Blue Goose ~ Day 246

January 28, 2015 ~ Hardeeville, SC to Walterboro, SC

I had a nadir night, partly because it was cold and in part because I had had too much coffee late in the day, so kept waking to pee with limited and marginal options for such activity. I read by flashlight for awhile in the middle of the night (Michael Connelly's The Narrows) and then slept fitfully until dawn.

Savannah NWR was one more refuge with impoundments for waterfowl, the water here manipulated using "rice trunks" in conjunction with tides and/or the need to flood or empty impoundments. Rice plantations also needed to manipulate water, a convenient serendipity when rice fields are replaced by refuges. Although the original trunks lasted a long time, they eventually were replaced but with updated versions of these rice gates.

I was riding on a dike and came into a small swampy woodland with dozens of small birds flying and vocalizing. It was like suddenly coming into spring, and I sat in my van for 45 minutes, well positioned so I could look down into the creek bottom, or at eye level into trees. Wrens, warblers, jays, sparrows, vireos, woodpeckers...

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Savannah NWR - GA

And continuing on along open water, there was a variety of ducks, including American Widgeons and Ring-necked Ducks. Egrets, herons and ibises are not as numerous any more.

On the way to Pinckney Island NWR (which is on the way to Hilton Head Island) I passed a Starbucks and spent at least an hour catching up on this blog and eavesdropping on conversations between upper middle class retired men who discussed their respective health issues the whole time. This is upscale country with Jaguar, Volvo and Mercedes dealerships and discreet signage for carefully designed shopping areas which are hidden from the highway behind trees. The more exclusive areas have bricked parking areas. There are the guardhouses at the gated communities and unimaginative, perfectly-tended flower gardens near the entrances. All very neat and clean and orderly and unnatural.

Pinckney Island was once part of a plantation owned by Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a South Carolina lawyer who practiced in the early 1800s.

South Carolina

The land and several islands were donated to the USFWS in 1975. I only poked around the parking area although there were trails and gravel roads for exploring this refuge. Approximately 2/3 is salt marsh. Dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers are chipping and flying about whenever I stop lately. The next most common passerine is the Northern Mockingbird, although I am beginning to see big flocks of robins also.

It was serene and peaceful on Pinckney Island with sunshine on the pine needles and exposed mud flats along the green and golden marsh grasses. In the distance, traffic was muted but heavy on the bridge to Hilton Head.

I ate at a Cracker Barrel, a restaurant chain that doesn't skimp on fat and salt.

It was a motel night. I needed a good night's sleep and the Sleep Inn chain has comfortable beds for a reasonable price, cheaper as a walk-in than through Priceline I discovered.