E cobon
September 2007:
No. 284
Newsletter of the Hilton Head Island Audubon Society
Audubon Refuge Keepers
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By Howard Costa
Welcome back! Judging from all the buzz
and chatter I'm hearing of late, many of you have
missed Audubon and are raring to be back into
action. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable
summer, and managed at least a few good bird-
ing events. I've certainly had my share. Stand
outs included seeing buntings and red-cockaded
woodpeckers galore at Webb Wildlife Manage-
ment Area, counting seabird nests with DNR on
Tomkins Island (over 7000), and seeing swarms
of swallow-tailed kites in Allendale, SC. These
experiences reinforced in me why we are all in-
volved in Audubon.
It looks to be another busy and exciting year,
much of it is already planned out, thanks to the
hard work of many of our board members. As
always we will focus on birds and the camara-
derie of birding, and of course membership. But
I would also like for this year to have a greater
focus on conservation. I have always thought
that it is required by those who enjoy birding,
that they give something back. After all, with-
out our active involvement in conservation, our
hobby/passion/pastime will cease to exist at the
level to which we are accustomed. This should be
abundantly clear to all who have seen the reports
from National Audubon on the decline of common
birds. Let this be a year of involvement by all of
us, and let's see if we can add to the great legacy
of Hilton Head Island Audubon.
There are many events of interest coming up
this fall. They include the grand opening of the
Discovery House and Pavilion at Honey Horn, an
Ansel Adams event at the Telfair Museum, and the
Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival. Please
watch for more information in the next Ecobon,
and plan to support these events if you can.
See you at the meeting, with a friend. ~ Howard
SEPTEMBER Program ~ by Charlotte White
Tues. September 11, 2007, 7:30 pm at the
CSA Community Center in Sea Pines Center (note location change)
Jeff Mollenhauer, the new Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon South
Carolina, will be the speaker at our September 11th Audubon meeting. He
will present pictures and discuss the book he has been selected to author for
Falcon Guides; the title is "Birding South Carolina". The book will provide
descriptions of the forty best birding locations in South Carolina as well as
the best time to visit each site and what types of birds to expect. Jeff will also
give a brief description of his work with Audubon South Carolina.
Jeff received his B.S in Wildlife Biology at Penn State University in 2000
and his M.S. in Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2003.
His M.S. research led him all the way to northern Sweden, where he studied
migration patterns of the Bluethroat thrush. Jeff has been an avid birder for
nearly ten years and has traveled all over the US and world in search of
birds.
This will be a visually beautiful as well as informative program. So come
Tuesday, September 11 WITH A FRIEND to the 7:30 pm program and learn
more about birding and bird conservation in South Carolina.
NOTE: Change of Meeting location ~
Due to renovation at the Seabrook, the September meeting will be held
at the CSA Community Center in the Sea Pines Center. When facing
Sea Pines Center, CSA is in the building on the left, on the end near the
gas station. You may recall that we have met there before under similar
circumstances.
SEPTEMBER FIELD TRIP~ by Bill Nicol
Place: Timucuan Preserve, Jacksonville, FL
Date: Wednesday through Friday, September 26, 27, 28, 2007
If you attended the April meeting and heard the presentation by NPS Ranger
Roger Clark on Timucuan Preserve, you would understand what an exciting
bird area this is. To explore this area, we have scheduled a trip to Jacksonville
for the 26th, 27th and 28th of September, 2007. Roger will be our host. The
fall migration will be in full swing. We have a block of 15 rooms set aside
at the Holiday Inn Express Blount Island. If you want to participate, please
call me at 671-4721 or e-mail me at pennst63@aol.com and I will give you
the details. So far 16 people (10 rooms) have indicated interest in going on
this trip.
 HHI Audubon
Board of Directors:
President
Howard Costa 842-9447
Vice President
Bill Nicol 671-4721
Treasurer
Karen McGinty 681-8498
Fran Baer 686-6348
Recording Secretary
Steve White 837-4597
Corresponding Secretary
Polly Herron 342-6129
Members‑at‑Large
Jim Currie 681-8525
Marianne Currie 681-8525
Clem Dietze 837-2612
Barry Lowes 671-3537
Nan Lloyd 363-2092
Betty Walter
Joan Wilson
842-7147
837-2874
Royal Tern returning with food to Tompkins Island
Photo compliments of Howard Costa
Committee Chairpersons:
Adopt-A-Refuge (Pinckney)
Clem Dietze 837-2612
Karen McGinty 681-8498
Audubon Newhall Preserve " PIPING PLOVER PROJECT 2007/2008" by Howard Costa
Joan Shulman 842-9246
Bird Walks/Field Trips Once again, we will be conducting piping plover surveys on Hilton Head's north
Bill Nicol 671-4721
Bird House Construction end, as part of the continued monitoring of the effects of the last beach renourishment
Jim Collins 671-1240 project. This is enjoyable and rewarding service that we perform, and as you may
Bird Seed Sale
Ed Nash 681-5725 recall, it is our major form of fund raising.
Christmas Bird Count Inexperienced birders will be teamed up with a more experienced surveyor, so
Barry Lowes 671‑3537
Education anyone can get involved. And trust me, anyone who helps will make worthwhile
Betsy Pehrson 689-2243 contributions. The first survey of the year was done in August, resulting in 11 birds,
Historian
June Collins 671-1240 including three new banded birds from the endangered Great Lakes population. To
Hospitality get involved please call me at 842-9447. Thanks, Howard
Thea Luba 785-3214
Legislation
Nicola Jordan 681-5664
Membership
Thea Luba 785-3214
Newsletter Circulation
Marianne Currie 681-8525
Helen Cartmill 342-9086
Newsletter Editors
OPEN
Programs
Charlotte White 837-4597
Publicity & Public Relations
Clem Dietze 837-2612
Sales Table
Dorothy Gibb 686-6406
Shorebirds/Conservation
Howard Costa 842-9447
Special Projects
Richard Shulman 842-9246
Sun City Representative
Ken Neitzke 705-3970
Wetlands/Conservation Skimmers on the roost at Tompkins Island
Sally Krebs H: 757-2973 O: 341-4690 Photo courtesy of Howard Costa
Website: www.hiltonheadaudubon.org
The Ecobon is a monthly publication (Sep-
tember through May) of the Hilton Head Island
E-MAIL Reminder
Have you sent your E-mail address in to Nan?
Audubon Society. Subscription is a benefit of
membership. Direct inquiries to P.O. Box 6185,

