TRIP IDEAS BY MONTH

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Please watch Club emails for trips. Our Milky Way / stars trip, and many our wildlife trips are taken according to dark skies, weather and bird migration. The fantastic trip you have been waiting for might just popup at any time. We hope you decide to join us on some of the trips.

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FOR THE LOCATIONS BELOW, CHECK WEBSITES FOR

CURRENT SIGHTINGS, HOURS & FEES BEFORE GOING

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Happy shooting!

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WINTER

• Bear Island: Roseate Spoonbills, Bald Eagles, White Pelicans, Tundra Swans in Mary’s Pond

• Savannah Refuge: Owls, Bobcats, Migrant Ducks

 

JANUARY

• Beaufort: Hunting Island Pelican Plunge   

• Titusville, FL Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and other wetlands

• Yemassee Battle of Pocatalico reenactment

 

FEBRUARY

• Donnelley Wildlife Management Area: great birding & wildlife

• Charleston: Magnolia Plantation Rookery Blue Herons, Egrets

• Savannah: Wormsloe Colonial Faire 

• Sun City golf course tours

• Tybee Island Mardi Gras 

 

SPRING

• Beaufort area: Harbor Island shorebirds

• Charleston: Boone Hall Plantation Strawberry Festival, Flower Tours

• Charleston: Magnolia Plantation azaleas

• Harleyville: Beidler Forest: 1.75 mile walking trail on a raised boardwalk through the Cypress and Tupelo swamp includes Deer, Prothonoary Warblers, Barred Owls, Night Heron & song birds.

• Murrell’s Inlet: Brookwood Garden 9,127-acre Botanical garden, sculpture garden and zoo.

• Pine Mountain / LaGrange, GA: Callaway Gardens 6,500-acre flowers

• Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge: Ibis pond for nesting Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Anhingas. Hummingbird & Butterfly Garden.

• Pooler: Monster Truck Extreme Spring Nationals

• Port Royal Cypress Wetlands: variety of nesting birds

• Savannah National Wildlife Refuge: Spring migration for songbirds

• Savannah St Bonaventure Cemetery: Azaleas

• St Augustine, FL Alligator Farm: nesting birds

• Tybee Island, GA migratory birds, Warblers

 

MARCH

• Beaufort area: Harbor Island migrating shore birds.  Red Knots migrate from South America to North Pole Tundra.

• Charleston: Famous Alleys, Magnolia Plantation Swamp nesting Egrets & Herons, wading birds, Woodpeckers

• Cumberland Island / St. Mary’s, GA:  wild horses 

• Hardeeville POW Wow

• Harleyville: Beidler Forest Prothonotary Warblers, Owls

• Savannah St Patrick’s Day Parade

• Tybee Island: Mardi Gras, St Patrick’s Day Parade, Sally Pearce Nature Trails Woodpeckers

 

APRIL

• Bluffton Paint Out 

• Charleston: Magnolia Gardens Azaleas

• Clinton: Musgrove Mill Revolutionary War reenactment

• Effingham Museum Festival

• Hilton Head Heritage Golf

• Macon to Athens Antebellum 100 Mile Long Trail  

• Orangeburg: Edisto Gardens 4000 Rose plants, butterflies, swamp boardwalk, late April

• Savannah: Azaleas, St Bonaventure cemetery, Asian Festival, SCAD Chalk the Walk, Scottish games, Flower Tours

• Yemasee Mud Run

 

MAY

• Bluffton May Fest

• Clemson Rodeo  

• Moncks Corner: Cypress Gardens & Mepkin Abby

• Harleyville: Beidler Audubon Forest & Swamp: Prothonotary Warblers

• Hilton Head Shelter Cove: Cinco de Mayo

• Orangeburg: Edisto Gardens

• Savannah: SCAD Sand Sculpture Festival

• Shelter Cove Cinco de Mayo

• St Augustine Alligator Farm: Hundreds of nesting Herons, Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills & Wood Storks. White Alligators. Alligator feeding. Variety of captive animals. 

