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JOCASSEE WINTERBIRDS REPORT:

Happy November, everyone, the month in which Jocassee begins its transformation into a sanctuary for many varies of migratory waterbirds that call Jocassee home in winter. The star of the show is the common loon, of course, that spectacular, charismatic bird that leaves its breeding lakes in the upper Mid-West this time of year to head our way. They are joined by Bald eagles, with whom the loons have a very interesting relationship, observable here. Bonaparte’s gulls join us as well, the most agile and acrobatic of all gulls in flight, and hundreds of Horned Grebes and Ring-billed Gulls. Just when you think the lake goes quiet and dormant for the winter, it becomes a raucous place at times, when birds who have been flying for hours, for days, arrive here famished, The feeding frenzies upon arrival are a thrill to watch. ~B