If not, please send it to Nan at nan@nanhiltonhead.com.

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 29938 or call
one of the above officers or chairpersons.

Page 2 September 2007

Notes from newhall preserve
by Joan Shulman
The summer rains have kept the Preserve lush. It has been a
challenge to prevent the foliage from taking over the trails.
The pond aerators stopped working early in late July. Unfor-
tunately, the motor died and had to be replaced--an expense we
had not expected. They are in full operation now.
Visitors keep us scrambling to replenish the supply of trail
guides. Mosquitoes have also been visiting quite regularly and
in abundance lately.
We need Trail Monitors for each month from October through
December (and beyond). If you can devote an hour or so a week
for a month to sweep the board walks and check the trails for
garbage and hazards, call me at 842-9246. We need and appreci-
ate your help.
Guided walks in the Preserve are scheduled for three Saturdays
in October. Watch for details in the October Ecobon.
The membership of the Newhall Preserve Committee is dwin-
dling and aging. We need help in keeping the Preserve in good
shape now and for the future and in carrying out our educational
walks. We don’t do a lot of hard work--except for thinking and
deciding. Won’t you help us watch over this special place? Call
me at 842-9246.
We mourn the passing of former Board member Karen Wert-
heimer. She passed away on August 14. She had been responsible
for getting trail monitors and often served as one herself. She
also made sure that there was an ample supply of trail guides in
the box. In addition, Karen was an enthusiastic member of our
committee and of Audubon. We will miss her special spirit.
PURPLE MARTIN HOOPLA ON LAKE MURRAY
by Dianne Faucette
In the middle of July, John and I drove up to Columbia’s Lake
Murray to check a phenomenon captured on Doppler radar, over
700,000 Purple Martins hovering over their roost on Lunch Island.
A special 3-hour cruise on the Southern Patriot was sponsored by the
South Carolina Wildlife Federation for their members, and included
commentary by officials of the project and ornithologists.
At sunset, we saw all 700,000 + birds all return to their roost for
the evening. What we did not see was their mass exodus about 40
minutes before sunrise, in a 360-degree dispersal pattern. Twelve-
acre Lunch Island is North America’s first Purple Martin sanctuary,
designated as such in 1995. It is also the world’s largest roosting
area of this bird, which is North America’s largest swallow. From
Brazil and the Amazon River, where it winters, this bird heads north
to breed in our back yards. The eastern species depends on man to
provide nesting houses and gourds.
Lunch Island provides great protection for these birds. Although
some 200 boaters surround the island on clear July nights to watch the
massive return to the roost, boaters daring to come ashore would be
faced with thickets of switch cane and wall-to-wall fire ant hills.
Lunch Island is also called Bombing Range Island, or Bomb
Island for short, referring to the target practice by B-25 pilots during
World War II.
September 2007 Page 3
recent AREA bird sightings
by Jack Colcolough
The very hot dog days of summer are behind us and some
of the wintering shorebirds are moving on to our beaches. Our
fall migration is upon us and it’s a great time for birding in
the great outdoors. Our first songbird migrant, an American
Redstart has already been sighted in early August.
Recent shorebird arrivals include: Piping Plover, Dowitcher,
Sanderling, Semi-palated and Black-bellied Plovers and
various sandpipers.
Seen over the summer were: a very rare Wilson’s Storm
Petrel, Swallow-tailed Kite (more than 100), Mississippi Kite,
Gull-billed Tern, White Pelican, Least Bittern, Baltimore
Oriole, an unusual Purple Gallinule and a Common Loon in
full breeding color, not usually here in the summertime. Also
reported were a rare Snail Kite near Charleston as well as a
rare Snowy Plover at Hunting Island.
Late Spring reports (since no Ecobon during the summer)
included: Bobolink, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-throated
Blue Warbler, Purple Finch, Red-Cockaded Woodpecker at
Webb WMA, Bobwhite, Hairy Woodpecker, Painted Bunting,
Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting,
