Events

“Birdability” birdwatching tours at Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge are offered free of charge for mobility challenged individuals. This partnership between the Friends of the Savannah Coastal Wildlife Refuges and Hilton Head Audubon offers an opportunity to ride a 15-seat electric shuttle with a bird guide to look for both migrating birds and nesting egrets and herons present during the spring on Pinckney Island. Passengers do not have to leave the shuttle during the tour. The golf cart was purchased to expand accessibility at Pinckney thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

The diverse habitats at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge attract an abundance of wildlife throughout the year, providing excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. The refuge bird list contains over 250 species. During spring migrations, warblers and other migratory song birds are common among the live oaks and in the shrub/scrub habitat. A variety of raptors, shorebirds, and wading birds call the refuge home year-round. Pinckney Island NWR is one of the best places in South Carolina to see breeding yellow-crowned night herons.

Bring your own binoculars or use those provided. You must be registered to participate. Registered participants can find the shuttle in the Pinckney NWR parking lot just before the tour begins. 

Photo of Great Egret: Patricia Kappmeyer

Please join Carlos Chacon at the 100-acre Mid-Island Community Park, owned by the Town of Hilton Head. Carlos is an expert birder and is a naturalist at the Coastal Discovery Museum. This property is an abandoned golf course, featuring mown fairways, overgrown fairway edges, old golf course lagoons, borders of pines and oaks, and large standing dead trees. This variety makes it excellent for bird diversity. It houses the only red-headed woodpecker family that we know of on the island.

Registration is necessary.

Directions: The parking lot for this tract 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 Matthews Rd, then past 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.

Photo of Red-headed Woodpecker by Michael Fogleman

This 4-mile drive was closed for 3 years, due to renovation work on the dikes and water control structures in the Refuge. We are delighted that it re-opened in summer 2023, and is, if possible, better than ever. 

Your leaders will be Master Birders Karen Seminary and Rachel Green. Both have intimate knowledge of the Laurel Hill Drive, know all the best birding spots, and are excellent spotters of the hard-to-see birds. Meet them at the Laurel Hill Drive entrance on Rte. 170, for car-pooling (more eyes in the car = more birds spotted). Expected high points may be watching harriers fly over the marsh looking for prey, spotting black-crowned night herons or American bitterns in among the marsh grasses, trying to separate song, savannah, and swamp sparrows. An early April trip might even yield a few migrating songbirds on the hammocks.

The group will drive very slowly, looking for birds, pulling over to the side of the road so we don’t block other visitors, stopping in several locations to get out of the cars and seek the birds, etc. Walking will be in short spurts not totaling as much as a mile. There is a port-o-john at about mile 1 of the drive; but it may take an hour or more of birding before you get that far. So plan for that. Bring binoculars, water, snacks and lunch, bug spray, and dress for the weather.

Registration is necessary.

Directions: Take Rte. 170 (Okatie Hwy) west from Bluffton toward Savannah (about 6 miles or so).  Rte. 170 curves and turns and changes the road names, but just follow the signs for 170!

(Watch for turns — Go past Plantation Rd then go right on Freedom Parkway, still on Rte. 170. It curves oddly at the intersection with Lime House Rd, turn left to continue on 170 to Speedway Blvd where Rtes. 170 and 17 combine.  

Then keep right to stay on Rte. 170 (where the routes split).  About 2 miles, you will see the entrance to SAV NWR, on your left.  Signal your turn well ahead of time and be CAREFUL. Rte. 170 can be dangerous with large logging and other large trucks, especially on weekdays.

Note that the Visitor Center is on Rte. 17, so do not use that in your GPS.

Photo: American Bittern by Robert Shupak

April is the month we start hunting for those beautiful spring migrating songbirds. We have discovered that the big specimen live oak at Jarvis Park, on Hilton Head, is often popular with warblers. Field Trip Chair Lynn Hodgson will be at Jarvis Park on Hilton Head, at 8 a.m. on three Monday mornings in April. Join her for any or all these informal, mostly stationary “hunts.” We will probably stay about an hour. No registration or charge; just show up and stay as long as you like. (Note: Lynn is a Master Birder, but NOT a Master “Warblerer,” so we will be learning together.)

Directions: Jarvis Community Park – 50 Jarvis Park Rd., just off Rte. 278 on the north end of Hilton Head Island, 1 block north of the intersection of 278 and the Cross-Island Expressway.

Photo: Pine Warbler by Aita Megumi

“Birdability” birdwatching tours at Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge are offered free of charge for mobility challenged individuals. This partnership between the Friends of the Savannah Coastal Wildlife Refuges and Hilton Head Audubon offers an opportunity to ride a 15-seat electric shuttle with a bird guide to look for both migrating birds and nesting egrets and herons present during the spring on Pinckney Island. Passengers do not have to leave the shuttle during the tour. The golf cart was purchased to expand accessibility at Pinckney thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

The diverse habitats at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge attract an abundance of wildlife throughout the year, providing excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. The refuge bird list contains over 250 species. During spring migrations, warblers and other migratory song birds are common among the live oaks and in the shrub/scrub habitat. A variety of raptors, shorebirds, and wading birds call the refuge home year-round. Pinckney Island NWR is one of the best places in South Carolina to see breeding yellow-crowned night herons.

