Birds of Seabrook Island |
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COAST BIRDS |
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Species Acct. |
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Seabrook and Kiawah Islands are barrier islands fringing the Atlantic coast of John's Island, SC, a sea island south and west of Charleston. They are separated from each other by an estuary, the Kiawah River. They are bounded by the North Edisto River to the west and Stono Inlet to the east. They are located just north of the biodiverse ACE Basin. Added information is available from Wildlife on Kiawah Island. |
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CHECK-LIST OF THE BIRDS OF SEABROOK ISLAND - Despite a long-standing list of Seabrook Island birds, a few of our current birders have attempted to construct a new list (2013) that may be easier to use. By design, it includes only those birds most likely to be seen each year, omitting the rarer possibilities. It is flawed, however, by our incomplete knowledge and formatting constraints - yet we hope it will be useful. To dowload this list, click here or in the menu above. If you prefer the more complete Kiawah list (missing only the Eurasian Collared-Dove), click here. Feedback is welcomed... |
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Brown Pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis. Swash zone. A single Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, is to the left and three Royal Terns, Sterna maxima, are in the foreground. North Beach. Summer. | Great Egret, Ardea alba, chicks. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula, in the backbround. Jenkins Point. Summer 2009. The Great Egret is our most abundant heron species, found throughout the year feeding in both salt and fresh waters and foraging elsewhere for insects and lizards. | Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dendroica coronata, in winter plumage. "Butterbuts" own the island in the winter. Formerly called "myrtle warblers," they feed on the berries of wax myrtles on coastal islands. | ||||||
If you click on one of these images (or others in the web site), you will be presented with a larger or different view. Return to the web using your browser's "BACK" button. [These larger images will print at 4 X 6" if desired.] |
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NAVIGATION |
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Top: Buttons across the top of the page access various resources: |
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LINKS |
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Within species accounts, on-line links are given to databases containing more information. Clicking Cornell links you to an Online Bird Guide prepared by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. and clicking USGS links you to the Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter (US Geological Survey). If the site includes the song of the species, clicking that link will open your media player and you can listen to the song of the species. Wiki links you to Wikipedia, a broad source of information on many species, including birds of the world. [While anyone can contribute to Wikipedia, the coverage is good and mistakes tend to be corrected quickly.] ToL links to information on taxa found in the Tree of Life Web Project. EoL links to information in the Encyclopedia of Life Project. Several species are also linked to other Internet resources - click to visit the site. Use GOOGLE or another Web search engine to locate added information. Return to this web using the BACK button on your browser or close the external web site. |
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ABOUT THIS WEB |
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Images are original or photos contributed by other Seabrookers and identified with the small index image (see ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS below). Some images come from locations other than Seabrook but convey information about the species or group and aid in their identification. The images range from professional quality to the rankest amateur. Most are far from perfect but, used with the text, your field guide, and interactive web sites, should help you learn our most common species. All are linked by the Internet to resources with better pictures, range maps and, often, recorded song clips. I need to point out that I have spent more time on the beach and along Capn' Sam's Creek than inland and my knowledge of our land birds is limited (see the satellite photo of the island). Note that the beach and inlet habitats have changed significantly with the relocation of the inlet in 1996 and will change again when it is recut in 2013. I have spent about one week in four on Seabrook over the past 14 years, learning something each visit, but not achieving saturation coverage... I still have a lot to learn. My original intent was to limit this web to beach birds. However, not all birds of the beach are restricted to salt water nor are inland birds prevented from enjoying the beach or salt water estuaries. As a result, the web has grown to include some reference to ALL birds that might be expected in the Carolinas (defined by Potter, et al., 2006, Birds of the Carolinas), with particular emphasis on the Birds of Seabrook Island. It is important to note that a species may be common in coastal South Carolina but is not found on Seabrook because we lack suitable habitat (e.g. longleaf pine stands, cypress swamps, etc.). Note that birds fly and they don't always follow the rules - so rare or unexpected species may be found (especially after storms). Look twice, use your field guide, employ common sense, and enjoy. When in doubt, call a friend - four eyes/ears are better than two! Information found in the Birds of the World portion of this web goes well beyond the interests of the general bird watcher on Seabrook. Note that our understanding of phylogeny is now being honed by a number of genetic studies. State-of-the-art information is found in many of the Wikipedia references which are up-dated relatively frequently. For the world traveler this part of the web may provide some insight into the larger diversity of birds. Note that field guides are now available for many countries. |
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Our knowledge of birds on Seabrook Island has been developed by its residents and guests. Joe and Martha Stevenot, Ann Kent, Perry Nugent and others unknown to me and before my time were pioneers and constructed our present list of birds. Other contributors to early birding events included Tom Hilton, Kenyon Parsons, Ernie Prupis, Betty Stringfellow, Joan Cole, Peggylee Fulmer, Joan Hylander, and Betty Zimmerman. Many residents and island visitors now enjoy the island's birds found in habitats ranging from high energy beaches, salt marshes, and maritime shrub-scrub to fields and mature maritime forest. This web is dedicated to their enjoyment. Photos in this web come from a number of sources. Carl Helms has taken the majority with contributions by his wife Dori and their children (Robert and Lindsey) and granddaughter (Anna Kate Hein). Ed and Aijak Konrad have a major input with Ed's uncanny ability to get birds to pose and his wife's organizational skills - and their worldwide mobility (many images in Birds of the World come from their travels). Note that they retain the copyright and all rights for all of their shared contributions. A third major source comes from Kiawah Island with many images from individuals, their wildlife programs, and banding activities that both document sea island occurrences and yield images of smaller birds less often seen. The Town of Kiawah Island retains copyright and all rights to these images and to the banding data from the island. Joe Stevenot, Carl Voelker, Bob Hider, Irene Haskins, John Wells, Skip Crane, Marie Wardell, Ed Pivorun, Dominic D'Ostilio, and others have contributed one or more images adding to the collection. |
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INPUT |
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This web is a work in progress - information and images will continue to be added and your input would be appreciated. Please share your corrections, refinements, ideas, thoughts, data, or images with cwhelms@clemson.edu. Thanks. |
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v11.0, 1 November 2015 |
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Copyright 2007, 2010 © Seabrook Island Natural History Group |