Spring Break- Getting Back to Nature

 

Monday, March 9 had been circled on my calendar for several weeks. This was the first day of Spring Break from SC State University where I teach communication courses. Some of my students told me they would be heading to the beach. I headed to the Basin. The ACE Basin. 

The ACE Basin is hundreds of thousands of protected and undeveloped acres south of Charleston, along Highway 17. ACE stands for three rivers- the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto- that combine to form one of the largest estuaries on the U.S. East Coast. 

Tundra Swans (right) are among dozens of bird types that winter here. 

An indication of how special many people feel the ACE Basin is this sign along Highway 17, which calls it "One of the Last Great Places"- no argument from me! 

On this March day, Alesia and I trekkedto Bear Island, a 12,000-acre island in Colleton County. It’s a drive from our home of 50-60 minutes. Bear Island and nearby Donnelley are wildlife management areas owned and maintained by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The actual address of these cool places is Green Pond- a name that tickles me for some reason. 

Several years ago I published this book, an expression of my passion for the birding hobby. The Barred Owl on the cover is a photograph I took in the ACE Basin at the Hollings National Wildlife Refuge. Want to see an amazing number and variety of birds in one spot? Click on the above link to the Hollings refuge. Wow! 

Book It- Summerville Book Festival a Big Success!

 

Summerville's Hutchinson Square has become the town's hub of activity. So it was the ideal locale for the second Summerville Book Festival held on Saturday, Feb. 28. 

I joined some 30 other authors for the event organized by Main Street Reads, a bookstore located directly across from the square. 

Shari Stauch (center) owns Main Street Reads. A Chicago native, she has had quite an interesting life and family. Shari used to be a touring pool player and has written four books about the game. She is also a literary agent and advisor. 

I probably would not have learned about the book festival had the Charleston Post and Courier not recently included the Summerville Journal Scene newspaper, which it owns, in the Wednesday paper we have delivered to our house. 

Shari and I met a couple of years ago when I was a speaker at the Summerville Rotary Club. I remembered that after seeing an article she wrote about the upcoming book festival in the Summerville newspaper. 

I'm always eager for opportunities to sign and sell my books. This festival required authors like me who wanted the chance to display outside like this to pay a "booth" fee of $35 plus purchase a $90 business license from the town. Like my booth? 

So I needed to make some sales to offset those expenses. And that I did, and then some. I had a very good day. It was a long one, from setting up by 10:30 to departure at 4. Many thanks to Alesia for helping with the setup and breakdown. 

Backyard Birds- Rain or Shine or Snow!

 

Snow in coastal South Carolina? It's rare, but we've now had the white stuff in consecutive years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.

We woke up to snow on the ground (and our bird feeders) on Feb. 1. It’s such a novelty here! Seeing birds in a snow setting was neat to capture on my feeder camera. 

The Baltimore Orioles really crave the grape jelly, even it it's icy. Check out a Northern Cardinal enjoying a winter mix of seed and jelly. 

A surprise visitor this winter has been the Orange-crowned Warbler. They too like the grape jelly. 

The Hermit Thrush is another unique bird with a great name. All species are welcome to my year-round, all-weather buffet! 

Snowfall!

Last weekend was a memorable one in the Charleston area. It rarely snows here so when the local meteorologists start to talk about a significant chance of the white stuff, we get excited. 

This was the scene at around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31. The forecasts were correct. The weather prognosticators were so confident that no snow would have been quite embarrassing. 

Well, I saw the writing on the wall. Friday at around noon, I got in some tennis practice, knowing my regular Saturday morning game with friends was in doubt. 

When the sun came up Sunday, we had beautiful white snow to go with a beautiful blue sky. 

Alexandria, Va. Trip a Bittersweet One

 

It has taken me a while to feel ready to write this post. I love to share my travel photographs such as this view of the U.S. Capitol with the Potomac River in the foreground. 

Alesia and I flew to the D.C. area early last November, not to sightsee but for a sad family gathering. 

My older brother Matt passed away on Oct. 14, 2025 at age 66 after a two-to-three-year battle with stage four prostate cancer. See his obituary. 

We, along with many family members, attended his Requiem Mass on Nov. 7 at the beautiful Basilica of St. Mary on Royal Street in Alexandria. 

The Basilica of St. Mary was founded in 1795. It was the first Catholic parish in Virginia. George Washington himself helped fund the church, donating the equivalent of $1,200. The church was located in a different part of Alexandria at that time. It moved to Royal Street in 1810. 

More on St. Mary's rich history here.

Matt was a good brother to me and it is still difficult to fathom that he is gone. Our big Catholic family of nine is now down to six. We lost our father, Michael, last February. I wrote about the sad but lovely family gathering in Estes Park, Colorado., where we bid a tearful farewell to Dear Dad. My youngest brother Tom left us in 2018. I posted about Tom’s passing in Alabama. 

I knew my tribute to Matt on this site was coming. The busy Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s holidays, plus finishing up the fall semester at SC State occupied my time. Plus, I just procrastinated. 

