Birdwatching at Drayton Hall

Recently, Drayton Hall was excited to welcome Bob Savage to the site. Bob is a Long Island native, and a self proclaimed “Bird Nerd.” Bob grew up in Brooklyn, spent his entire adult life on Long Island, and beginning in the mid-80s began to travel regularly to Kiawah, and then later Stono Ferry. He says that his love of birds was sparked by a simple homemade feeder that he put up outside his kitchen window. This one feeder inspired him to add more and more, which led him to buy a pair of binoculars and a bird guide. As they say, the rest is history! Since he discovered his passion for bird watching, he has traveled extensively – to Florida, Arizona, California, and as far away as the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, where he has seen over 800 species of birds.

Bob arrived to start his bird watching at 8:00am, armed with his binoculars and a guide. Although
the weather didn’t cooperate, Bob was pleased to see so many different species of birds in so many different habitats. He explained to us that the beauty of bird watching at Drayton Hall is in the number of different habitats in such a compact space. In the swamp areas he saw yellow warblers, who like the big pines along the border of the swamp. The other habitats, like the lawn area, pond and forest, also yielded other wonderful species. Bob was lucky enough to spot a great horned owl, which he says you usually only see near dawn and dusk. He also told us he has never seen as many Flickers grouped together like he saw during his expedition!  Unfortunately, the wind picked up fairly quickly and the bird activity dropped – luckily, Bob was so pleased with his visit that he’s going to come again later in the spring to try to spot even more species. His advice to would-be birders is simple and straight to the point. If you want to start bird watching, head out to Drayton Hall early in the day — all you need to bring with you are binoculars, a bird guide, and lots of patience!