2013 Summer Camp

The Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest has announced the 2013 summer camp dates!

There is a choice of three week-long summer day-camps during June. Francis Beidler Forest contains the largest remaining stand of virgin, cypress-tupelo swamp in the world. This is the perfect setting for stimulating a child’s love for nature!

Campers listening to bird song - Mark Musselman

Birds will be the 2013 theme to guide campers through each week.  Campers will become amateur naturalists themselves by engaging in science, hands-on activities and arts.  You can view images from last year here.

A tentative schedule can be viewed here and an enrollment form can be downloaded here.

The programs for the summer camp are geared for grades 1 through 6. The camp day will last from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm at a cost of $85. Please call Beidler Forest at 843-462-2150 to secure a place for your child in the week of your choice.

The dates for the 2013 summer camp will be:
Session I: June 10-14
Session II: June 17-21

Previous advanced campers - Mark Musselman

For older campers, we will once again host an advanced camp.

Advanced Swamp Camp

For the third year, the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest is offering a day-camp for teenagers (ages 13-16) from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm June 24-28. The cost is $100 per camper. Campers will spend the days outside exploring the various habitats throughout the sanctuary. Those unwilling to stomp in the swamp getting wet and dirty should not apply.  Activities will include GPS navigation, canoeing, wildlife identification, and whatever we encounter!  Explore this GIS map to see where campers went and what they saw in 2012!

Limit: 15 campers. Call Beidler Forest at 843-462-2150

  

Day 5 of Advanced Summer Camp

Advanced Summer Camp for 2012 at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest ended on Friday.  The final day was spent on the boardwalk counting birds for the week's eBird report.  Our goal was over 20 species with high hopes to reach 30.  It took a spin around the parking area to collect the last three species, but we reached 30! (see complete list below)

Banded Water Snake - Mark Musselman

During our time on the boardwalk in search of birds, we also came across other wildlife like the beautiful Banded Water Snake in the above image.

Below is a map showing the week's activities and sightings.  You can link to the map and select the "show contents of map" icon to check on/off the various layers.  There are layers showing our tracks during the morning and afternoon trips as well as pins with popup windows showing images and information for what we saw at those locations.


View Larger Map

Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Dorchester, US-SC
Jul 20, 2012 9:20 AM - 12:20 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments:    Mostly clear, humid, breezy, 80Fs
30 species

Great Egret (Ardea alba)  2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)  1
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)  23
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)  1
Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis)  1
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)  2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)  3
Barred Owl (Strix varia)  3
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)  1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)  3
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  1
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)  5
Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens)  8
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)  5
White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus)  2
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  4
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  8
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)  18
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  15
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  1
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)  1
Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla)  2
Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)  1
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea)  2
Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina)  1
Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)  8
Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)  1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  6

Day 4 of Advanced Summer Camp

Day 4 of advanced summer camp at the Audubon Center at the Francis Beidler Forest involved catching and identifying insects and herps (amphibians and reptiles).  The wildlife lists at Beidler Forest are complete for birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, but scant for others in the animal kingdom.  In the morning, the campers worked hard with their nets to help add insect species to our list.

Collecting insects at power line - Mark Musselman

Native plants under power line - Mark Musselman

Gray-green Clubtail - Ricky Covey

Eastern Pondhawk male - Ricky Covey

Eastern Pondhawk female or immature male - Ricky Covey

Great Blue Skimmer female - Ricky Covey

Great Blue Skimmer - Mark Musselman

Great Blue Skimmer female that appears to have lost her head during mating - Mark Musselman

The male dragonfly clasps the female behind the head and can puncture her eye or, as in this case, decapitate the female!  Does not seem like a successful mating strategy.

Common Whitetail - Mark Musselman

Mating Gulf Fritillary Butterflies - Mark Musselman

Mating Gulf Fritillary Butterflies - Mark Musselman

Mating Gulf Fritillary Butterflies - Ricky Covey

Appalachian Brown - Mark Musselman

Unidentified moth - Mark Musselman

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Ricky Covey

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Ricky Covey

Chinese Mantis - Mark Musselman

Chinese Mantis - Mark Musselman

Chinese Mantis - Ricky Covey

Reading about itself on the computer, the Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis) learned that it was introduced into North America around 1895 as a pest control.  Although they primarily eat insects, their large size allows them to dine on small vertebrate prey, mainly reptiles and amphibians, but also hummingbirds!

Chinese Mantis - Ricky Covey

Grasshopper - Mark Musselman

Near the outdoor classroom, we found a young Redbelly Snake away from its leaf-litter habitat where it dines on slugs.  The snake was less than 3" long.

Young Redbelly Snake - Ricky Covey

After lunch, we headed to the bluff by Mallard Lake to explore the seeps and look for herps.  We were not disappointed.  We quickly found the first of many Three-lined Salamanders under a log.  We searched in vain for a Marbled Salamander and missed capturing several frogs, including a healthy Bronze Frog.

Three-lined Salamander - Mark Musselman

Three-lined Salamander - Mark Musselman

Possible Gray Treefrog - Ricky Covey

With all the color variability, this may or may not be a young Gray Treefrog.

Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver - Ricky Covey

We had to keep our head up as there were plenty of webs, including the one belonging to the Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver, stretched between the trees.

Six-lined Racerunner - Mark Musselman

On top of the bluff in the dry, sandy habitat we encounter a half a dozen Six-lined Racerunners.  The one shown in the images was not quick enough to escape Ricky and his minnow net.

Six-lined Racerunner - Mark Musselman

2012 Advanced Camp

The advanced camp at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler  Forest has begun!  Day 1 involved a walk around the boardwalk (virtual tour here) before lunch and then a stomp through the swamp in the afternoon.  Here is some of what we saw:

Young raccoon out foraging in shallow water - Mark Musselman

Young raccoon climbing tree for safety - Mark Musselman

Banded Water Snake - Mark Musselman

Eastern Mud Turtle - Mark Musselman

Eastern Cottonmouth - Mark Musselman

Eastern Cottonmouth - Mark Musselman

Bowfin - Mark Musselman

Barred Owl - Mark Musselman

Barred Owl - Mark Musselman

Yellow-crowned Night Heron - Mark Musselman

Eastern Box Turtle - Mark Musselman

Banded Water Snake - Mark Musselman

Great Egret - Mark Musselman

Carolina Wren nest under construction - Mark Musselman

 See images and video here of a previous attempt for this site.

Carolina Wren building nest in cigarette disposal container - Mark Musselman

Orbweaver capturing yellow jacket - Ricky Covey

Unidentified insect - Ricky Covey

Dark Fishing Spider - Ricky Covey

Swamp stomp behind beaver dam - Ricky Covey

Beaver dam - Ricky Covey

Although we did not get any pictures, we also saw White Ibis, Little Blue Herons, a male Common Yellowthroat, Northern Cardinals, Musk Turtles, Yellow-bellied Sliders, a female Prothonotary Warbler, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Northern Parulas, Tufted Titmouse, and several fawns.

Tomorrow, we will post a Geographic Information System (GIS) map showing the boardwalk, the beaver dam, our morning and afternoon tracks, and points for the various wildlife sightings.