Sparrow King Now In South Carolina

Don McCall continues to chronicle the migration of Sparky.

He writes....

"Sparrow King has covered another half of a country. He's flown from New York to South Carolina (1162 km, 722 mi) in the past two days, and has averaged over 300 miles per day since leaving Baffin Island 7 days ago."

Although we can't know where he roosted two nights ago, we have determined that Sparky put in last night in the Congaree Swamp National Monument in South Carolina. This area is due south and within 30 miles of the house of another FRG member and consultant, Marty Daniels.

She resides at the Mulberry Plantation near Camden, SC. It is likely that Sparrow King may have been within sight of the plantation grounds as he migrated through yesterday. Nice to think so anyway. I spoke with Marty this morning and here are some of her comments regarding Sparky's roosting area.

She states that he perched in a Cypress-Tupelo swamp at the confluence of two major rivers, one running through her property upriver. It is a huge area with sparse human population. These are huge trees, some over 1,000 years of age. It is typical woodpecker habitat and is loaded with wading birds and passerines like the Carolina Wren. She has kayaked through the area looking for Ivory-bills in the past.

Having visited her home last year, and South Carolina for the first time, I can report that I was impressed with the high number of Water Mocassin snakes in these swamplands. Very impressive habitat.

She also reports that yesterday it began to rain at noon and continued steadily through the night, sometimes torrentially. There was no wind, which is unusual at this time of year.

Thanks Marty!