 

Matthew David Harwood was such a good and kind man. He lived his life by his own code and rules. He worked hard at his craft, which was art, and was very successful and accomplished at it.

Fun While It Lasted- Farewell Coosaw Stroll Magazine

 

Last January a magazine company began a monthly publication for my neighborhood, Coosaw Creek Country Club. Stroll, free to residents, had a polished high-quality glossy look. It was advertising- driven and each issue seemed to have plenty of ads with new local businesses appearing regularly. 

Within a few months, I met the publisher at a clubhouse event. She invited me to contribute a bird-themed article and photographs for each month’s issue. 

I didn’t need to be asked twice! Birds and bird photography- that's definitely in my wheelhouse. I've published two books full of my bird and nature photographs: "The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston's Secret Bird Sanctuary" and "Nature-ly Fun! Bird Photography from A to Z." Both, along with my other books, are sold on Amazon and by me personally. 

My first “Peck of the Month” piece appeared in the March 2025 magazine. Following are the articles I wrote in subsequent months. I really liked the layout done by Stroll’s production team. 

Saluting “Sister City” Savannah!

We kicked off 2026 with a two hour 15 minute drive to Savannah, Ga. Savannah and Charleston are sister cities, we heard several times. This visit made me realize what a compliment this is to both Southern cities, and that they do nicely complement each other. 

Alesia and I rendezvoused in Savannah with my big brother Mike and his wife Christine. They live in Sarasota, Fla. One of the highlights would be our excursion on the Georgia Queen, learning about the old city’s rich maritime history during a 90-minute tour of the Savannah River. More on that later in this post.

Over a long post-holiday weekend, we walked, boated, dined, and even had a pirate ghost encounter! 

Our accommodations were the Andaz Hotel, a Hyatt property near the riverfront and City Market. Alesia and I had a nice experience at the Andaz several years ago so we knew it was a fine hotel in a central location. We parked our cars in an adjacent city garage and didn’t use them until we left on Tuesday. Tip: The hotel parking is much more expensive than the city garage just down the street. 

Within just a few-mile radius of the Andaz Hotel there is so much to see and do. From Saturday to Tuesday the weather became clearer and warmer. This photo is of Alesia in the City Market. The top of the Andaz Hotel is seen in the background to the left of the clock.

Savannah is a very walkable city. Monday, according to my iPhone’s health app, I logged a whopping 13,394 steps. That’s almost seven miles.

This photo is of us at Forsyth Park, Savannah’s oldest (1840s) and largest park (30 acres). 

Xuan Chi Diep: The Hanoi Horseman

 

A Sunday, Nov. 2 visit to Magnolia Cemetery produced a nice variety of bird photographs, including the effervescent Roseate Spoonbill. See my "Bustling with Birds" post here. 

And a striking Little Blue Heron. 

But what was most striking to me was this sign leaning against a tall magnolia tree. “In Memory of Xuan Chi Diep” it reads. There’s no date, no context, just what you see. 

If I ever noticed the sign before, I do not remember. That’s one of the things I like about Magnolia Cemetery and its 150 acres: seeing something new, though I’ve been here a few hundred times over the years. 

The memorial sign, dislodged from the base that once held it straight, and the Magnolia tree that now supports it are located next to a unique white zinc monument that I wrote about and photographed in my 2014 book, “In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston’s Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry.” More on that book here. 

Xuan Chi Diep? So what’s the story here? There must be one. I decided to use the holiday season break from my teaching job to find out. 

And find out I did! 

Marking a Blog Milestone: 500,000 Page Views!

Fast and Furious! On Nov. 11 I noticed my blog’s “Total Pageviews” counter read, as you see, 497,978. That’s getting close to half a million! 

One week later, on Nov. 18, the number eclipsed 500,000. Before leaving SC State for the day, I noticed the number was around 499,640. By the time I settled in at home that evening, the number had climbed to 500,061. 🍾 I didn’t pop the champagne, not literally anyway. But wow! I’m excited to reach such a milestone. In May 2010 I launched my BirdsEyeViews blog with this short post titled "Time to Blog!" I wrote a post in May of this year to recognize 15 years of relentless blogging. Actually relaxing is the better word because I’ve always found this hobby a good one, time well spent. Satisfying is another appropriate word. 

Back in early June when I did the 15th anniversary post, the counter was in the 390,000s. I’m struck by how in the five and a half months since that post I’ve had more than 100,000 page views. That’s about 20,000 views a month. My blog is definitely getting more looks these days. Why? Not sure. I've always made good use of embedded links, label words and descriptive headlines. That helps, I'm thinking.

Magnolia Cemetery- Bustling with Birds!

Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery continues, for me, to be a great place to visit, especially when it’s one of those “It’s so pretty out, let’s do something” Sunday afternoons. And especially when beach season is over. 

Such was the case on Sunday, Nov. 2. Upon entering the cemetery, the front lagoon quickly came into view and so did lots of birds in the trees by the pond. 

Not just any birds either. This is the colorful paddle-billed Roseate Spoonbill. Such a unique bird! 

A second Roseate Spoonbill was on site, joined on a live oak tree by a trio of White Ibis.