Month: September 2018

For those of you who know her, you might not be aware that Tori Langen is a birder. She’s better known as an avid and accomplished golfer and a darned good bridge player. But she also enjoys birding!

Tori says that it was probably her father who got her interested in our feathered friends. He used to call in cardinals with his whistle and Tori loved it. She was about 10 years old at the time. In fact, as it turned out, she has had several close friends through her life who were birders. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were avid birders and her husband, Bob, also was interested, mostly in backyard birds.

Tori has always loved being out-of-doors. There’s hardly a sport that she hasn’t tried from skiing and paddle tennis to sailing and golf. She has taken on the challenge of each and, for the most part, mastered them all. She nurtured a particular love of golf which she took up over 35 years ago.

When Tori moved to Seabrook full time and partnered with her old friend, Marcia Hider, they both expanded their knowledge to include shorebirds and seabirds. How could they resist when there are so many on our own beaches. They would walk North Beach together watching the sandpipers and plovers and studying their bird books, trying to decide if a particular one was a Western or a Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Tori has established a nice collection of carved birds that decorate her mantle and counter tops. They range from a Kiwi purchased in New Zealand to a dramatic Black Skimmer that she found in Connecticut. They are not only pretty additions to her home but are reminders of places she has visited.

-Submitted by Marcia Hider

The Seabrook Island Bluebird Society was started on Seabrook Island to help the Eastern Bluebird (see our “Bird of the Week” blog from 2016 to learn more about the Eastern Bluebird). The 2018 nesting season has come to an end.

If you didn’t know, the Eastern Bluebird is a small member of the thrush family that inhabit fields and clearings. Although pesticides and competition from house sparrows in the early and mid-20th century negatively impacted bluebirds, they have recovered well in recent years and are stable or increasing both as breeding birds and wintering birds. Much of this recovery is thanks to concerned citizens who put up bluebird boxes in their fields for these birds to nest in.

Seventy-three bluebird boxes were installed and are located along Crooked Oaks and Ocean Winds golf courses, the Lake House and Sunset Pier. Melanie Jerome took over the leadership of the Bluebird Society in 2018 from

Dean Morr. The  main focus is to monitor nesting of bluebirds and any other bird species using the boxes. This is done from March through August by a group of 13 hard working volunteers. They check the boxes once a week, keeping track of activity of all birds documenting by box the number of eggs laid, hatched and fledged. Once fledged, the boxes are cleaned of all nesting material so they available for another brood of birds.

The 2018 statistics for our Seabrook Island Eastern Bluebirds are:

• 99 nests built
• 389 eggs laid
• 246 eggs hatched
• 226 fledged

This is a 58% fledge success. We also have had 21 nests from Carolina Chickadees, with 74 eggs laid, and 55 fledged. We had a predation problem from snakes and raccoons this year and the 2019 goal is to obtain baffle guards on some of the poles to prevent the predation issue.

To compare to results from previous years, see the chart below:

Trail Name			Bluebird				Carolina Chickadee
2018 RESULTS	# Boxes	No Activity	Nest Attempts	Eggs	Hatched	Fledged	Nest Attempts	Eggs	Hatched	Fledged
2018 Totals	73	6	99	389	246	226	21	74	55	55
2017 Totals	73	5	89	318	183	175	26	98	82	82
2016 Totals	73	3	99	386	360	359	28	126	106	106
2015 Totals	73	7	76	318	259	259	39	136	104	102
2014 Totals	67	10	63	252	219	203	28	113	85	83

I would like to thank all of our volunteers for their help, we couldn’t do it without you. If you are interested in helping with the bluebirds, please contact Melanie at seabrookbluebirds@gmail.com.

-Submitted by Melanie Jerome