Birding the Grand Strand

The Grand Strand is a roughly 60 mile stretch of coastline that extends from southern North Carolina to Georgetown, South Carolina. The coastline here, like many places along the east coast, is an especially nice place to do some birding during the spring and fall migration. The best places to see birds, whatever the time of year, are in places that have natural habitat. There are not many such places left along the Grand Strand especially around the built up vacation mecca that Myrtle Beach has become. Two places that have retained some of their naturalness are Myrtle Beach State Park and Huntington Beach State Park. Here is some of what you can expect when you visit these two places.

Myrtle Beach State Park
The park does not have a lot of habitat diversity but there is a nice beach that is backed by natural dunes. There is also a large block of mature maritime forest. You can find some interesting birds in all of these places. There are also plenty of migrants that stop to take a rest in the forest so you can see spot some really cool birds during the spring and fall. As far as access, there are a few trails that wind through portions of the forest and the beach can be relatively uncrowded during dawn and dusk.

Huntington Beach State Park
This is the place to go to see a large variety of birds, and see them all year long. This park holds a lot more diversity because it has many different kinds of habitat: a salt marsh, beach coastline, a jetty, a freshwater pond, a brackish water pond, maritime forest and dunes. Even better is the access to all of these places. There are trails, boardwalks and viewing platforms found in a variety of places and habitats. Access to some of the places can require a bit of a walk to get there, which is great for birding since it discourages many of the more casual visitors from venturing into many areas of the park. So while the park can be crowded, most visitors are interested in the campground, the one part of the beach that is just adjacent to a large parking lot and a historic home that is contained within the park. There are also some viewing areas (the causeway and the education center salt marsh boardwalk) that get a bit more use than a few of the places you have to work a little bit to get too.

Enjoy your birding!