Laughing gulls are just one bird species you'll spot at Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina/Kirby Adams

It’s no secret that birders are always birding, no matter where they find themselves. That’s why an excursion to Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina can be as much of a birding experience as a Civil War history experience.

Charleston Harbor is teeming with life. Dolphin watching begins from the back deck of the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center in Charleston before the ferry even boards. Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans are the most conspicuous birds on that part of the coast. Anytime a boat churns up water, a seat at the stern will give great views of gulls and pelicans swooping in to pick fish, crustaceans, and jellyfish out of the wake. The short trip to Fort Sumter passes some islands and shoreline that can be teeming with shorebirds, depending on the time of year. Of course, the captain and the guides are there to impart Civil War history, so you can’t expect them to slow down for a better look at a rare Purple Sandpiper.

The island holding the fort is ideally positioned for good bird life at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, removed from the mainland just enough to be free of walking predators. The rocks around the fortress walls where they meet the sea are a good place to see shorebirds with more of an affinity for rocks than sand. Ruddy Turnstones are a good bet any time of year, but are most abundant during migration in March, April, and October. Even in non-breeding plumage, they’re identifiable by the black smudge on their breast and their constant stone-flipping behavior.

Better shorebird viewing can be had on the sand bar to the south and west of the fort. Battery Huger, the massive black gun battery that was installed for the Spanish-American War and now dominates the fort, provides good elevated viewing of the sandbar, now that it’s no longer of much use providing defense. The Laughing Gulls will the share the sandbar with other gulls, Royal Terns, and an assortment of shorebirds. Willets are a good bet here, a tall, subtly-colored shorebird with gray plumage and bluish-gray legs.

In late spring and summer, look for terns that are much smaller than the Royal Terns, and even smaller than the diminutive Forster’s Terns. Those sharp-winged and yellow-billed aerial acrobats are the Least Terns, our smallest and one of less common terns. Least Tern populations are struggling, with their tendency to lay eggs on gravel-coated urban rooftops causing an unfortunate collision with human development.

Two unrelated birds that have a superficially similar look are the American Oystercatcher and Black Skimmer. The skimmer is a relative of the terns, gulls, and shorebirds but has a large red and black bill with an elongated lower mandible it uses to skim the water for invertebrates. Small flocks can be seen skimming the harbor or relaxing on the beach. The oystercatcher is a true shorebird, but with a black hood and dagger-like red bill. They’re often found in the company of other birds at Fort Sumter, checking out the rocks on the interior of the sandbar.

Fort Moultrie, part of the same national monument, anchors the opposite side of Charleston Harbor on the tip of Sullivan’s Island. Moultrie and its nearby beach can offer great shorebirding in the early morning before crowds hit the beach. This area may be even better in the winter when wintering shorebirds are joined by plenty of gulls, including the occasional rarity like a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

The triangle of the Education Center, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie makes Fort Sumter National Monument a wonderful birding destination right in one of the continent’s busiest harbors. It should go without saying that the history lessons are equally enthralling. In the context of birds, it’s fun to guess what the ancestors of today’s American Oystercatchers saw as they likely fled Fort Sumter on the morning of April 12, 1861. What were the pelicans up to on June 28, 1776, when battered British ships withdrew from the range of Fort Moultrie? Likely just what they’re doing today – catching fish, building nests, and taking life day-by-day in Charleston Harbor.