One Awesome Birding Walk Huntington Beach State Park

 

 

Date: November 24, 2024

Place: Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina

Coordinates: 33.506768, -79.065460

Length: 0.8 mile

Level: very easy

When half of the family are avid birders it is expected that a significant time of our vacation time would be dedicated to birding. This is true especially when Pappa Quail was in charge of planning much of our Thanksgiving week trip to South Carolina and Georgia. 

On our arrival day we had the first taste of the nature in the lowlands of the coastal area at the Audubon's Beidler Forest Preserve, where we hiked in a swamp forest. Our next day was dedicated more to the local history - we visited Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired, and we visited a plantation, where we also got to see the first alligator on this trip. Our third day however, was dedicated to nature and naturally, to birding. 

We drove north for nearly two hours to reach Huntington Beach State Park which, according to the local chapter of the Audubon Society, was a great place for birding. Indeed, it was. 

 

Our first stop in the park was the visitor center, which hasn't opened yet. We read the information signs and while me and the younger chika wandered around, Pappa Quail and the elder chika went on a short boardwalk that extended over the lagoon behind the visitor center. The boardwalk was collapsed but from its entrance they saw a few birds in the exposed mud flats. 

Black-bellied Plover

The boardwalk may have been closed to people, but a number of birds used it as a perch. nearly all of the birds on the boardwalk rail were herons or their relatives. 

Little Blue Heron, juvenile

Next to the visitor center was a bird feeding spot with a fresh water basin and a number of bird feeders. From the outside second floor balcony of the visitor center we had a great view of the feeding station and the numerous birds that were hanging by the feeders and in the vicinity. 

Carolina Chickadee

Some of the birds were very common and very familiar to us from California and many other places in  United States, such as the yellow-rumped warbler. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Other birds that we've seen by the feeders or nearby were definitely lifers - species that we were seeing for the first time. 

Carolina Wren

Some of the birds we saw there, although they weren't 'lifers' meaning we have seen them before, are not in the Bay Area and they were still a thrill to see. 

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

I borrowed the binoculars from Pappa Quail and looked down at the ground where the cameras of Pappa Quail and the elder chika were pointing. I could tell that the bird there was a sparrow, but not the sparrow's species. I left the final identification to the experts. 

White-throated Sparrow

I did recognize the dove though. The mourning dove is common also in California, where I've seen it numerous times. 

Mourning Dove

I also recognized the cardinal on the water basin. I remembered cardinals from the time I lived in Wisconsin, where their red color would brighten the white winter snow - the cardinals overwinter there. 

Northern Cardinal, female

I'll finish this section of the blogpost with a little bird that is very rarely seen in California but is quite common in the East Coast - the pine warbler. 

Pine Warbler

We hung by the bird feeding station long enough, until the visitor center opened. Based on the information we received there on the best birding trails we planned the rest of our visit there. Our next stop was right by the road we came in on, which boarded Mullet Pond. 

Our walk as captured by my GPS

we started our walk by going up the observation deck that extended through the tall vegetation, over the exposed mud, and protruded into the pond. 

The pond extended to the southwest. It was hard to see its edge from where we stood - it looked like it extended around the curve. The water was't clear enough to tell its depth, but the numerous great egrets which stood ways away from the shore provided a good evidence that it was pretty shallow. 

Mullet Pond

Mullet Pond was teeming with birds, but most of the birds were not those usually classified as waterfowl. There were only a few ducks swimming there. 

Hooded Merganser

I'm not sure if gulls are categorized as waterfowl. Either way, there was only one gull in the water at the time.   

Ring-billed Gull

Suddenly Pappa Quail called our attention to the sky - up above us flew an anhinga - a cormorant-like diver bird. The anhinga was pretty far up, and flew quickly away. Later that week we had the chance of seeing anhingas from a much closer distance. This one was for sure a lifer for me. 

Anhinga

Scanning once again the area of the deck, we saw many wading birds. Herons are always nice to see, and in the shallow water stood many herons of several different species, including the tricolored heron, a bird I have only seen once before, in Texas. 

Tricolored Heron

The northeast side of Mullet Pond boards the road and the space between the deck and the road was dotted with many white birds - egrets, herons, ibises and wood storks. 

Mullet Pond

The common ibis species in California is the white-faced ibis, which is a dark brown bird with some iridescent green hue. The white ibis of the East Coast is indeed white, when adult. 

White Ibis, adult

Naturally, our attention was drown at first to the multitude of large, white birds. Pappa Quail and the elder chika however, soon turned their attention to the area where brown vegetation poked out of the shallow water, searching for the less conspicuous birds that waded there. 

Wilson's Snipe

The snipe was a familiar enough bird, so Pappa Quail didn't give it too much attention. He was more interested in another shorebird that was wading near the snipe - a pectoral sandpiper. This one was a lifer sighting. 

Pectoral Sandpiper

Thankfully my family birders photographed also the more common birds, so we'll remember that not only lifers were gathered in Mullet Pond. 

Greater Yellowlegs

In the group of common and familiar birds were the double-crested cormorants. A few of them were perched on a dead tree that protruded from the water, but they were distant. Anther individual flew right above us, and passed close enough to make out the details of this beautiful bird. 

