This year's SC midwinter PIPL census set a record - 114 birds.  There
were actually 124+ PIPL known to be in SC at the time, but we could not
get a team onto Capers Island (the Beaufort County one) during the
official census window (Feb. 8-11) to count the 10 birds known to be there.
-- We had issues with boat and observer schedules, paltry high tides and
'squirrely' shallow approaches to the island making non-high tide access
impossible.

A few heavily monitored sites produced slightly lower PIPL counts than
Sid Maddock and I had been noting previously, but that is the nature of
the beast.

Census participants also counted Wilson's Plovers and Red Knots, keeping
a sharp lookout for banded birds.  A total of 13 Wilson's Plovers and
462 Red Knots were found.  The number of Wilson's Plovers wintering in
SC was very much lower in 2006-07 than the previous two years.

More info + photos of a few banded Piping Plovers and Red Knots found
during the census are here:
http://www.crbo.net/PIPLcensus2007.html

Look for the complete census results in an upcoming issue of the CHAT
(Ornithological bulletin of the Carolinas), with a site-by-site rundown
of bird totals, observers, band combinations and so forth.

Needless to say, the census would not have been possible without the
support of partners like SC DNR, US FWS, Audubon Chapters, Coastal
Carolina University, USC's Belle Baruch Institute, SC Parks Dept, The
Lowcountry Institute, charter fishing captains + boats (4 of them) and
individual volunteers.  SC DNR (especially Felicia Sanders and Mark
Spinks) was particularly indispensable.

Nathan Dias
---
Executive Director
Cape Romain Bird Observatory
PO Box 362
McClellanville, SC 29458
http://www.crbo.net/