Hilton Head Island 2013 - Land Birds

Grackles appeared in several places, always in groups with lots of noise and interaction between the group.   They reminded me of crows in their behavior but they certainly look and sound differently.   This is a Common Grackles which is much smaller than Boat-tailed or Great Grackles.

 

This Northern Mockingbird could certainly not be mistaken for any other bird.   We saw several on our visit.

 

It would not be possible to mistake this Cardinal for any other bird.

 

We discovered this female Cardinal outside the museum on our first day.

 

I think we were too close to this Mourning Dove for his or her comfort level.

 

We spotted a small group of these House Sparrows, apparently hunting for food at South Beach.

 

There were no cages for these Blue-and-yellow Macaws and we could see no indication that their wings had been clipped.   So, we presumed they were treated well enough to want to stick around. Only the Chestnut-fronted Macaw is listed as local to the Eastern US and they are green, so these are apparently not natives.

 

This isn't a bird, but we were looking for birds when we spotted several hundred of these Fiddler Crabs, scurrying over the tide flats at the National Wildlife Refuge on Pinckney Island.   Only about one in ten of them had a claw, and those are all males and have only one claw.   This one was about 2 inches across, so the photo is "bigger than life."

 

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