(Member registration opens 1/4; Nonmember opens 1/11)

Join Master Birders Rachel Green and Karen Seminary for an exciting morning on the 4 mile Laurel Hill Drive. Meet at the entrance on Rte 170, for car-pooling. More eyes looking from fewer cars generally mean more birds spotted!  Cars will drive slowly with frequent stops in favorite places to get out and look into the impoundments, along the dikes, and in the hammocks. Most of the drive is open, so prepare for windy, chilly weather. 

Directions: Take Rte 170 (Okatie Hwy) west from Bluffton toward Savannah (about 6 miles or so).   Rte 170 curves and turns, but Just stay on it! It will eventually join Rte 17, then in about a mile split off again, so keep right to stay on Rte 170.   In about 2 more miles, you will see the entrance to the Laurel Hill Drive on your left, on a curve.  Signal your turn well ahead of time and be CAREFUL.  Rte 170 can be dangerous with logging and other large trucks. [Note that the Visitor Center is on Rte 17, so do not use that in your GPS.]

This 74-acre multi-use park has ball fields, restrooms, etc, but also some nice wooded trails and a largish meadow. It is perfect for a winter amble relatively protected from the weather, looking for birds. While not spectacular for diversity, we should see most of our resident bird species and possibly some interesting visitors. Ken Adams birds there frequently and can show us all the cool places you  might not discover on our own. 

Directions: If coming from Sea Pines direction, take Rte 278 toward the Cross-Island Expressway. Just before that, take a right at the stoplight for Arrow Rd. If coming from north island or Bluffton, take the Cross-Island Expressway then left at the first traffic light, Arrow Rd. From either direction, once on Arrow, take a quick left onto Helmsman, then right to 4 Haig Point Rd. Crossings Park is next to the Haig Point ferry parking. Meet in the parking lot by the restrooms.  

(Member registration opens 1/4; Nonmembers on 1/11)

EVENT IS FREE BUT PLEASE RSVP!

(Member registration opens 1/3; Nonmembers on 1/11)

Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Green Pond, SC. 8:30 - noon

Bear is always one of the highlights of the Lowcountry year. We gather at the entrance, on Titi Road, which faces Mary’s House Pond, where we will set up spotting scopes. Depending on water levels, this pond may have lots of waders and/or ducks, and possibly White Pelicans or Tundra Swans. Then we will drive into the WMA, stopping frequently to look and listen. Bear Island consists of 12,021 acres of brackish water marshes, maritime forests, bottomland hardwoods, upland fields, and water-controlled impoundments, lagoons, etc.  From the Bear Island WMA website: “Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, owned by the SC Department of Natural Resources, is managed to provide quality habitat for wintering waterfowl and other wetland wildlife including threatened and endangered species such as wood storks and bald eagles; to provide habitat for upland game and nongame species; and to provide recreational opportunities for the hunting and nonhunting public.

Directions:  From Savannah or Bluffton, take either 170 or I-95 to Hwy 17 heading east toward Charleston. Turn right onto Bennett’s Point Rd (if familiar with Donnelly, this turn-off is a few miles beyond it). Continue on Bennett’s Point Rd 13 miles.

Entrance is on the left, on Titi Rd, about a mile after crossing the Ashepoo River.  No facilities once you turn onto Bennett’s Point Road. The last chance for gas, snacks, bathrooms is a small gas station/store on Rte 17, shortly after the Donnelley entrance. And once at Bear, we often lose cell service, so warn Folks who might worry about you!

Optional Extension:  Karen Penale will lead this trip, and afterwards expects to continue for an unofficial afternoon of birding in Donnelley WMA. Participants are welcome to follow along. If interested, bring lunch!  And plan to keep busy until 3 or later.

(Member registration opens 1/4; Nonmembers on 1/11)

This class is for novice birders who want to learn how to use the Merlin ID app. The Merlin app is your personal, digital field guide to learning birds by sight and sound. Birds identified using the Merlin app can be saved to your Life List. Your Life List is a list of all the birds you’ve confidently identified.

Prior to class, please download the free Merlin Bird ID by Cornell App to your phone and under settings,install the US: Southeast Bird Pack. Merlin and eBird use the same username and password. Note: this class is for iPhone users.

Follow-up practice Field Trip Tuesday, February 24th, at Mid-island Park.

(Member registration opens 1/4; Nonmembers on 1/11)

This class is for novice birders who want to learn how to use the eBird mobile app. eBird has become the world’s largest citizen science biodiversity project. The eBird app will help you explore hotspots, submit species you have observed, review your checklists, and organize your Life List of birds. The eBird science team analyzes submitted checklists with statistical models to better understand bird migration, abundance, and range boundaries. Prior to class, please download the free eBird Mobile by Cornell App to your phone and under settings, install the South Carolina Bird Pack. Merlin and eBird use the same username and password. Note: this class is for iPhone users.

Follow-up practice Field Trip Tuesday, February 24th, at Mid-island Park.

