Folly Beach “Lifer” Bird!

 I wasn’t expecting to add a “lifer” bird during Sunday’s Folly Beach outing. But that’s a neat part of the birding hobby- expect the unexpected! 

Meet the Sandwich Tern. What’s with the sandwich you ask? This shore bird was “discovered” and documented in Sandwich, England in 1787 by ornithologist John Latham. 

The species has a distinctive yellow tip on its bill. That’s the mustard on the sandwich (I read somewhere). 

This tern type is a lifer bird for me, an unexpected bonus to our first visit to Folly Beach since August 2021. 

The Folly Beach Fishing Pier re-do is featured in my two years ago post. It has been completed but we were not close enough to see it in this August's visit. 

I saw this mixed group of shorebirds as we walked toward the inlet so we could see the venerable Morris Island Lighthouse. 

I’m a longtime member of the “Save the Light” organization that has helped repair and preserve the tall brick light that dates to 1876. 

This is a Ring-billed Gull that may have been also feeling the hot, humid temperatures. 

Long-legged Willets are common sights on our area beaches. 

To follow are other Folly Beach scenes.

Here's a closeup of the Morris Island Lighthouse. Read about its interesting history here. 

That’s the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse across Charleston’s Harbor. The black and white tower, completed in 1962, is also called the Charleston Light. More on that here. 

Huge container ships go in and out of the harbor 24-7. Charleston has one of the busiest ports in America. 

These blue and lavender Shibumi sun shades are common on area beaches today. Little did I know when I took this photograph that I would soon have one! See my upcoming post on that. 

It’s amazing the new watercraft that comes out every few years! 

It was a fun outing at Folly Beach, made even better with Joseph joining us from New York!