Saturday, November 21, 2026

Morning Field Trip: Fort Moultrie, Breach Inlet, and Sullivan’s Island

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026, 8:00 to 11:00am EST

Event type: Field trip

Meeting Point: Fort Moultrie Visitor Center parking lot, 1214 Middle Street, Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482. Parking is behind the Visitor Center.

Guides: Nate Swick, Craig Watson, Pamela Ford

Getting there: Self-drive or carpool, roughly 25 to 30 minutes from downtown Charleston via US 17 and Ben Sawyer Boulevard (SC 703). Sullivan’s Island is not served by public transit, so please sign up for a carpool at registration if you need a ride.

Site accessibility: The Visitor Center, its restrooms, and the parking area are wheelchair-accessible, and the paths around the Visitor Center and the fort lawn are paved or firm. The salt-creek dock behind the parking lot and the fishing pier and wildlife viewing platform are reachable on level surfaces. Beyond the fort, the route along the harbor shore, the ocean beach, and the dune scrub is soft sand and uneven ground. At Breach Inlet the birding is done from the parking lot, which overlooks the inlet and the sea, so no walking is required there. Expect wind and full sun exposure on the coast.

Fee: Fort Moultrie charges an entrance fee of $10 per person for visitors aged 16 and older; America the Beautiful and other National Park passes are accepted. There is no fee at Breach Inlet or the Sullivan’s Island beach accesses.

Fort Moultrie packs several habitats into a small area, which is why local birders keep coming back to it in winter. The deck on top of the Visitor Center gives you a view over the whole site and out into Charleston Harbor, where Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, and Red-throated and Common Loons sit on the water and all three scoters are possible. The dock on the salt creek behind the parking lot is the place to look and listen for Clapper Rail, and the scrub between the fort and the beach is the last stronghold of Common Ground-Dove in the Charleston area, so we will work through it slowly. Wintering Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, Savannah Sparrows, and Eastern Towhees use the same thickets, and Loggerhead Shrike is a regular here.

From the fort we walk out along the harbor shore to the ocean beach, where American Oystercatchers, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Red Knots, Sanderlings, and Dunlins feed along the tide line and Brown Pelicans, Royal and Forster’s Terns, and Black Skimmers rest on the sand. Northern Gannets are often visible offshore in November. At Breach Inlet, between Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms, the parking lot beside the bridge overlooks the channel and the open sea; scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers move through the inlet on the tide, and the rock groins along the nearby beaches are worth scanning for Purple Sandpiper, which is rare but regular here in winter. Gulls are a good study at both sites: Laughing, Ring-billed, and Herring are the baseline, with Bonaparte’s, Lesser Black-backed, and Great Black-backed Gulls all possible in late November.

Afternoon Talk: Prescribed Fire and Birds

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026, 1:30 to 3:00pm EST

Event type: Talk

Speaker: Ben Thomas Wiedenman

Ben Thomas Wiedenman is a senior at The Citadel and a native of Aiken, South Carolina. He recently developed an interest in birding while spending time on his family’s tree farm, where using the Merlin Bird ID app helped turn a casual interest in birds into a growing hobby.

Ben has a background in land management and is currently working toward certification as a Certified Prescribed Fire Manager (CPFM). His experience with forestry, habitat management, and prescribed fire has given him a particular interest in the relationship between land management practices and bird habitat. He enjoys learning more about the birds found on working and managed lands and is excited to become more involved in the birding community through the American Birding Association.

Venue: To be confirmed

Getting there: To be confirmed

Site accessibility: To be confirmed

Fee: Free

In the Southeast, prescribed fire is often thought of as a forestry or fuels-management tool, but it is also an important habitat-management tool. Some of the bird species here benefit tremendously from the open forests, grasslands, and understories maintained by frequent fire, and some are closely tied to habitats that would look very different without it.

This presentation will explore that relationship from both sides. Ben will talk about which birds benefit from or depend on fire-maintained habitats, what fire actually changes in those habitats, and which ecosystems need recurring fire. He will also discuss how prescribed burns can be conducted with birds in mind—including timing, frequency, intensity, and ways to reduce risks to nesting birds.

With this talk, Ben’s goal is to show that prescribed fire is not simply about burning vegetation. When it is used carefully, it can be a tool for creating and maintaining the habitat that many of our native birds need.