Bring your own binoculars or use those provided. You must be registered to participate. Registered participants can find the shuttle in the Pinckney NWR parking lot just before the tour begins. 

Photo of Great Egret: Patricia Kappmeyer

Bruce Beehler is a renowned ornithologist, conservationist, author, and lecturer, currently with the Smithsonian Institution. He once took a 60 Minutes Team to the “edge of the world” to the Foja Mountains of Papa New Guinea where he discovered an unknown bird species and brought back the first-ever photograph of another, thought to be extinct.

The author of twelve books, his latest, Birds of North America is set to be released April 9, 2024. His presentation at Bluffton’s Rotary Community Center April 12, assures Lowcountry residents will be among the first to purchase a signed copy of his newest book.

Registration is necessary for this event, which has an admission fee of $25. Wine and cheese will be served. Click here to register.

Please join Field Trips chair, Lynn Hodgson, for a Sunday adventure to Webb Wildlife Center and Game Management Area, 1282 Webb Ave (or 2680 Augusta Stage Coach Rd) Garnett, SC 29922.   

Webb Wildlife Management Area covers about 81,000 acres of mixed habitats along the Savannah River. We will do a driving tour, with several stops for birding in hardwood forests, longleaf pine communities, near bald cypress swamps, and at a freshwater rookery. There is a nature trail, which we will try out; but it is often flooded. Bachmann’s sparrows, swallow-tailed kites, prothonotary warblers, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and painted buntings all live here. The entry road (Webb Ave) passes through a tunnel of live oaks and is superb habitat for locating Bachmann’s sparrows and red-headed woodpeckers. If you can, arrive early enough to listen and look for them. The Bachmann’s sparrows often quiet down later in the day – early morning is the time to hear them.

The Webb Visitor Center is not open on weekends. So, we will meet just beyond all the buildings at the sign-in kiosk at the beginning of the Bluff Lake Trail. A small restroom nearby is usually open. We will bird into the afternoon, so dress for the weather (hot? sunny? muggy? rainy?) and bugs. Bring binoculars, lunch, and plenty of water. Webb is about an hour and a half from Hilton Head.

Registration is necessary.

Directions from Hilton Head: take Rte. 278 north, cross I-95, go left at the next light – Whyte Hardee Blvd.(= Rte. 17). In town, take a right on Deerfield Rd (=Rte. 321 north). Stick with 321 through a couple of name changes. You will come to a funky and confusing intersection where 3 roads come together. Clyo Rd comes in from the south (don’t take that!). Head due west, crossing the railroad tracks on Augusta Stagecoach Rd. Look for the brown binocular signs. Go through Brighton, SC (blink and you will miss it), then look for Webb Ave on the left. Lynn’s cell is 808-282-5218.

Photo: Swallow-tail Kite by Robert Shupak

“Birdability” birdwatching tours at Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge are offered free of charge for mobility challenged individuals. This partnership between the Friends of the Savannah Coastal Wildlife Refuges and Hilton Head Audubon offers an opportunity to ride a 15-seat electric shuttle with a bird guide to look for both migrating birds and nesting egrets and herons present during the spring on Pinckney Island. Passengers do not have to leave the shuttle during the tour. The golf cart was purchased to expand accessibility at Pinckney thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

The diverse habitats at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge attract an abundance of wildlife throughout the year, providing excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. The refuge bird list contains over 250 species. During spring migrations, warblers and other migratory song birds are common among the live oaks and in the shrub/scrub habitat. A variety of raptors, shorebirds, and wading birds call the refuge home year-round. Pinckney Island NWR is one of the best places in South Carolina to see breeding yellow-crowned night herons.

Bring your own binoculars or use those provided. You must be registered to participate. Registered participants can find the shuttle in the Pinckney NWR parking lot just before the tour begins. 

Photo of Great Egret: Patricia Kappmeyer

“Birdability” birdwatching tours at Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge are offered free of charge for mobility challenged individuals. This partnership between the Friends of the Savannah Coastal Wildlife Refuges and Hilton Head Audubon offers an opportunity to ride a 15-seat electric shuttle with a bird guide to look for both migrating birds and nesting egrets and herons present during the spring on Pinckney Island. Passengers do not have to leave the shuttle during the tour. The golf cart was purchased to expand accessibility at Pinckney thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

The diverse habitats at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge attract an abundance of wildlife throughout the year, providing excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. The refuge bird list contains over 250 species. During spring migrations, warblers and other migratory song birds are common among the live oaks and in the shrub/scrub habitat. A variety of raptors, shorebirds, and wading birds call the refuge home year-round. Pinckney Island NWR is one of the best places in South Carolina to see breeding yellow-crowned night herons.

Bring your own binoculars or use those provided. You must be registered to participate. Registered participants can find the shuttle in the Pinckney NWR parking lot just before the tour begins. 

Photo of Great Egret: Patricia Kappmeyer