We didn’t just see Brown Pelicans on the Pelican Cruise. A wide variety of other shore birds are using Bird Key this summer, including American Oyster Catchers.

Our guide could see Black Skimmers nesting in the interior of the island with his binoculars.

The bobbing boat prevented any meaningful photographs, but several were resting at the edge of the surf mixed with some Laughing Gulls.

I was disappointed to not get a clearer image of this juvenile Dolphin, but it was such a joy to pass by a Dolphin pod on our way out to Bird Key.

June 14, 2025

Bird Key – Stono, a barrier island that sits in the mouth of South Carolina’s Stono River, between Kiawah and Folly Islands.

All photos taken from a boat.