The Lowdown of the Lowcountry

On Wednesday, we moved from a very overcast and wet Southeastern Virginia to a sunny southeastern North Carolina.  We reached the Low country, set up camp and went to look around.  I had spent three days trying to get a photo of a red-cockaded woodpecker up in Virginia and all we found were mushrooms, and it was nice to get out of the darkness and into the light.  We did see a woodpecker, never got the camera on it...story of my life some times.

                     

There were lots of butterflies still flying around.  

long-tailed skipper

salt marsh skipper (lifer)

Ocola skipper (lifer)

Gulf Fritillary always a colorful favorite

Huntington Beach State park has some good boardwalks for birding and I finally got into some decent birding.  They say this park is one of the best birding sites in South Carolina.  It was hot and crowded, and at low tide, only a couple of sandpipers were flying around, but I saw a few birds.

black throated blue warbler

Clapper rail

Belted kingfisher

Tricolored heron

seaside sparrow

We went across the street to the Brookgreen Garden, another part of the Archer and Anna Huntington estate, set up to feature his wife Anna's sculpture.  Despite throwing his enormous wealth around (he was the son of one of the wealthiest Americans, a railroad tycoon, one of California's big four) getting exhibitions and literally buying museums, Anna was a remarkable sculptor, many should just come here to see her work.

We walked the huge garden and saw many of hers and others sculptors.

After all of the walking around, I sat down to take a quick nap. 

Some other views:

 A Coastal plains cooter

So that is a little taste of what is going on around here.  This is a nice part of the Carolinas and we have a few more days here.  We anticipate finding more neat spots and cool critters.  We have a swamp, a winery, and a pelegic/ fishing trip on the schedule....more on that later.

Olaf