my SC list to 273.  Not bad for one month, even though they all were regular expected species. 

“But wait there’s more” as they say.  In September I also added 3 rarities for SC - check out my next blog post for a summary of these 3 less common species.