Brookgreen Gardens - 11 Mar 2023


Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in South Carolina. The 9,100-acre (37 km2) property includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Low-country Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on the property. It was founded by Archer Milton Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington, and Anna Hyatt Huntington, his wife, to feature sculptures by Anna and her sister Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor, along with other American sculptors. Brookgreen Gardens was opened in 1932. It was developed on property of four former rice plantations, taking its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation, which dates to the antebellum period. - Wikipedia

Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington purchased the four plantations in order to develop gardens to showcase her sculptures. Situated on Waccamaw Neck in Georgetown County, South Carolina, between the Waccamaw River and the Atlantic Ocean, Brookgreen Gardens is the country's first public sculpture garden. It has the largest collection in the world of figurative sculpture by American artists in an outdoor setting.

Go to Brookgreen.org for the full story. Its worth the visit!

After returning from the morning trip to Huntington State Park Jack and I returned to Debordieu, picked up Robin and Janet and headed back to Brookgreen Gardens for lunch and to visit the Rodin Exhibition. We arrived at 11 am and headed directly to the Harvest Restaurant for lunch. We then headed through the gardens to the Rodin exhibition while admiring the work of Anna Hyatt Huntington*

- *Anna did all of her own work and made spectacular bronze and aluminum sculptures. While Rodin's work is amazing it was noted that he hired artisans and his studio workers to build his pieces.

Carolina Wrens and Northern Mockingbirds were all over and quite vocal even at noon. We walked the gardens and Jack took us to look for a red-phased Screech Owl that he had found in one of the Living Oaks on the property. Though we looked the bird remained elusive. 

Robin wanted to relax and browse, so Jack, Janet and I headed off toward the river to look for rails. We managed one King Rail call, but could not coax it into the open. So we headed into the old oaks to look for Yellow-throated Warblers.

Standing under massive 250-yr old Living Oaks covered in Spanish Moss we had no problem hearing several birds calling. After a few minutes looking we finally spotted an individual close enough to photograph.







Nearby a family of Northern Flickers moved through the trees. Alerted to a pair of Red-tailed Hawks calling nearby we walked over and found a Cooper's Hawk posing in the branches overhead. Out on the lawn a pair of Wild Turkey appeared and foraged.


The oaks were the real show. Although beautiful in color they had a much more dramatic look in black and white...






Heading back toward the river we tried again to see a King Rail but dipped. So, we settled for Swamp Sparrows and Song Sparrows that were moving through the marsh on either side of the trail. At one point we had to turn around since the river had overflown the bank and flooded the trail ahead of us. We even saw a bowfin fish swim across the grass trying to get back to the river!



As we returned to the car we made a quick stop to look for the nesting Great Horned Owls. Mom and Pop were not around but one of two hatchlings was poking its head out of the nest.


We also looked for some Brown-headed Nuthatches but they weren't showing either. We instead settled for a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers.


Back to Debordieu for a quick nap, then we drove into Pawley's Island for dinner. But first, a short stop at the salt marsh produced several calling Clapper Rails. 

Our dinner destination was the PIT! Pawleys Island Tavern. We were warned that it wasn't the typical tavern and they were right! The pizza was great, as well!


It was now dark but we made a few stops in Debordieu to listen for Barred Owls. No luck... Time to head back to the house for much-needed sleep.

Brookgreen Botanical Gardens (please do not report captive birds), Georgetown, South Carolina, US
Mar 11, 2023 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Jack and Janet Volker
20 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  2
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)  2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)  3
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)  1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  2
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)  1     Hatchling in nest
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  5
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  1
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)  2
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  3
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  3
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)  2
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)  2
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  1
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)  30
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  5
Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)  2
Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica)  3
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130693301

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)