• Tybee Island: Beach Bum Parade & SCAD Sand Sculpture Festival

• Walterboro rodeo 

 

SUMMER

• Ace Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve. Around July 4, the water is lowered which encourages bird activity: Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks

• Bluffton Shag and Drag

• Clinton: Musgrove Mill State Historic Site, Stoney Creek Church, Old Sheldon

• Donnelly WMA Painted Buntings, Indigo Buntings & various song birds, butterflies, sunflower fields

• Folly Field Beach: sunrise/sunset

• Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Townsend GA: Painted Bunting

• Myrtle Island: sunrise/sunset

• Pinckney Island: sunrise/sunset

• Savannah National Wildlife Refuge: Purple Gallinules

• Tybee: Sally Pearce Nature Trails - Painted Buntings

• Yemassee: Frampton Plantation, built in the 1700s, Church ruins, Revolutionary Trail

 

JUNE

• Donnelley WMA: sunflowers & Painted Buntings

• Edisto Island: Botany Bay Plantation sunflowers & Painted Buntings

• Greenwood: Flower Festival with topiary sculptures

• Jacksonville Beach, FL: nesting Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls, & Brown Pelicans by the thousands.

• Moncks Corner: Cypress Gardens Flowers, song birds, Hummingbirds

 

AUGUST, SEPTEMBER

Start looking for places for night photography of the Milky Way and the stars. It requires a dark and clear night sky. Watch ANNOUNCEMENTS for field trips information. 

 

FALL

• Beaufort area: Harbor Island shore birds, Piping Plover, Black Skimmers, Sandpipers & Red Knots. 

• Bear Island: migrating birds, Glossy Ibis, White Pelican, Bald Eagles, Kingfishers, Roseate Spoonbill in late November

• Charleston: Magnolia Planation Camelias

• Donnelley WMA: migrating birds, Glossy Ibis, White Pelicans, Bald Eagles, Kingfisher, Roseate Spoonbills in late November

• Greenville: Water Falls

• Pine Mountain / LaGrange, GA: Callaway Gardens Hot Air Balloon Festival Labor Day Weekend

• Savannah National Wildlife Refuge: Bobcats,  Black Skimmer. Migratory Ducks start showing up late fall.

• Tybee Island, GA migratory birds & Warblers

 

SEPTEMBER

• Charleston: Boone Hall Plantation Scottish Games

• Moncks Corner: Cypress Gardens Hummingbirds, flowers. Mepkin Abby boat tours

• Pine Mountain / LaGrange, GA: Callaway Gardens Blue Motho Butterfly month. Hot Air Balloon Festival Labor Day Weekend

• St Mary’s, GA: Cumberland Island Accessible only by passenger ferry

• Statesboro: Botanical Garden, Twin City State Park, grape stomping, cabin/hotel

• Summerville: Sweet Tea Festival

 

OCTOBER

• Bluffton: Arts & Seafood Festival

• Charleston: Boone Hall Plantation

• Cheraw: Park & Zoo    

• Hilton Head Island History Day

• National Wildlife Refuge Week

• Newberry: Opera House, Carter-Holmes Orchids, winery, college 

• NC/ TN: Smoky Mountains National Park for 3-day trip

• Tybee Island: Pirate Festival

  

NOVEMBER

• Bluffton Veterans Day parade

• Boone Hall Plantation: Scottish Games

• Hilton Head Island: Marsh Tacky Races 

• Pine Mountain / LaGrange, GA: Callaway Gardens Steeplechase

• SC Country Back Roads

 

DECEMBER

• Bluffton: Christmas Parade

• Charleston: Boone Hall Plantation Christmas

• Edisto Island Christmas Parade

• Hilton Head Christmas Lights: Dove Street, Salty Dog, Shelter Cove

• Pine Mountain / LaGrange, GA: Callaway Gardens Festival of Lights

• St. Mary’s, GA: many historic homes decorated in Christmas splendor

• Tybee Christmas Parade

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      July 2019

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