Rare geese make unusual — and deadly — stop in the Lowcountry

BEAUFORT COUNTY, SC — When avid birdwatcher Carol Clemens had a chance to see a rare species -- one that usually migrates only along the West Coast -- just 45 minutes from her Hilton Head Island home, she couldn't pass it up.

A Ross's goose, similar to but smaller than a snow goose, had been spotted in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge near Hardeeville, and Clemens hopped in her car almost as soon as she heard.

"This bird is so unusual that if I hadn't called my friend to go out and see it, then it would have been a lost opportunity," said Clemens, membership co-chairwoman of the Hilton Head Island Audubon Society.

"We were hoping to get a glimpse of the goose, but thought that it would be just a white speck on the horizon," she added. "But then we got almost 10 feet away and could really admire it."

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Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/24/3833637_rare-geese-make-unusual-and-deadly.html?sp=/99/117/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

Jasper County Plantation Employees Charged With Killing Protected Hawks, Owls

Posted: Aug 30, 2014 3:47 PM GDTUpdated: Aug 31, 2014 12:51 AM GDT

By Ashleigh Holland, Reporter - email

Jasper County, S.C. -

UPDATE: Birds like the great horned owl and the red tailed hawk are protected by law. 

“People were killing more birds in their summer area, and then by the time winter would come, there would be no birds there that would normally be there, so they enacted what's called the Migratory Bird Treaty,” Robert Rommel says. 

Rommel is the Vice President of the Hilton Head Island Audubon Club. He says it's no surprise the treaty is sometimes violated, but he is shocked by what he hears went on at a Jasper County plantation. 

“It was shocking and mind-opening, to think that people had been engaging obviously knowingly. It's not that they didn't know that they were harming the animals," Rommel says. 

Three men were caught trapping and shooting more than 30 great horned owls and red tailed hawks at Mackay Point Plantation, in an operation that lasted for about two years. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, birds were left in cages for days sometimes. 

"It would be days before the hunter would, I imagine, check on the traps to see if they caught anything. So, the bird's not eating or getting any water, and may be in the hot sun. I don't know where the traps were located, but yeah it's very inhumane," Rommel says. 

He also believes crimes like this impact the species' population. He's just glad the men were stopped this time. 

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Fossil of 'largest flying bird' identified

By Rebecca Morelle

Science Correspondent, BBC News

The giant bird would have been an elegant flier, able to soar across the ancient ocean in search of food

The fossilised remains of the largest flying bird ever found have been identified by scientists.

This creature would have looked like a seagull on steroids - its wingspan was between 6.1 and 7.4m (20-24ft).

The find is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The 25m-year-old fossil was unearthed 30 years ago in South Carolina, but it has taken until now to identify that this is a new species.

Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, said: "This fossil is remarkable both for the size, which we could only speculate on before the discovery, and for the preservation.

"The skull in particular is exquisite.

"And given the delicate nature of the bones... it is remarkable that the specimen made it to the bottom of the sea, became buried without being destroyed by scavengers, fossilised, and then was discovered before it was eroded or bulldozed away."

The researchers believe this huge bird surpasses the previous recorder-holder, Argentavis magnificens - a condor-like bird from South America with an estimated wingspan of 5.7-6.1m (19-20ft) that lived about six million years ago.

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Bird whisperer demonstrates technique at Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

Posted: April 20, 2014 - 12:16am

By Mary Landers

912-652-0337 mary.landers@savannahnow.com

Peter Range banded his first bird, an evening grosbeak, when he was just a kid in eastern Tennessee. The feisty finch put its mark on him, too.

“Some birds peck,” he said. “An evening grosbeak grabs the skin and takes a divot out of it.”

Still, Range was hooked on banding when he discovered one of the grosbeaks he recaptured in 1968 had been banded six years before in Lincoln, Maine.

On Tuesday morning, more than 45,000 banded birds later, Range demonstrated his technique to interested birders at the Visitors’ Center of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.

Just prior to the demo, Range and several volunteers caught a half dozen birds in mist nets in the nearby woods and held them in mesh produce bags to await their tags.

First up was a hooded warbler, a local nester that comes back to the area in the spring. This one was a female, in its second year and on the skinny side, Range said, holding it gently but firmly in his right fist. With pliers and a practiced touch, Range fitted onto the bird’s leg a metal band stamped with a unique identifying number.

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DHEC wants SC residents to collect dead birds

BY NATHANIEL CARY

The Greenville NewsApril 16, 2014 

Birds that could be infected with West Nile virus

SC-DHEC

GREENVILLE, SC — If you see a dead bird, South Carolina’s health department wants you to pick it up, with gloves on of course.

The state wants citizens to collect birds that recently died to help the Department of Health and Environmental Control monitor the spread of West Nile virus in South Carolina this year.

The virus begins to show up in mid-March and normally lasts through November, DHEC says.

If you spot a dead blue jay, crow, house sparrow or house finch, you should put on gloves or use double layers of plastic bags to pick it up and take it to local collection stations, said Chris Evans, an entomologist with DHEC’s Bureau of Laboratories.

West Nile is carried through the bird population, but mosquitoes that feast on birds can spread the virus to humans, Evans said.

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Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/16/3389960/dhec-wants-sc-residents-to-collect.html?sp=/99/205/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

High tech bird count: Radar used to track raptors

AWENDAW, S.C. (AP) — Bird counters usually head into a field or forest carrying binoculars and a pad to record what they see. But a South Carolina center went high-tech this fall, using radar in its annual count of falcons, eagles, hawks and other raptors flying along the coast.

Officials at the Center for Birds of Prey say it's thought to one of the only places where modified marine radar is being used to help count raptors. And they say it should help increase the number of birds sighted by watchers on the ground.

The survey has been taken from mid-September through mid-November for the last 15 years as volunteers head into fields at the 150-acre center northeast of Charleston.

"We know that by counting migrating raptors and watching patterns over time we pick up trends," said Stephen Schabel, the center's director of education. "One of our missions is to monitor what is happening out there in the environment and its potential effects."

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/science/article/High-tech-bird-count-Radar-used-to-track-raptors-4047821.php#ixzz2CfnaZaMH

Beaufort County pushing for birds to soar to new heights

Birds of a feather are starting to flock together in Beaufort County.

The birds I'm talking about are people -- bird people.

Bird people have set the standard here. In the old days, they came from all over to shoot quail. Today they come to observe a wide variety of birds. And in between, many of the new residents who turned rural Beaufort County into a busy place set the standard by appreciating and protecting the wildlife through land conservation, education and field trips.

Now more than ever, the bird people are flapping in the same direction.

Pete Richards of the Fripp Island Audubon Club tells me there is growing cooperation among his club and the Hilton Head Audubon Club and the Sun City Bird Club.


Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2012/09/25/2224054/beaufort-county-pushing-for-birds.html