About the Club

Mission Statement

The Carolina Bird Club is a non-profit organization that represents and supports the birding community in the Carolinas through its website, publications, meetings, workshops, trips, and partnerships, whose mission is


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The Carolina Bird Club, Inc., is a non-profit educational and scientific association open to anyone interested in the study and conservation of wildlife, particularly birds.

The Club meets each winter, spring, and fall at different locations in the Carolinas. Meeting sites are selected to give participants an opportunity to see many different kinds of birds. Guided field trips and informative programs are combined for an exciting weekend of meeting with people who share an enthusiasm and concern for birds.

The Club offers research grants in avian biology for undergraduate and graduate students, and scholarships for young birders.

The Club publishes two print publications (now also available online). The Chat is a quarterly ornithological journal that contains scientific articles, reports of bird records committees and bird counts, and general field notes on bird sightings. CBC Newsletter is published bimonthly and includes birding articles and information about meetings, field trips, and Club news.

The Club provides this website to all for free.

By becoming a member, you support the activities of the Club, receive reduced registration fee for meetings, can participate in bonus field trips, and receive our publications.

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Field trip info

CBC Spring Birding Weekend in the South Carolina Lowcountry

April 25 through April 28, 2024

by Richard Hayes

The Spring Seasonal meeting of the Carolina Bird Club will be held in the South Carolina Lowcountry, headquartered in Charleston. This affords quick and easy access to some of the best birding spots in the Lowcountry and is a short drive to historic downtown Charleston. A city rich in history and nationally acclaimed for its beautiful landscapes and well-preserved architecture, we will gather for our meeting the weekend of April 25–28.

Check-in begins the afternoon of the 25th and field trips will continue Friday through Sunday. Charleston's proximity to some of South Carolina's finest and most treasured natural coastal resources allows us to offer trips to habitats ranging from wild, scenic beaches to longleaf pine savannas. We expect excellent birding, and our field trips are being designed to offer participants the opportunity to enjoy the best this region has to offer. We will offer birding trips south to the Bear Island and Donnelly WMA and ACE Basin, north to the Santee Delta, and inland to the Orangeburg Sod Farm.

Destinations include the Sea Islands (Kiawah and Seabrook), Charleston Harbor (Pitt St., Patriot's Point, Ft. Moultrie), Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Dewees Island, Folly Beach area hotspots (including little known Fort Lamar), Francis Beidler Forest and Grassland (new) and Santee WMA, Black River Cypress Preserve, and Caw Caw Interpretive Center. Wading birds will be abundant, with Roseate Spoonbills are now occurring year-round in South Carolina. There will be several opportunities to see the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker!

We will also offer boat rides to Bull Island (extra cost) and a rarity chase on Sunday. In addition to our exciting slate of field trips led by knowledgeable local birders, participants have an opportunity to enjoy excellent evening presentations on bird-related topics. We are even planning trips in the Charleston area for your spouses from shopping on King Street, horse carriage rides, and plantation tours! So, make your plans and register soon!

Our meeting headquarters is the Homewood Suites by Hilton Charleston Airport, 5048 International Blvd, North Charleston. It is conveniently located near I-26 and I-526, providing quick access to birding hotspots in all directions, and only 15 minutes away from downtown Charleston. Special room rates are being offered to CBC members for $139/night (not including taxes). To reserve a room, contact the Homewood Suites directly at 1-843-735-5000, and be sure to identify yourself as a Carolina Bird Club participant. Any requests for special room arrangements may be made at the time of your reservation. You can also make your reservation online at https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/carolinabirdclub2024homewoodsuites/.

The reservation cut-off date for these rates is March 27, 2024, so please don't delay. Check-in time is 3:00 p.m., Check-out time is 11:00 a.m. There is not a restaurant, but many good restaurants can be found within a mile! Registrants arriving on Thursday evening, April 25th, may pick up their registration packets that evening. The hotel will be the location for our evening programs and other social events related to our meeting.

Join us on Friday evening to experience the amazing banding exploits of our own Susan Campbell. Susan Campbell is a wildlife ecologist who has worked across North Carolina for over twenty years. Most of her experience is with birds although she specializes in species interactions, habitat and conservation. Susan is a writer and educator as well as a researcher. She is a research affiliate with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and is the North Carolina repository for hummingbird records and information. For over twenty years, she has been studying not only Ruby-throated Hummingbirds year-round here but also wintering hummingbirds in the colder months. Furthermore, Susan's research will be one of the foci of the fledgling Cape Fear Bird Observatory that she helped found during 2021.

Saturday evening at our banquet, we will hear about the exploits of one of South Carolina's best-known naturalists, Aaron Given! Aaron has been a Wildlife Biologist for the Town of Kiawah Island since 2008. He grew up in Oswego, IL (a far suburb of Chicago) and graduated with a B.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University in 2000. Aaron went on to attend Southeast Missouri State University where he received a M.S. in Wildlife Biology in 2005. In graduate school, he studied the wintering ecology of yellow rails in coastal Texas. This is where he got his first exposure to bird banding and was fascinated with being able to study and observe the birds in such fine detail.

His primary research interest is in ornithology, with a special focus on avian ecology and management, passerine migration ecology, and secretive marsh bird ecology. Aaron is a member of the South Carolina Bird Records Committee and is also a statewide eBird reviewer, but focuses on Charleston and Berkeley Counties of South Carolina. Aaron is also serving as 2nd Vice President of the Eastern Bird Banding Association. When not working, he enjoys birding, creating wildlife habitats in his yard, and managing a small flock of chickens in his backyard.

A more in-depth program agenda will be provided to registrants at check-in. We hope you will join us for an exciting weekend of birding and presentations!