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I love birding Charleston in January! There is such a wide variety of bird species that visit Charleston during the winter. January also starts a new year which means that all the bird lists from the previous year reset. So every bird common or not is super exciting to find and record!
So far it has been an exciting January finding 128 birds species in only the first two weeks! I have visited some awesome locations around Charleston in search of birds. One of my first stops, my favorite birding hotspot, was Fort Moultrie National Historical Park. Fort Moultrie as expected had a wonderful diverse population of birds, I recorded over 60 bird species!
Red Knots:
I visited the I’On Swamp another favorite birding hotspot of mine. It was overall a quite day but the beautiful wilderness still yielded some very cool birds!
The winter storms up north apparently pushed some incredible seabirds south with some rarities being observed & rescued off the South Carolina coastline. I visited the Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island a few days in a row with the hope to catch a glimpse of a rare bird. With incredible fortune I witnessed a single, small, chunky and adorable seabird called a Dovekie fly along the shoreline near the Isle the Palms County Park! Over these few days of ocean watching I got to see some other super cool birds too!
My next stop was Pitt Street Bridge, always a great birding location with constant wildlife activity and gorgeous views. I tallied 38 bird species in just over an hour!
Another great winter location is Romney Street Site (former landfill), the large open fields attract some special birds. My brief exploration was so much fun! It started with nearly 100 Eastern Meadowlarks scattered across the low grassy field. I watched a Loggerhead Shrike, American Kestrel and Northern Harrier all hunting for a meal. And as I walked the damp field I unexpectedly flushed numerous Wilson’s Snipes!
I searched for a sometimes hard to find winter visitor the Rusty Blackbird. These blackbirds are in significant decline and can be found during the winter in wooded wetland habitats. I look for these rusty looking blackbirds in the I’On Swamp area and surprisingly the I’On Rookery in the heart of Mount Pleasant. I walked the I'On Rookery trail for about 20 minutes when I began to hear their check calls which alerted me to their presence high in the trees above the wetland areas.
Winter is a great time to look for birds on the water. The Charleston Harbor and surrounding water ways can have a variety of birds and once in a while something unexpected. I visited the Charleston Battery, Charleston Waterfront Park, and Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park.
Red-shouldered Hawk:
I also visited the accreted land on Sullivans Island, this is stretch of dunes, maritime growth and freshwater habitat between the beach and residential properties. It has been a great hotspot for songbirds, rails, coots, gallinules, woodcocks and so many other birds!
American Coots:
My most recent adventure was a very early morning trip to the Francis Marion National Forest to listen for American Woodcocks! They were vocalizing as soon as I arrived. I heard male beent calls followed by flight displays with wing twittering and chirps. It was an awesome encounter with these very unique birds!
January is really a wonderful month to go birding in South Carolina!
So get outside this winter to look and listen for birds! *
*If you want to join me birding, I have partnered with the Charleston Parks Conservancy to offer a FREE birding event every 3rd Saturday at different City of Charleston Parks through 2024. (Carr-Richardson Park on Saturday, January 20th)
eBird Checklist for January: https://ebird.org/tripreport/195005
Happy Birding!
-Charles
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