Thursday, March 29, 2007

GreatCrested Flycatcher

I am preparing to go down to South Florida for the Big “O” Birding Festival in Moore Haven, Florida. Moore Haven is on the banks of Lake Okeechobee. It is very exciting to be asked to give one of the talks during the weekend as well as being able to exhibit my etchings and monotypes of birds. For this reason there was no Ramble on Jekyll today.
But on my early morning walk I was surprised by a Great Crested Flycatcher singing. It seems a couple days early. I checked the Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds and found it was right on time. The Great-crested Flycatcher is one of our summer resident birds. Walking along there is the light scent of Wisteria in the air and the Northern Parulas are singing all through the neighbor. Soon The Great Crested will join in the celebration of spring as well.
Good Birding

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Wilson's Plovers get a little help

March 24, 2007 Jekyll Island Putting up Wilson’s Plover nesting signs

For as many years I have been on Jekyll the Little feisty Wilson’s Plovers has nested on the southend of Jekyll. They use the sandy dune area to scrap out a depression in the sand and lay eggs. The chicks hatch and start feeding themselves almost immediately. The parents watch over their own chick with a parent’s pride. The real problem is that the flightless chicks have to run from there hiding places in the dunes to the waters edge to feed. The natural predators, crows, ghost crabs, and gulls, are constantly on the hunt for these defenseless chicks. Now add to that people who are clueless to the existents of these birds. These people think nothing is wrong with bringing there dogs and letting the run. Sometime without meaning to they will accidentally cut the chick off from the parents. To help prevent some of these accidents Coastal Georgia Audubon Society has brought signs. These signs read: “Wilson’s Plover Nesting Area, Stay back”
Today Gene Keferl, Pricilla Fleshman, Christa Frangiamore the new JIA Conservation Manager, and I set out 8 of these signs. We saw 8 Wilson’s Plovers scooting around near the signs. This is a good start to the nesting season. We could use a few more signs. If you are reading this and would like to help, let’s me know. Coastal Georgia Audubon Society will gladly accept donations.
After we put up the signs Gene and I went to see the Red-headed Woodpeckers who have been hanging out at Jim and Nancy Reed’s house. We enjoyed the visit with the Reeds and the Red-headed Woodpeckers. Nancy told us she had heard Whip-poor-will singing around the Presbyterian Church Tuesday evening. It would be fun to hear both the Whip-poor-will and the Chucks-will-widows singing at the same time. It has happened down here. Keep your ear open. Good Birding
Lydia

March 22, 2007

March 22, 2007 Jekyll Island
Willets, Willets and more Willets and a Greater Yellowlegs were the stars of the early morning part of this Thursday Morning Bird Ramble. It was low tide & rising so I choose the causeway and Welcome Center. There were a good many shorebirds mostly Dunlins, Western Sandpipers and dowitcher the Short-billed kind. These were all spread out across the marsh mud. A few Marsh Wrens were singing to brighten the overcast view. One lone Greater Yellow-leg showed up to stroll and bob along the water edge we all appreciated it.
Moving on to our beach location we watch the Loggerhead Shrike who is always hanging out just south of the Convention Center. We just crossed over to the beach and there were a good gathering of birds with at least 50 Willets all being constantly moved around by the beach walkers. I spotted two medium size terns. The size of these birds was between the Royals and Forster’s tern. I would put my scope on them & some group or child would run through them. Fortunately it was easy to relocate them for their breast had a strong blush of pink. Eventually we all got to see the thin black bill with the mustard yellow at the tip that confirmed these were two Sandwich Terns.
In the last section we did some woods birding. The Bird Sanctuary was over run with Common Grackles but still we got great looks at Northern Parula in bird drip. Also the White-throated Sparrows were singing and feeding. We finish the morning at the Amphitheater with the night-herons. The Great Egrets and Anhingas are nesting. The Wood Storks are sitting possessively on the tree they have nested in for the last six years. Will they nest this year? Stay turned.
In the meantime here is the list for the morning.

