Birding in the Clemson Bottoms

The university where I work has a long history as an agricultural school, and the Bottoms are the last remnant of the riverine bottomlands along the Seneca River (now Lake Hartwell). 

This is an area that's been productively farmed for a long time, first by the Cherokee, then by Fort Hill plantation owners (John C. Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson).  After the establishment of Clemson College, this area continued to be an important agricultural field.

Saved from inundation by Lake Hartwell by dikes created in the 60's (I think), the Bottoms are now divided between the Student Organic Farm, the former Aquaculture facility, and agronomic and horticultural research.

It's a great place to go birding, between the fields, ponds, and forest edges.

So in Field Ornithology this morning, we saw everything from Canada Geese, to Eastern Bluebirds, to Wilson's Snipe, to Eastern Meadowlarks.  Not to mention the Great Blue Heron, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Song Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebe, American Robin, Belted Kingfisher, etc.

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Bee flies and syrphid flies

I was fortunate enough to be on a birding excursion this afternoon in a class that I've been taking. We saw all sorts of interesting things, thanks to our instructor, a great birder, but also an experienced entomologist.

We saw birds, of course, and we're in the midst of peak spring migration, but I think my favorite new thing was learning about bee flies. They look like small, very cute bees, but are actually bee mimics. This one was visiting small pale tangerine-colored flowers out in the meadow (a weedy plant that I should know the name of, but which is really quite lovely). They're pollinators, just like bumblebees, honeybees, and other bees, but as flies, mimic bees to avoid predators. Here's a great array of bee fly images from giffbeaton.com.

Similarly, watching a syrphid fly that mimics yellow jackets was fascinating. These flies are also flower visitors, and are sometimes called flower flies. Here are some good images from a NC Extension Sustainable Agriculture site.

I was able to get a good look at a number of birds that were less familiar to me. A Eastern Kingbird and a number of blue-gray gnatcatchers were highlights, as well as a tufted titmouse carrying a HUGE wad of moss in her beak for nest building. We also saw the nesting female red-shouldered hawk apparently feeding bits of an anole or lizard that her mate had just brought to her. She's probably staying at the nest with her nestlings while they grow feathers -- they're altricial (born with little or no down), so need plenty of help to stay warm, and need to be fed. Hopefully, they'll be independent enough in the next few days (it takes about a week) that both parents will be feeding them, so we'll have lots more activity. We were able to see the male come in, deposit the critter, and quickly depart, and then the backside of the female as she fed her young.

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Learning more about birds

An birding class in the botanical garden this afternoon reminded me of how useful it is to go out with an experienced birder as a leader. His ability to hear and identify calls, and then point out where to look, helped us spot an excellent variety of birds and added lots more to my 'seen in the Garden' notes. This is a good time of the year for birding, as the spring migrants start coming through.

A highlight was getting a good look at one of our red-shouldered hawks (probably the male), and seeing the female on the nest. I first saw the nest about a month ago; the pair was building their nest then. They finished the nest about a week later, and started incubating the eggs.

Some of our winter residents are still here -- we all got a great look at a yellow-bellied sapsucker vigorously drilling fresh holes in a young tulip poplar. They'll be heading north quite soon. This photo by Lang Elliot is from the Bird Guide at Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- one of my favorite sites to learn more about birds. A useful feature is being able to listen to song and call recordings for each bird, as well as learn about their basic biology. This is another link to an interesting piece at Hilton Pond. org about yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

We had another good look at a bird that I hadn't ever seen, a Northern Water Thrush, vigorously 'working' the stream near the Woodland Wildflower Garden. There was a pair, apparently, but even though shy, their characteristic bobbing foraging behavior in the stream was easily seen this afternoon. They're also on their way north to their breeding areas.

Other interesting sightings were yellow-rumped warblers, red-eyed vireos, a pileated woodpecker, a red-bellied woodpecker, a yellow-shafted flicker, dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, an Eastern phoebe, and a white-breasted nuthatch. We also heard and saw more common 'backyard birds': tufted titmice, Carolina wrens, a male bluebird, and a male cardinal. We ended up seeing over 22 different species of birds in one afternoon -- a good number, with plenty of time to see many of them. An excellent outing, to be sure.

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