(Member registration opens 1/4; Nonmembers on 1/11)

Birds of a Feather and The Magic of Molt

This class explains many aspects of feathers: how feathers grow; types of feathers; feather colors; patterns of feather replacement, and how understanding molting patterns can assist bird identification.

    Expert birder, Kay Grinnell will lead this class

EVENT IS FREE BUT PLEASE REGISTER

Patty Kappmeyer will provide practical advice, captivating images and tips on where and when to find our Lowcountry Birds.  Birders of ALL levels are welcome.

EVENT IS FREE BUT PLEASE RSVP!

Join Joy Mock and Charlotte Rios, HHAudubon Youth Chair at Jarvis Park on Hilton Head at noon for a walk around Jarvis Creek lake looking at birds. 

Bring binoculars if you have them. Basic beginner binoculars will be available to borrow if needed. Dress for “standing around in the weather”. We will probably walk up to 1 1/2 miles, and spend about 2 hours. Meet at the fishing pier, near the restrooms. If the weather is cooperative, you might wish to bring a picnic lunch. There are several pavilions with picnic tables. If the weather is really awful, our rain date is March 1.

Directions:  If coming from off-island, stay on William Hilton Parkway (Rte 278 Business). Pass GumTree Rd, then turn right at the next traffic light. If you are on the island coming from the south end via Cross-Island Expy, right on Gum Tree then right at next light. If coming from south on 278, Jarvis Rd is the next left after Pembroke (Wendy’s).  

Member registration opens 2/1; Nonmembers on 2/8)

Join Master Birder and Mindful Birding advocate Kathy Byrd for a slow walk around the park, immersing ourselves in the natural world.

The scientific data is in! Relief from the daily pressures we face in life is critical to our mental and physical wellbeing. What better way is there to get away from it all than to spend a couple of hours on a woodland amble with the birds? Unlike our usual bird walks which focus on identification, counts and an Ebird list, this “Mindful Bird Walk” will instead encourage us to use all our senses to fully experience the wonder of nature. We will walk slowly and stop often.

Please join us at Jarvis Creek Park to explore and unwind. We will meet near the parking lot. Restrooms available there.

(Member tickets are $12.00; Nonmembers $14.00)

(Event is Free but please RSVP!)

South Carolina Shorebirds have some of the longest migrations in the world, and many use Hilton Head Island as their resting spot during their travels. Learn about the species that migrate through the area and how you can help them rest and feed by sharing the shore with them. Presented by Wendy Dickes.

(Member registration opens 2/1; Nonmembers 2/8)

Aaron Palmieri, Outreach & Education Manager for the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, will lead us on a two-and-a-half-hour stroll through River Road Preserve located in Palmetto Bluff. We will explore roughly 3 miles of trails in the Preserve in search of residential and seasonal songbirds.

Meet at the Conservancy Classroom located in Moreland Village (655 Old Moreland Road). Parking available along the edge of the facility and in a small parking lot located past the classroom.

Located in Palmetto Bluff, River Road Preserve is a 133-acre tract of land that is owned and managed by the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy. 5.2 miles of trails weave through this maritime forest ecosystem nestled between saltmarsh and the freshwater Inland Waterway. Restrooms are located at the northern end of the Preserve and near the Conservancy classroom where people are encouraged to park.

Member tickets $12.00; Nonmember $14.00

(Member registration opens 2/1; Nonmember 2/8)

Do all birds migrate? This class will discuss the basics (when, where, why) of migration and introduce the technologies contributing to our increasing knowledge base. Learn how to follow our Lowcountry bird migration activity each spring and fall. Our field trip will focus on finding migrating birds who use Hilton Head as a stop-over during their flight.

Followup field trip Saturday, April 4, 9:30-Noon, Jarvis Creek Park

Member ticket $32.00; Nonmember $49.00)

(Member registration opens 2/1; Nonmembers 2/8)

Nemours Wildlife Foundation is an action-focused conservation organization. They conduct scientific research, carry out sound land management, provide experiential education, and empower conservationists throughout our region and beyond. Please join Nemours’ Education Coordinator Heather Krauss for a tour of the woods and impoundments of this former rice plantation now under conservation management. After a brief introduction, we will all pile into their open-air trailer with cushioned bench seats, which allows for many eyes looking in all directions and allows us to keep spotting scopes at the ready.  We will stop to look and listen in key locations. Please do not wander around on your own before or after the tour. But also ask Heather lots of questions!

Bring the usual: binoculars, water, snack. Dress in layers as it may be chilly on the trailer and will be exposed to the wind.

Directions:  Take I-95 North to exit 33 Charleston/Beaufort, onto Rte 17 east.  OR, take Rte 170 east from Bluffton and Rte 21 north from Beaufort then exit onto Rte 17 at Gardens Corner.   Nemours will be on your right about 5.5 – 6 miles east of Gardens Corner intersection of 17 & 21.

Special note:  If you register for this Hilton Head Audubon field trip to Nemours, you must ALSO register yourself (no additional charge) on the Nemours site. That url will be provided upon your HHA registration.