Jekyll Island
AUDUBON IMPORTANT BIRDING AREA

Thursday March 22, 2007 Species 69+3
High Tide 11:30 a m Height 7.1 Low Tide 05:33 a m Temp 63.0 F-71.1 F Humidity 97%-75%
Barometric Pressure 30.35” & Steady. Wind ENE to NE at 9.2. mph to 12.7 mph Overcast becoming Clear

COMMON SEEN BIRDS- Double-crested Cormorant Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove,
Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal

DOWNING MUSGROVE CAUSEWAY
7 Brown Pelican
3 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Tricolored Heron
5 Little Blue Heron
4 Snowy Egret
1 Great Blue Heron
2 Great Egret
8 Wood Stork
1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 American Kestrel
2 Clapper Rail
1 Greater Yellowlegs
10 Willet
30 Dunlin
2 Forster’s Tern
2 Belted Kingfisher
2 Fish Crow
1 White-eyed Vireo
European Starling Not counted
3 Marsh Wren
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle Not Counted
WELCOME CENTER
1 Marbled Godwit Fly by
1 Whimbrel
30 Short-billed Dowitcher
50 Western Sandpiper
500 Tree Swallow
1 Purple Martin
M E THOMPSON BRIDGE (JEKYLL RIVER)
1 Bald Eagle
JEKYLL ISLAND SHOPPING CENTER includes beach
8 Brown Pelican
50 Willet
JEKYLL ISLAND SHOPPING CENTER includes beach
20 Sanderling
10 Dunlin
2 Killdeer
10 Ring-billed Gull
2 Herring Gull
20 Laughing Gull
15 Royal Tern
2 Sandwich Tern
40 Forster’s Tern
6 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 Fish Crow
1 Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
TIDELANDS NATURE CENTER AREA
5 Brown Pelican
1 Snowy Egret
2 Osprey
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
2 Gray Catbird
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Northern Parula
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
3 Brown-headed Cowbird
NORTH END AREA
JEKYLL ISLAND CAMPGROUND SANCTUARY
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
5 Blue Jay
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
6 White-throated Sparrow Singing
10 Common Grackle
AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA
2 Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
6 Anhinga Sitting on nests.
1 Snowy Egret Nesting
4 Great Egret
AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA cont
8 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
12 Black-crowned Night-Heron
10 Wood Stork
5 Black Vulture
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
2 Brown-headed Nuthatch
2 Carolina Wren
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet Singing
2 Carolina Chickadee
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Pine Warbler
1 Red-winged Blackbird

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The weather here is great

One thing about March along our Georgia coast is no matter the weather you have to be outside. It is beautiful. That is my excuse for not putting this blog out sooner.

Coming up to Thursday March 15 Bird Ramble I wondered if I was going to be rained out. I had ten people lined up to go along with me. The clouds and rain didn’t happen. The day turned out to be perfect. We started out exploring the marshes along the causeway. This was Wes’s last time to go out this season and I wanted to give him one more chance for those elusive marsh sparrows. The tide was not quite right but it was early enough in the day to try. We look over the marsh but really we were a little too late so we moved on to the south end for shorebirds. Along the way I spotted the pair of Bald Eagles that have taken up resident near the Jekyll River Bridge. Our little group watched as the eagles sat side by side overseeing their territory. We wished this young pair the best and left them to rule over the river and road.

At the southend we were very excited to see that our summer resident Wilson’s Plovers were back. For a couple of months I had worried about these birds. They are normally here by January 25. Now they are back calling, singing and scooting around. We got to watch them for quite a while. Further down the beach there were three Piping Plovers. It was a plover day with the addition of Black-bellied Plover. We round out the beach walk at Jekyll Point where we were treated to a small gathering of Dunlins and Sanderling feeding in the surf and right along with them were three Red Knots.

