The eighth year for the Seabrook Island Birders was a busy year. The organization grew to 336 members.
Evening programs
There were 5 “quarterly” evening events with an average of 51 attendees with video available for those unable to attend in person.
• January 22: A World on a Wing – Scott Wiedensaul
• March 23: Red Knots in the Southeast: Acting Locally, Thinking Globally – Fletcher Smith
• July 11: To the Lowcountry and Beyond: Tracking Painted Buntings using Technology – Aaron Given
• September 12: Song and the Secret Lives of Sparrows – Melissa Hughes
• November 10: How to Catch a Kiwi – Kristina Ramstad
Activities
Some of the 76 activities were in cooperation with the Global Birding Community.
- Christmas Bird Count – 2567 birds in 107 bird species identified in one 24 hour period
- Great Backyard Bird Count – 73 species seen
- 66 species seen on Global Big day
- Resighting Red Knots for DNR
- Shared Bluebird stats with SC Bluebird society
- October Big Day – 76 species seen
The birding activities fell into four categories:
• 7 Backyard
• 12 Golf Course
• 30 Seabrook Island and Johns Island
• 19 Beyond Seabrook Island
These activities resulted 144 Checklists submitted including the global activities mentioned above.
10 movies were shared either in person or via Zoom.
Some other SIB Activity Fun Facts:
• 76 completed activities
• February 20 Learning Together on Golf Course was most attended activity with 34 participants
• 262 unique members attended activities, 43 guests
• 81 species seen at Bear Island in February was biggest day
• 193 species seen in all activities
Bluebird Box Monitoring
A group of volunteers monitored Eastern Bluebird Boxes on the golf courses and Lake House properties. Some of their stats:
• 71 boxes monitored
• 69 Bluebird nest attempts
• 17 Carolina Chickadee attempts
• 82% Hatch Success
• 95% Fledge Success
Shorebird Stewards
The Shorebird Stewards provided a valuable service to our community.
• Sea Island Shorebird Festival held in conjunction with Kiawah
• 28 Stewards volunteered 262 hours
• Interactions with 920 individuals, 91% adult
• 64% of interactions were with visitors so much education was accomplished
Communications
Our membership and the community at large were kept informed via various communications.
• SIB has their own web page: SeabrookIslandBirders.org
• 264 Blogs were published to 439 email followers and 188 WordPress followers for a total of 627
• 477 additional Facebook posts with 714 Followers
• 476 Instagram Followers
• 42 Nextdoor posts since August
• Emails/Newsletters to Members
SIB Big Year
This year members shared their bird sightings with SIBBig even if the siting was not part of a SIB activity. It was a fun way to see how many species our members saw around the world. Members saw an amazing 1,027 species!
2023 Executive Committee
A thank-you goes to the out-going Executive Committee.
• Joleen Ardaiolo*
• Tim Barnard
• Walter Brooks – President
• Nancy Brown – Treasurer
• Nancy Chomel
• Alan Fink
• Ed Konrad – Vice President*
• Bob Mercer
• Judy Morr
• Gina Sanders
• Mary Wilde
• Nini Wolitarsky – Secretary*
* Retiring members
2024 Executive Committee
The Executive Committee for the upcoming year is:
• Mark Andrews
• Tim Barnard
• Walter Brooks – President
• Nancy Brown – Treasurer
• Nancy Chomel
• Alan Fink
• Deanna Forsythe – Secretary
• Bob Mercer – Vice President
• Judy Morr
• Gina Sanders
• Mary Wilde
We have some great events planned for 2024! We hope you will continue to support SIB by joining and participating in our events during 2024!