Double-crested Cormorant

Another very familiar bird, but one we are always excited to see, flew across the sky right above us - a gorgeous adult bald eagle. 

Bald Eagle

Pappa Quail pointed out to me a group of large, white birds that stood on dry land near the water. These birds, he told me, were wood storks. They were lifers and he wanted to get better photos of them. For that, we needed to go to the road and view the storks from there. 

We headed back down the boardwalk and around the vegetation to where the sidewalk trail by the road begun. There was a ditch there by the trailhead and in the ditch I spotted a beautiful male cardinal. I called Pappa Quail and the elder chika to get better photos than those I took, but by the time they came over the cardinal left the ditch and settled on a tree branch, eying us from above. 

Northern Cardinal

The ditch wasn't empty though. There were a bunch of birds there still - white ibises, egrets, and little blue herons. 

Of all the heron species, my favorite is the snowy egret. I love their temperament and their ethereal beauty. The only thing that hampers the impression is their voice, which I must admit is quite strange sounding. 

Snowy Egret

We left behind the ditch and the tall vegetation that grew along it sides. From the open road we sure had a great view of all the birds that stood on this side of the pond. They seemed completely unbothered by us, or the other people that stood on the sidewalk and observed them. 

Among all the white egrets, herons, and ibises was a pink bird with a wide bill tip - a roseate spoonbill. It wasn't a lifer for us but it was wonderful to see it there. 

Roseate Spoonbill

In the company of so many white birds, the grayish-looking great blue heron looked a bit drab. Still, without it, the heron assembly there would have felt lacking. 

Great Blue Heron

We lingered in that spot for a while, but then we continued along the sidewalk, searching the water for more birds and enjoying the wonderful sunny day we were blessed with. 

Pied-billed Grebe

There was a shaded gazebo farther along the road and we made are way slowly toward it. In the water swam a squadron of pelicans. They didn't merely swim together, though. These pelicans often hunt together - coordinating their moves to crowd the fish together, then dipping their bills synchronously to grab the fish. 

pappa Quail ignored the pelicans but the elder chika was fascinated by their coordinated moves. From the gazebo she photographed the pelicans after they came to rest on a low island, sharing the space with a group of cormorants. 

American White Pelican

Another small island provided us with the best view of the wood storks. They were so close to the road that even I could get a descent photo of these birds. 

The best close-up photos however, were taken by Pappa Quail and the elder chika. They took many photos of the wood storks that day, and it was quite a challenge for me to select the one I thought was the best. 

Wood Stork

On the island was also another bird that was harder to see because its colors matched those of the soil and vegetation. It was a brown pelican, the same species of the brown pelican we see along the Pacific Ocean. 

Brown Pelican

 

An information sign near the gazebo informed us about the importance of alligators to the local ecology, being the apex predator there. We kept searching for alligators in the pond but saw none that day. 

Pappa Quail and the elder chika were taking their time looking at the birds from the gazebo, and the younger chika was staring at the water, lost in her thoughts. I decided to move across the road check out the other side. Northeast of the road was a flat salt marsh that was periodically flooded by a slough that extended from the ocean. When we started our walk it was low tide but by the time I crossed the road the tide was coming. 

Great Egret

Near the road were a few brown birds that attracted my attention. They didn't look like any other brown bird that I've seen before. I shouted out to my family with excitement - I found a lifer! They however, took their time to come over. Perhaps they didn't trust my ability to identify a bird species that would be new to them. When he did see the birds however, Pappa Quail admitted that they were indeed a lifer species - they were boat-tailed grackles. 

Boat-tailed Grackle

Little by little the water advanced and rose between the clamps of vegetation. The vegetation looked very brown, and I assumed that this was the winter color there and that in spring and summer the plants looked more green. 

Now that my family had joined me on the northeastern side of the road they checked that area too for birds. 

Western Sandpiper

Little shorebirds were foraging right at the line of the water and mud. They were mostly sandpipers we already were familiar with from California. They were very cute to watch.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

A few dunlins also foraged at the rising water line, not too far from the sandpipers, but also not too near. 

Dunlin

Slowly we started moving back south along the road. I was already eager to finish this little birding walk so we could go on an actual hike along the beach, so I was ahead of everyone else, and I got to be the first to see the great egret that stood under the small wood deck by the side of the road. The egret stood in ambush and every few minutes it shot its long neck down and its bill would strike the water, pulling out little silvery fish. 

Great Egret

The egret fished so several times, and Pappa Quail and the elder chika came over in tie to take some photos of the egret's success. 

Great Egret

By the time we returned closer to where we started the roadside walk I could see the swelling of the slough where it was dry before. The tide was coming in for sure. 

We could see no more birds on the marsh side of the road so we all crossed back to the southwestern side to take another look and the wood storks.  

Wood Stork

On our way back, right at the edge of the ditch, stood another white ibis that was not white at all. It was a juvenile, Pappa Quail told me. These birds don't turn white until they mature. 

White Ibis, juvenile

I'm not sure that this little birding walk counts as a hike, but it was sure a nice walk and it featured interesting sights and a huge variety of birds, including lifer species. It was a great opening of our day at Huntington Beach State Park.