The last bird of 2017

I hope everyone had a peaceful new yrs and if you made resolutions I hope you can make it happen!

 I dragged my feet on getting my end of year post up so this post should have been put up before the year end  but I just couldn't make it  happen.  And even tho I was victorious in my search I had little to show for this bird in the way of photos...but I will share what I found.

It's a beautiful area...

                                         Bennet's Point rd

I get the SC eBird Rarities alert in my inbox daily.  I had seen for about a week people reporting the Eurasian Wigeon in the area we call the Low Country, low meaning it is barely above sea level at Bear Island.

 

    Mary's Pond the birds are way at the back can't even see them can you? Neither could I!

I have blogged about Bear Island before it is a Wildlife Management Area in Colleton County, SC not too far from Charleston. Y'all may recall.  It's a solid 2 1/2 hrs south of me,  south east of I-95.  They do a great job with the water levels and keeping the habitat just right for waterfowl, waders, shore birds, forest birds, mammals and reptiles! BUT unfortunately Wildlife Management means hunting is allowed...so they close the place down every year (Oct 31 - Feb 8th)...just as all the ducks arrive! It's so infuriating.  The main gate is closed but if you have the secret code you can get in and kill your limit...grrrrrrr

        It was easy to see the Tundra Swans, I counted about 55 in total.

I was able to get a zoom on the big birds and see the little bit of yellow at the base of the eye on the beak to ID as Tundra Swans. 
 
The wigeon had been spotted in Mary's Pond which happens to be at the entrance and one can hang by the bank...so me and one other guy froze our asses in a stiff wind to look at the flotilla.  He was not looking for the wigeon, but he so kindly allowed me to scan with his scope and I did find it...all the birds were so far away it was especially hard trying to take photos...I never thought of bringing my tripod! It would have helped in the wind...

This huge mass of ducks is mostly Gadwall, there is some Bufflehead in there, some Hooded Merganser, Canada Geese, and American Wigeon.  Some Ring Billed Gull flew around, Great Egrets were hanging out in the trees out of the wind, and a Bald Eagle kept buzzing the ducks scattering them around each time I hoped they would resettle closer to me, but they never did...I guess the guy and I was as scary as the Eagle to them.

                                              Bald Eagle Duck Hunting

                                                       and away they go...

Mostly Gadwall these few came a little closer to the road, until the eagle returned to flush them away.

A Tri-Colored Heron settled in some marsh grass to look for a meal from a higher perch...

The Belted Kingfisher watched from the high line, mostly he watched me and the guy try to figure out how to get any photos of the far far away waterfowl.  

 

 The Little Blue Heron found a perch and hunkered down keeping his back to the wind...

 Across the road one Great Egret came out to hunt....

 

The Eagle finally settled in some trees nearby when I went to the Van to warm up and have some lunch...

And not far from  him Black Vultures rested too...

 

I had some left over home made hummus and I made 2 wraps and some olives, and a piece of left over fruit cake too!  I saved one wrap for later.
It looks like he is saying...
"WHATTTTTTTTT you eatin?"

LoL

I tired several shots of the wigeon and this was the best shot I got of him he was soooo very far away...a very shaky wind blown shot; he is the bird in the dead center of this image.  It would have been a better shot if he hadn't stuck his face in the water just as I clicked.

      

   (Mostly white on the sides trailing off to grey and black on the back...a cinnamon head and you can just barely see the shimmer of white down the center of his face..and a darker shadow around the eye.)

And actually my shot was about in line with others who were there that same day...this couple was there early in the morning check their list from ebird.  
 
So I felt a little bit vindicated when I saw their photo was not much different than mine...we all did our best under the circumstances.  I did however notice one thing on ebird.  (this is an aside) One list that popped up today was submitted by a fellow who happens to be an area ebird reviewer, the reason I know this is he has reviewed me a couple times.  When you submit a bird and the rare birds pop up it's the reviewers job to "confirm" or "not confirm" the bird as being correctly identified...I just happened to notice some that were submitted with a documenting photo, were still listed as Unconfirmed...and yet his personal sighting without any Photo was listed as "confirmed" 
Who reviews the reviewer? hmmm  Corruption in birding politics? Without a photo I'd say unconfirmed...lol.

The chill of the afternoon was really setting in by 2 pm and the man left, and an hour later so did I, he gave me his card and asked me to check out his website...so I did. 
Andrew Griner Nature Photographer.  He was an older man with some disabilities, and yet he was out there brazing the cold and enjoying himself while his supportive wife waited in the car.  I noticed she got out and helped him load up all his gear...it was sweet.
Take a look n see...some of his work is really good!

 https://andrew-griner.squarespace.com/

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.