(Member registration opens 3/1; Nonmembers 3/8)

The South Carolina Lowcountry has a rich diversity of habitats that provide unique resources to an equally rich diversity of bird life. Aaron Palmieri, Outreach and Education Manager for the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, will give an overview of the major habitats found in the Lowcountry, what makes them unique, and what these habitats mean for avian diversity. Following the lecture, we will walk through a protected, 133 acres of maritime forest habitat and see what species are present.

Member ticket $20.00; Nonmember $35.00

A donation to Palmetto Bluff Conservancy would be appreciated.

(Member registration opens 3/1; Nonmembers 3/8)

Start your spring birding with Coastal Discovery Museum naturalist, Carlos Chacon. He will lead a slow meander around the newly established Mid-Island Community Park, which is being converted from many years as a golf course. At present, there is a small parking lot, some port-o-potties, and plenty of old, uneven, but mowed golf cart paths and fairways.

Bordering pines and oaks are very popular with many resident bird species. Some are common, but others are not often seen elsewhere on Hilton Head. The very tall dead standing pines host the only red-headed woodpecker colony we know of on the island.

Join Hilton Head Audubon for a meander along the paths, around the lagoons, for about 2 or 3 hours, 2 or 3 miles. Except for occasional overflying aircraft, this place feels very wild but is in the heart of the island. 

Directions: The parking lot is about 100 yds off of Rte 278, on Union Cemetery Rd, Hilton Head, SC. If coming from the north (from Bluffton or the Cross Island Expressway), take 278 Business east. Go past Mathews Rd, then past the Dillon Rd intersection (McDonald's) -- both of which have traffic lights. The next left (no traffic light) is Union Cemetery Rd.    If coming from the south on Rte 278 Business (e.g. from Sea Pines), go past Port Royal Plantation entrance, and take the next right onto Union Cemetery Rd. 

If you make the turn onto Union Cemetery Rd, but miss the parking lot, you will soon see the Union Cemetery itself, and need to turn around.

Member ticket $12.00; Nonmember $14.00.

(Member registration opens 3/1; Nonmembers 3/8)

Join Wendy Dickes, member of  the shorebird survey team, to work on Shorebird ID. This field trip is best for beginning and intermediate birders wishing to hone basic shorebird identification skills. We will look at bills and feet, observe postures, watch behaviors, discuss plumage changes and migration, etc. We will have at least one spotting scope available, to help everyone see the key features. 

Note the unusual time, to allow the tide to ebb from high:  Tide tables indicate a high tide around  6:40 a.m. We will set up on the beach, to start searching near the high tide line. Then we will follow the tide out, possibly getting our feet wet and sandy, as do the birds. Afterward, those interested can walk over to the boardwalk toward Barker Field, and the extension over the marsh. 

Fish Haul Beach Park (120 Mitchellville Rd, Hilton Head) has restrooms in the parking lot.  We will walk in sand as well as hard surfaces, for about l l/2 miles total. Prepare for the weather – it feels cooler than you might expect if it is windy. If the weather is fine, you might elect to bring lunch and picnic on the beach or in the park. Maybe bring a trash bag, since we like to leave a place cleaner than we find it.

Directions: From Rte 278, take Beach City Road. At the intersection with Dillon Rd, turn left. Then look for the first road right, Mitchellville Rd (currently dirt, but the town plans to pave someday…).  This will lead you to the Fish Haul Beach Park, on the right.

Member ticket $12.00; Nonmember $14.00

(Member registration opens 3/1; Nonmembers 3/8)

Artist Karen Richards leads a hands-on workshop at the SOBA Art School on how to use painting to explore conservation and nature themes. Each participant will create a work of art to take home.

Member ticket $15; Nonmember $25.

(Member registration opens 4/5; Nonmembers 4/12)

Join Coastal Discovery Museum naturalist Carlos Chacon at the Cypress Wetlands in Port Royal, SC, for an hour or so birding from the boardwalk, which offers close-up views of waterfowl, wading birds, alligators, turtles, and occasional surprises. The walk continues on a trail around the other side of the pond, including a viewing platform with views of the “backsides” of the islands visible from the boardwalk.  While there are a few roots to avoid on the trail part, this is a flat, easy walk of about a mile. The Boardwalk is open to the sun & weather, but the trail part is shaded. Dress for the weather, and expect bugs. 

Directions: From Hilton Head / Bluffton, take Rte 170 toward Beaufort, across the Broad River bridge, then right on SC128/Savannah Highway. Turn Right onto US 21Rte/Parris Island Gateway which becomes Ribaut Rd. Turn Right onto West Paris Avenue, then left onto Paris Avenue. The entrance is across from the Parkers gas station (also the nearest restrooms), and next to the Police Station. Park along Paris Ave, and walk back to the Wetlands boardwalk. We recommend you plan to stay for lunch at one of several small restaurants near the Wetlands or the Fishcamp Restaurant on 11^th St.