Coastal Georgia Audubon visits Huguenot Memorial City Park.

On August 21th, 2010, a small group braved the heat and early hour to head south of the border. Well just over into Florida to Huguenot Memorial City Park. We met Carol Wyatt our leader and some the Duval Audubon Society members to see what Duval Audubon and Lesley Royce their Conservation Director have done to help the birds co-exist with the people who are there for the beach. We had a nice little crowd of birders for the morning. Jimmie Ann Abner, Janice Browning, Gene Keferl and I were there from Coastal Georgia Audubon.

We were amazed at the number of shorebirds that were using the areas that were close to foot traffic. It was so much fun being with the Duval Folks who were very friendly. As we stood looking over the mud flat toward the end of the morning, we were thrilled to see eight species of terns standing together in a group. It was a great opportunity to see these terns side by side. The list goes from small to tall- Least Tern, Black Tern, Forster’s Tern, Common Tern, Gulled-billed Tern, Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern and Caspian Tern.

Winter Pelagic Birding Report by Eugene P. Keferl

I went pelagic birding with Nathan Dias on January 29, 2011 off South Carolina. It was cold, but the weather was fantastic otherwise. On the way back the ocean was almost flat. The object of this trip was to look for alcids that may have invaded SC. We did find about 60 Razorbills and had some very good looks. I am pretty sure I saw a Thick-bill Murre as well, but it was a fly-by and I can't really count it. We were hoping to find Dovekie and an Atlantic Puffin, but unfortunately we did not. The boat was large, roomy and very comfortable and with 25 participants we only had to pay $95. We left from Little River which is just inside the NC border. We spent all our boating time cruising SE in SC waters. We went out about 50 miles. I saw the following species from the boat. The boat did not get real close (fortunately) to the jetties and sand bars so it was hard to identify most of the small peeps along the Little River. Normally there would have been more ducks around the inlet, except that there were two duck hunters there. No lifers, but several NC and SC birds. Chris Skelton and Steve Calver were also in attendance. Here are the birds we saw:

Purple Sandpiper NC, American Oystercatcher SC, Greater Yellowlegs NC, Willet NC, Ruddy Turnstone NC, Dunlin NC and SC, Red Phalarope SC, about 70 Bonaparte's Gull NC and SC, Laughing Gull SC, Ring-billed Gull NC and SC, Herring Gull NC and SC, Great Black-backed Gull SC, Forester's Tern SC, Razorbills SC, about 60 Northern Harrier NC and SC, Lesser Scaup NC, Surf Scoter NC and SC, White-winged Scoter NC, Black Scoter NC, Bufflehead NC and SC, Hooded Merganser NC and SC, Red-breasted Merganser NC, Red-throated Loon SC, Common Loon NC and SC, Northern Gannet SC, Brown Pelican NC