Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari 2010

On Saturday, August 7th, twelve Shorebird Safarians, all clad in Hawaiian shirts and leis, joined Mark and I for our annual Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari. We met the group at Morris Island at 8:00 AM and Rip Ryder had us on South Beach by 8:30. The weather could not have been any better! The temperatures were in the low 80's with no humidity, there was a slight breeze, and the sunshine was abundant.

When we first arrived on South Beach a mixed flock of shorebirds, including a beautiful Marbled Godwit, greeted us!

Our friend Dan was very excited, as this was a life bird for him.

Everyone was having a great time enjoying the beautiful day and shorebirding.

Despite the greenheads, which were bothersome if you were not wearing long pants.

We had wonderful looks at American Oystercatchers

and Ruddy Turnstones.

We tallied 39 species for the day. While the overall number of individuals were low we had wonderful looks at the shorebirds that were present. Following is our complete trip list:

Common Loon – 1 / Double-crested Cormorant – 59 / Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret – 1 / Snowy Egret – 4 / Canada Goose – 12
White-winged Scoter – 1 / Osprey – 9 / Black-bellied Plover – 11
Semipalmated Plover – 400 / Piping Plover – 8 / American Oystercatcher – 14
Greater Yellowlegs – 10 / Willet – 32 / Whimbrel – 9
Hudsonian Godwit – 5 / Marbled Godwit – 3 / Ruddy Turnstone – 36
Red Knot – 10 / Sanderling – 40 / Semipalmated Sandpiper – 300
Least Sandpiper – 800 / White-rumped Sandpiper – 3 / Short-billed Dowitcher – 50
Laughing Gull – 14 / Ring-billed Gull – 50 / Herring Gull – 110
Great Black-backed Gull – 35 / Roseate Tern – 42 / Common Tern – 800
Least Tern – 12 / Black Tern – 2 / Tree Swallow – 10
Bank Swallow – 3 / Barn Swallow – 7 / Cedar Waxwing – 3
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow – 22 / Seaside Sparrow (juv) – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 3 / American Goldfinch – 2.

Aloha!