Eastern Wood Peewee and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
A rare Cape May Warbler was photographed by Peter
Zachmann at his HHI home and positively identified by
Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
In late July, two Pileated Woodpeckers were spotted in the
woods behind the Seabrook by Betty Walter.
Many thanks to our birders reporting these significant
sightings: Karen McGinty, Howard Costa, Betty Walter,
Doris McCullough, Doris Stoner, Miriam Waterhouse, Karen
Wertheimer, Carlos Chavon and Peter Zachmann, et al.
To report a rare or unusual or FOTY sighting in our
area, please e-mail JackColcolough@aol.com, call 843-815-
4054 or send a blank email to: BirdingFriends-subscribe@
yahoogroups.com to join our birding group and report the bird
found.
White Pelicans at Tompkin’s Island
Photo courtesy of Howard Costa
BIRD OF THE MONTH By Clem Dietze
Eastern Bluebird
In a black & white newsletter it is impossible to accurately picture one of our favorite year round residents, but I am sure all
of you are familiar with this iridescent beauty, especially the male in full breeding plumage.
In recent years the species population had declined to about 17% of the numbers present during the late 1950s and early
1960s. While pesticides were part of problem the main reason for the decline was human development and the attendant decrease
in natural nest sites for these hole nesters. Trees disappeared and the competition with more aggressive hole nesters like chickadees,
woodpeckers, introduced house sparrows, and European starlings decimated the population of these small thrushes.
Help came with the intensive building and locating of bluebird boxes and the results have been gratifying. Bluebirds are
thriving and no longer a threatened species though Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology continues to monitor their status through
a citizen science program, The Birdhouse Network.
We at HHI Audubon participate in the network in Pinckney NWR through our Adopt a Refuge program.
Our former president Paige Mulhollan and wife Mary Bess began the project by erecting 23 nest boxes in strategic loca-
tions within the refuge. When they left, Clem Dietze, Karen & Mike McGinty, and Bill Hamel took over the reins and have been
monitoring and in some cases relocating the boxes for the past 3 years. Dozens of boxes were also installed by Dan Mairs and
Barry Lowes in Sea Pines, though these are not monitored as part of the Birdhouse Network.
In 2006 we recorded 129 nesting attempts, 143 eggs laid, and 107 fledged birds. This was an excellent score and we are
well on our way to coming close this year although the unusually cold weather we had in April and the extreme hot weather in
early and mid July caused a number of nests to be abandoned. We’ll let you know the exact total at a later date.
If you are contemplating adding a bluebird box to your yard keep in mind that they prefer open grassy areas with little or no
understory and nearby trees for their habit of “drop-foraging” (dropping down from low perches to seize insects and arthropods
on the ground). These critters constitute 70% of their diet .Jim Collins builds and sells boxes for the society. His contact is on the
list of officers and Clem Dietze, or Karen & Mike Mc Ginty will also be happy to advise you.
While bluebirds pair off during the nesting season (April to mid August in our area) they often flock together in sizeable
groups during the remainder of the year.
Enjoy these beautiful birds which like bald eagles, ospreys, and peregrine falcons have been rescued from possible extinc-
tion. We have many other species not so fortunate and some are in deep trouble. In addition to Audubon please get involved with
organizations like Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, American Birding
Assn, our own South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, and others which actively lobby against the efforts of the current
administration, states, and other entities to ignore the plight of endangered and threatened species of wildlife.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Please Note: Current members are encouraged to use this membership form to sign up friends, relatives, and neighbors as new
members. Our Chapter benefits significantly from a “return of dues” from National if our local form is used for new memberships

