Although this is a very short tour, only 3 days of birding, we amassed 150+ species of birds. This is due to the very different habitats we visit: flooded rice fields, upland pine forests, and coastal marshes and shorelines.
In the pine forests we tracked down a couple of key species like RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS. Here are three in one tree:
Another target in the pine forests was this BACHMAN'S SPARROW:
One of the major surprises from this tour was when a NORTHERN WHEATEAR showed up at a nearby airport. We swung through to check out this major rarity:
I was thinking, this tour might be the only one I do where the default chickadee is the CAROLINA CHICKADEE:
But of course, the main draw on this tour is to see YELLOW RAILS. We get to ride around on the rice combine and watch as these hard-to-see rails flush from in front and fly to safety. On this tour, I ended up seeing 50! It's a wild ride!
You can see the full triplist online here.
All for now...
