Carolina Bird Club Fall Birding Weekend – Congaree

We are excited to pilot a new type of gathering this fall! Instead of getting together at a single location in North or South Carolina, members will have the option to choose from one of six birding events spread across two consecutive Saturdays. At each location a leader will guide participants to local hotspots and experience fall migration at its finest. The Old North State hosts the first meet-up, on the 21st of September, and given the southerly nature of migration at this time of the year, our friends South of the Border will host an outing the 28th of September. And with options spread across two weekends, why not attend both! In each state we will have three areas where our “day trips” will occur: one each in the mountains, along the coast, and inland.

The North Carolina locations are Sparta (mountains), Raleigh/Durham (Piedmont) and Morehead City (coast). These are all wonderful fall birding locations and hosts of past seasonal meetings or bonus trips. From warbler waves in the mountains to migrant traps in the Triangle to shorebird flocks along the coast, opportunities abound to enjoy fun, fellowship, and maybe even a new species or two for your list.

In South Carolina, the locations will be Table Rock (mountains), Congaree (inner coastal plain) and Huntington Beach (coast). Carolina birders may recall fond memories of past seasonal meetings at each of these locations. Similar to the preceding Saturday, attendees have the option to choose from among three outstanding locations and attendant suites of birds.

It is our hope that offering several meet-up locations for a day of birding will result in new members, both local to these locations as well as those from further afield, as well as offer new and interesting options for existing supporters. Also, we would love to see opportunities for families of members who work and cannot manage our Friday to Sunday weekends join, which we hope are enhanced given the proposed format.

We also hope that we will be able to enlist local leaders who are both old and new to our seasonal meeting lineup. Fortunately, several members have already volunteered to lead a day’s worth of birding in one of our chosen locations. It may be that there will be some optional birding on Friday and/or Sunday for those interested as well. You can rest assured that participants will be birding some of the best fall hotspots each area has to offer!

Although the Board is still firming up the details of this meeting format, we wanted to let everyone know the dates and birding destinations now in order so that you can make plans to attend. If you plan to travel from afar, you will need to make your own arrangements for lodging.

There will be more details about specific stops that will be included at each location in the next Newsletter. But if you have specific questions now (especially as it pertains to lodging options), feel free to contact me directly.

Registration opens in August at carolinabirdclub.org

Visit our website for more details.