National Audubon Society Chapter

Membership Form  New  1 YR. - $20  2 YRS. - $30
NEW MEMBERS ONLY  Senior  1 YR. - $15  2 YRS. - $30
 Junior  1 YR. - $15  2 YRS. - $30
Name _ ______________________________________________________________
Address______________________________________________________________________
City ___________________________________________State__________ Zip_ ________________
Phone__________________________ Preferred First Name(s) ____________________________
Full Year Resident ______ Part Year Resident ______ I/We first joined Audubon in _______________
Mail a check payable to National Audubon Society U50
National Audubon Society, Chapter Membership Data Center, P.O. Box 51001, Boulder, CO 80322-1001 7XCH

Page 4 September 2007

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September 2007 Page 5


284 Issue #:
Hilton Head, South Carolina 29938
P.O. Box 6185
Hilton Head Island Audubon Society Organization:
Monthly Sept.-May Frequency:
September 2007 Issue Date:
Permit #39
Title: Ecobon
Hilton Head Island, SC
PAID
U.S. POSTAGE Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 29938
Non Profit Organization
P. O. Box 6185
Ecobon

SEPTEMBER ~ OCTOBER 2007 Calendar

SEPTEMBER 0
Tues. Sept. 11 Monthly Meeting at CSA Building...................... 7:30 pm B E Q U E S T S
Thurs. Sept. 20 Board Meeting at the Seabrook .......................... 2:00 pm If you wish to honor a family
member or friend with a memorial
Weds to Fri. gift, or remember the Audubon Ne-
Sept. 26, 27, 28 Field Trip to Timucuan Preserve, Jacksonville, FL whall Preserve or the Hilton Head
Island Audubon Society in your will,
OCTOBER your gift may be in the form of secu-
rities, cash, life insurance, real estate,
Thurs. Oct. 4 Board Meeting at the Seabrook .......................... 2:00 pm or other property.
Tues. Oct. 9 Monthly Meeting at The Seabrook...................... 7:30 pm Contact your own estate planner
Sun. Oct. 21 Ansel Adams Event at Telfair Museum.......1:00-3:30 pm or our Audubon Chapter at P.O. Box
6185, Hilton Head Island, South
Sat. Oct. 27 Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival . ................ Carolina 29938.
............................................................11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sharing your estate with Audubon
Sat. Oct. 27 Coastal Discovery Grand Opening ................. 9:30 am not only reduces the taxes on your
estate but will help protect birds,
Monthly meetings of the Hilton Head Island Audubon Society are regularly scheduled wildlife, and their habitat in the years
at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month, September through May, in the to come.
Auditorium at the Seabrook, 300 Woodhaven Drive. Members and guests welcome!

Page 6 Printed on recycled paper September 2007