Birds of the South Carolina Shores

South Carolina is full of beautiful birds, it's a real birdwatchers haven.

From Pelicans to Cardinals, Mallard ducks to Ibis's, These are some of the most colorful and strange birds I have ever seen.The song of the Cardinal is o beautiful it is almost enchanting. The Pelican is a very bold creature, he will come quite close to you if you have fish. He will hardly take his eyes off you, being quite comic in his moves,he will amuse you for sure.

On to more of the species you will see in the South. The large birds along the coast seem to be very colorful. The Great blue Heron seen up and down the east coast, the Green Back Heron, a much shorter legged variety. These birds spend their time in marshes and coastal inlets looking for food. The smaller species, Sandlings, Terns and Gulls tend to stay closer to the open bodies of water. Roaming about the shore at low tide to grab whatever creatures aren't quick enough to make it back to the sea on the outgoing tides.

As you walk along the shore line it seems there are many differenet kinds of sand birds Plovers, pipers and terns. They stay in large groups poking thier long thin bills into whelk and clam holes in the sand. I noticed that they stand on one leg and hop most of the time. They rage in size from a few inches in height to about a foot. It is so odd to seet he Gulls do a "tap dance" in one spot trying to stir up the soft sand so to eat small sea creatures that are buried in the sand. The beaches are a playground for the birds.

Inland you find many colorful species of birds, owls, woodpeckers. The Ivory Billed PilatedWoodpecker is very large and is on the verge of extinction, but can be spotted on rare occasions in the deep woods.The white bill is a great way to spot it.

Smaller and more colorful birds include the Red Cardinal and the Bluebird. The Blue bird has very different call, where the cardinal has a very dominant and familiar sound.

These beautiful birds live here all year round, so put out

your feeders,get your binoculars and sit back and enjoy the

show. After all.... it's free.