Birds, Groins and Sharks teeth…

Howdee all,

After our delicious dreamlike morning on Tuesday..

Jeff and I decided to take and afternoon walk around the island..an eight mile round trip hike to the north of the island and back to the campground…

We started at Magnolia trail

  

We took the trail from the road that leads into the campground..

After a few miles, we reach the lagoon.

We follow the lagoon..

until the outlet into the bay..

We walk over the bridge and proceed to walk the furthest week can go south east on the island..

The island has experienced a lot of erosion within the last few years.

The park has lost several cabins.

The one in the distance is left standing as an island..

more photos of this later..

We walk through a boneyard..

Past another home damaged by storms..

We walk to the end of the island..

The bridge to the private Fripp island..

the pier from the visitor center in front of that..

Birds at the shoreline..

While looking at this group of terns and gulls

I notice two tern with yellow tips to their bills..

I didn’t realize it at the time that this is a rare sighting here this time of year.

Sandwich Tern

The birds were not cooperative and I did not get any photos of the yellow tipped bill..

We leave the birds and head back to walk the beach north..

a three or so mile hike back to the campground..

This poor little cabin is left without land..

I wonder if they will tear it down or just let it be..

Most of the other cabins are completely gone..

Just some brick, debris..and piles of sandbags covered in sand..

Needless to say..

most of the south eastern part of Hunting Island is now a

boneyard..

We walk thru and over the boneyard..skirting the incoming tide..

The letter H in tree bones..

Oops..Groins

Submerged..

Watch out for those submerged groins!!!

In an effort to prevent more beach erosion..

Groins have been put on the beach in the past few years..

You can see a series of the metal groins in this photo below..

Along with many Willet…

There were at least one hundred..

A Groin..

The beach through a groin hole..

Rusty crusty groin..

The lighthouse

Oh..what do we have here?

Look closely..

not just one species here..

Oh how I love these birds…

American Oystercatcher..

hopping the rocks..

In the surf..

Eating Oysters…

We are just about done with our eight mile walk..

Jeff's back is killing him from carrying his heavy backpack..

My neck is bothering me from the hike..I am due for a Chiropractic adjustment..

Jeff goes to rest while I search for

Shark teeth..

My new obsession..

See the tooth in the sand below?

Look for the Y shape..

This is it…

My first afternoons collection..

My collection day 2

Enough blogging for now..

I must get out to find more Teeth!

……………………………………………

Birds of the day

Hunting Island SP, Beaufort, US-SC
Mar 19, 2013  Protocol: Traveling
10.0 mile(s)
Comments:      <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.5.2
68 species

Green-winged Teal  
Lesser Scaup  
Bufflehead  
Red-breasted Merganser  
Red-throated Loon  
Common Loon  
Northern Gannet  
Double-crested Cormorant  
Brown Pelican  
Great Blue Heron  
Great Egret  
Snowy Egret  
Tricolored Heron  
Green Heron  
Black Vulture  
Turkey Vulture  
Osprey  
Black-bellied Plover  
Semipalmated Plover  
American Oystercatcher  
Spotted Sandpiper  
Willet  
Marbled Godwit  
Ruddy Turnstone  
Red Knot  
Sanderling  
Dunlin  
Bonaparte's Gull  
Laughing Gull  
Ring-billed Gull  
Herring Gull  
Forster's Tern  
Royal Tern  
Sandwich Tern        Two Sandwich tern at southern tip of island ..inlet facing visitor center pier and bridge
Black Skimmer  
Mourning Dove  
Belted Kingfisher  
Red-bellied Woodpecker  
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  
Downy Woodpecker  
Northern Flicker  
Eastern Phoebe  
Blue-headed Vireo  
Blue Jay  
American Crow  
Fish Crow  
Carolina Chickadee  
Tufted Titmouse  
Red-breasted Nuthatch  
Brown-headed Nuthatch  
Carolina Wren  
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  
Eastern Bluebird  
Hermit Thrush  
American Robin  
Northern Mockingbird  
Cedar Waxwing  
Black-and-white Warbler  
Northern Parula  
Pine Warbler  
Yellow-rumped Warbler  
Yellow-throated Warbler  
Eastern Towhee  
White-throated Sparrow  
Northern Cardinal    
Boat-tailed Grackle   
House Finch