Myrtle Beach, SC
March 28 – April 1, 2021
 

Who knew, but one of the top birding hotspots in the entire nation is only 20 miles from the Skywheel! Huntington Beach State Park, ranked #44 out of 120,755 hotspots registered in Ebird, places in the 99.96 percentile. And if you like to take pictures of birds, the short boardwalk leading from the parking lot just across the causeway (33.506575, -79.065707) takes you through a stretch of sapling-sized trees (33.507431,-79.067025). Nothing is better than leafless trees at eye level with the sun at your back in the morning--practically studio settings. We got several of our best photos there. We ended up with 46 species in our 3 and a half hours there. We saw nine species there that we didn't see anyplace else during our trip.

Lake Busbee, Burgess Coastal Preserve and Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve are other marquee hotspots. Lake Busbee (33.82845, -79.05785)--in nearby Conway--is reverting to the huge wetlands it once was before the now-defunct Grainger coal-fired plant dammed it up for cooling. Busbee is also where we saw the most number of uncommon species. 

 

Burgess Coastal (33.83406, -78.63310) is easy shore birding as the parking lot looks directly over the mudflats. 

  

 

And Lewis Ocean Bay (33.80627, -78.89216) gives you a chance for three southern species seen nowhere else in the country: Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman's Sparrow and Brown-headed Nuthatch--plus Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants.                                                                                                               

If you like Northern Cardinals and Great Egrets, they were everywhere--the most frequently and easily seen bird in the area this time of year. The most unexpected was an American Kestrel--reported only three times in the previous three years in Horry County this time of year. Here is the complete list of what we saw:
 
     species, date, location, county, state
 1. American Robin, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 2. Blue Jay, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 3. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 4. Boat-tailed Grackle, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 5. Bonaparte's Gull, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 6. Carolina Wren, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 7. Common Grackle, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
 
 8. Downy Woodpecker, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC  

 9. Eurasian Collared-Dove, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC 

10. European Starling, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
11. Fish Crow, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
12. Great Egret, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
13. Mallard, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
14. Myrtle Warbler, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
15. Northern Cardinal, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
16. Northern Mockingbird, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
17. Pine Warbler, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
18. Red-bellied Woodpecker, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
19. Red-winged Blackbird, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
20. Ring-billed Gull, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
21. White-throated Sparrow, 3/28/2021, McLean Pk, Horry, SC
22. Clapper Rail, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
23. Double-crested Cormorant, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
24. Forster's Tern, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
25. Great Blue Heron, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
26. Greater Yellowlegs, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
27. House Finch, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
28. Laughing Gull, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
29. Lesser Yellowlegs, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
30. Little Blue Heron, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
31. Snowy Egret, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
32. Tree Swallow, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
33. Willet, 3/28/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
34. American Kestrel, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
35. Black Vulture, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
36. Brown-headed Nuthatch, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
37. Common Yellowthroat, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
38. Eastern Bluebird, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
39. Mourning Dove, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
40. Turkey Vulture, 3/29/2021, Lewis Ocean Bay HP, Horry, SC
41. Black-bellied Plover, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
42. Dunlin, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
43. Killdeer, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
44. Sanderling, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
45. Semipalmated Plover, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC
46. Short-billed Dowitcher, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC

47. Tricolored Heron, 3/30/2021, Burgess Coastal Preserve, Horry, SC

48. Brown Pelican, 3/30/2021, Vereen Memorial Gardens, Horry, SC
49. American Coot, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
50. American Crow, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
51. Anhinga, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
52. Barn Swallow, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
53. Brown Thrasher, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
54. Brown-headed Cowbird, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
55. Carolina Chickadee, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
56. Common Gallinule, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
57. Eastern Towhee, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
58. Glossy Ibis, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC

59. Gray Catbird, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC 
60. Green Heron, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
61. Osprey, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
62. Pied-billed Grebe, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
63. Pileated Woodpecker, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
64. Red-breasted Merganser, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
65. Rock Pigeon, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
66. Tufted Titmouse, 3/31/2021, Huntington Beach SP, Georgetown, SC
67. American Goldfinch, 4/1/2021, Conway--Riverfront Park, Horry, SC
68. Black-and-white Warbler, 4/1/2021, Conway--Riverfront Park, Horry, SC
69. Canada Goose, 4/1/2021, Conway--Riverfront Park, Horry, SC
70. Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 4/1/2021, Conway--Riverfront Park, Horry, SC
71. Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 4/1/2021, Conway--Riverfront Park, Horry, SC
72. Bald Eagle, 4/1/2021, Lake Busbee, Horry, SC
73. Blue-winged Teal, 4/1/2021, Lake Busbee, Horry, SC