Saturday Social

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026, 4:00 to 6:00pm EST

Event type: Social (cash bar)

Venue: Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co., 1505 King St., Charleston, SC 29405

Getting there: Free parking in the large on-site lot at Pacific Box and Crate; the taproom is about 3 miles north of the Charleston Visitor Center on King Street. CARTA’s Route 20 runs along King Street and Meeting Street and ends at Heriot Street, a short walk from the venue, and all CARTA buses are wheelchair-accessible. Rideshare drop-off is at the King Street entrance. If you are coming straight from the afternoon talk, carpools will leave from that venue.

Site accessibility: Ground-floor venue with a step-free entrance, accessible parking in the lot, and accessible restrooms.

Fee: Free to attend; food and drinks are at your own expense.

Come and talk birds with ABA staff, the weekend’s guides and speakers, and other participants over a drink; no birding experience is required, and everyone is welcome.

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Morning Field Trip: Caw Caw Interpretive Center

Date: Sunday, November 22, 2026, 9:30am to 12:00pm EST

Event type: Field trip

Meeting Point: Caw Caw Interpretive Center, 5200 Savannah Highway (US 17), Ravenel, SC 29470. Meet at the Interpretive Center building by the parking lot.

Guides: Nate Swick, Kathy Hart, Charles Donnelly, Caw Caw naturalist (tbc)

Getting there: Self-drive or carpool, about 14 miles south of Charleston on US 17; allow 30 minutes from downtown. There is one sign for the park on the highway, and if you reach the town of Ravenel you have passed it. The site is not served by public transit, so please sign up for a carpool at registration if you need a ride.

Site accessibility: Accessible parking, an accessible route to the Interpretive Center, accessible restrooms and water fountains, and accessible picnic tables near the building. The trail network is more than six miles of natural-surface, unpaved paths and elevated boardwalks through the wetlands, and Charleston County Parks describes portions of the trails as ADA-accessible, with some trailside exhibits at accessible wildlife viewing locations. Pets and bicycles are not permitted.

Fee: The entrance fee is waived for ABA participants (so make sure you’re on the list by signing up)!

Caw Caw is 654 acres of former rice plantation, now managed by Charleston County Parks as a wildlife preserve, and it is one of the best-known birding sites on the South Carolina coast. The dikes, canals, and water-control structures built by enslaved Africans in the 18th and 19th centuries still shape the land, so you walk along the old rice field impoundments with tidal marsh on one side and cypress-tupelo swamp and bottomland hardwoods on the other. That mix of freshwater, brackish, and salt habitats in a small area is what makes the bird list long: the park’s own checklist stands at 274 species.

In late November the impoundments hold wintering waterfowl, and Blue-winged Teal is among the first ducks to watch for, with Bald Eagles and Northern Harriers hunting over the open water and marsh. Wading birds, including Wood Storks, feed in the shallows, and the swamp edge and thickets along the dikes hold wintering songbirds such as Blue-headed Vireo and Sedge Wren, along with the season’s sparrows. The boardwalks and trails are flat, and we will keep a slow pace and stop often, so this is a good morning for scopes.

Afternoon Workshop: Local ID Challenges

Date: Sunday, November 22, 2026, 1:30 to 3:00pm EST

Event type: Workshop / talk

Speaker: Charlie Quattlebaum

Meeting Point: Caw Caw Interpretive Center, 5200 Savannah Highway (US 17), Ravenel, SC 29470. Meet at the Interpretive Center building by the parking lot.

Getting there: Self-drive or carpool, about 14 miles south of Charleston on US 17; allow 30 minutes from downtown. There is one sign for the park on the highway, and if you reach the town of Ravenel you have passed it. The site is not served by public transit, so please sign up for a carpool at registration if you need a ride.

Site accessibility: Accessible parking, an accessible route to the Interpretive Center, accessible restrooms and water fountains, and accessible picnic tables near the building. The trail network is more than six miles of natural-surface, unpaved paths and elevated boardwalks through the wetlands, and Charleston County Parks describes portions of the trails as ADA-accessible, with some trailside exhibits at accessible wildlife viewing locations. Pets and bicycles are not permitted.

Fee: Free. The Caw Caw entrance fee is waived for ABA participants (so make sure you’re on the list by signing up)!

Winter birding on the South Carolina coast produces a particular set of identification problems, and this workshop works through them with photos and field marks rather than from memory. Bring your questions and any photos from local field trips; the session is aimed at birders at every level.

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