Greenville County
Bird Club

Upstate South Carolina

Greenville County Bird Club

Upstate South Carolina

Literature and Checklists

There is a seemingly endless variety of birding books available. We touch on field guides and some beginning birding texts briefly on our Basics page. There are numerous specialized books in print, but here we will highlight some of the guides that cover birding locations in our area, and sources for relevant checklists.

South Carolina

Finding Birds in South Carolina, by Robin Carter
While this book has been out-of-print for quite a while, and some of its information is dated, it is still a great resource. A great number of locations are detailed, broken down by county. Used copies can be found at online retailers, and better yet, the Carolina Bird Club was given permission to publish a free PDF copy on their website. Descriptions for many of the sites on their SC Birding Locations page are from Carter's book as well.
Birding South Carolina, by Jeff Mollenhauer
This book details 40 of South Carolina's best birding locations, and is broken down by region (coast, coastal plain, piedmont, and mountains). In addition to the site descriptions, there are some very useful appendices, including tips on where to find species of interest, occurrence charts, and a SC birding calendar.

North Carolina

Birding North Carolina, edited by Marshall Brooks and Mark Johns
This book, written in partnership with the Carolina Bird Club, describes some of NC's best birding locations. Each location description is written by a CBC member familiar with the site.
North Carolina Birding Trail Books
There are three books in this series, each devoted to a geographical region of North Carolina (mountains, piedmont, and coast). Locations included are the same as those described on the North Carolina Birding Trail website.
Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains, by Marcus Simpson
This fantastic book, athough now out-of-print and mildly dated, has a lot of details about birding locations in the mountains from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Used copies can be found at online retailers. A revised edition is in development, but publication date is not known.
A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina, by John Fussell
Another out-of-print book, this one offers a lot of detail for the birds and birding locations of the NC coast. Used copies can be found online.

Georgia

Birding Georgia, by Giff Beaton
One more out-of-print book for our list. This well-written guide covers many Georgia birding locations and provides species occurrence details as well. Used copies can be found online.

Checklists and Taxonomy

Upstate SC Bird Checklist, compiled by Denise DuPon
Checklist of birds found in the SC Upstate throughout the year.
Carolina Bird Club Resources
The above linked page at the CBC website includes bird lists for the Carolinas, a comparison of species documented in SC vs. NC, and information about the state bird records committees that manage the official lists. There is also a summary of taxonomic changes since 2000 that are relevant to species in the Carolinas.
American Birding Association Checklist
The page linked above includes a downloadable checklist for the entire ABA Area, which includes North America and now (controversially) Hawaii. There are also checklist committee reports and various other bits of info.