Chill Start to the New Year

 

I was eager to get in an early 2025 nature outing so on Jan. 9 I cleared my schedule and headed south down to the ACE Basin.

It was clear cold day with temperatures in the 39-41 degrees range. I felt it in my hands while walking around looking for birds to photograph. 

I knew the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area might be closed, and it was for periodic hunting. 

But I also knew that I could still check out Mary’s House Pond, which is accessible after parking in the entrance area. 

Having been to Bear Island many times (see this post when we took bicycles out there!), the large pond attracts many birds, especially migratory ones in the winter. 

I would not be disappointed! Tundra Swans were the stars of the show. 

Tundras are North America’s most common swan but you don’t see them too often in the S.C. Lowcountry. They breed in Canada and Alaska and migrate to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts during the winter. 

Here at Bear Island is the only place I have seen this big beauty. 

Winter Bird Count

 

Baltimore Orioles 

Christmas Eve became extra joyous when my grape jelly feeder in the backyard was visited throughout the holy day by a few beautiful Baltimore Orioles! 

After snapping some photos through the window, I moved upstairs and quickly and quietly opened a bathroom window that overlooks our array of feeders. 

What a color scheme has this fine feathered fellow! 

Orioles crave the jelly, so I try to it out for them, especially in the fall and winter.

The weather was very chilly on this day, in the upper 20s-low 30s. A knowledgeable friend who owns the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Mt. Pleasant, after I posted some of these photos on Facebook, said the cold temperatures make Orioles and other birds more active (and hungry I reckon). 

Female Baltimore Orioles came by too on this day. I didn’t get any photos of the lady Os. That’s a Pine Warbler in the middle of this pix. 

Here are some more of my special Christmas Eve Orioles! 

Marching into March at Donnelley Wildlife Area

I took advantage of the beautiful weather on Sunday, March 2 to drive down to the ACE Basin for a visit to the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area. The WMA site is located about 40 miles south of Charleston off Highway 17. The ACE Basin is one of the Lowcountry's true treasures- tens of thousands (at least) of acres of protected lands in a region named for the confluence of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto rivers, hence the ACE acronym.