Here is the list of birds seen and where they were seen on Jekyll.
71 species seen from 8 am to 1 pm
JI SHOPPING CENTER
5 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
3 Boat-tailed Grackle

CAUSEWAY
1 Pied-billed Grebe
3 Brown Pelican
5 Great Egret
10 White Ibis
6 Wood Stork
2 Bald Eagle
3 Red-tailed Hawk
4 American Kestrel
3 Belted Kingfisher
10 European Starling
3 Marsh Wren
100 Tree Swallow
50 Red-winged Blackbird
50 Boat-tailed Grackle

4-H EAST
2 Blue Jay
4 Fish Crow
2 White-eyed Vireo
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Hermit Thrush
2 Gray Catbird
2 Carolina Wren
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
150 Tree Swallow
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Northern Parula
2 White-throated Sparrow
2 Eastern Towhee
5 Boat-tailed Grackle

4-H WEST
50 Laughing Gull
5 Royal Tern
30 Forster’s Tern
8 Black Skimmer
Flying from here to SW Beach
20 Willet
25 Sanderling
10 Least Sandpiper

4-H WEST
4 Black-bellied Plover
4 Wilson’s Plover
3 Piping Plover
5 Herring Gull
SOUTH WEST BEACH AREA
1 Northern Gannet
20 Brown Pelican
1 Red-breasted Merganser
15 Dunlin
10 Ring-billed Gull
TIDELANDS NATURE CENTER AREA
2 Great Egret
2 White Ibis
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
2 Carolina Chickadee
5 House Finch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
5 Chipping Sparrow
1 Common Grackle
2 Brown-headed Cowbird

JEKYLL ISLAND CAMPGROUND SANCTUARY
5 Blue Jay
2 White-eyed Vireo
1 Gray Catbird
1 Carolina Wren
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
10 Carolina Chickadee
1 Northern Parula
Pine Warbler Heard
1 Prairie Warbler Seen by Anna Collins
15 White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
2 Common Grackle


AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA
1 Pied-billed Grebe
5 Anhinga
2 Little Blue Heron
1 Snowy Egret
2 Great Egret
10 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
8 Black-crowned Night-Heron
1 Roseate Spoonbill
1 Black Vulture
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 White-eyed Vireo
30 Cedar Waxwing
1 Carolina Wren
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Pine Warbler Heard

Monday, March 12, 2007

March 8, 2007 Morning Bird Ramble

Thursday March 8, 2007, we had beautiful weather and great birds. Here are just a few highlights of our morning.
Birding Jekyll is birding by tides. High tide was around 11 a.m. so we explored some salt marsh areas. Right off the bat at my first stop there was a Seaside Sparrow ricocheting off the spartina grass to disappear into these golden mass. It was a good sign for how the morning would go. I picked up my fellow ramblers Wes and Priscilla. We headed for the Jekyll Island Welcome Center which is about a mile west of the island on a small hammock (marsh uplands area). We were there just at the right time. The tide is incoming and pushing the shorebirds closer so we surveyed the wide expanse of mud, cord grass and river to the north and west of the center. American Avocets and Marble Godwits were the standouts in the crowds of Western Sandpiper, Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willets and Black-bellied Plovers.
These rambles have to be flexible. We just let the birds tell us where to stop. Our small group piled back in the van. We don’t get very far for we see that the little pond hidden behind wax myrtles just south of the causeway was chook full of birds. It was too good to pass up. The idea at this stop was to creep in and slowly allow the wading birds to see and get used to you. There were Wood Storks, Snowy Egrets, eleven Tri-colored Herons, twenty-five White Ibis and one lone immature Roseate Spoonbill hanging out in an old dead tree. Yes the Roseate Spoon and Wood Storks were stunning but there was one little bird here that became the highlight of the day. Across the pond, there was a Louisiana Waterthrush walking and bobbing right out in the open. This was a life bird for Wes and Priscilla so we were thrilled with the super looks at this rather large chunky warbler. It was easy to see the super white supercillium that flair behinds the eye as well of white throat and a little buff on the flanks. The pace of the morning was fast and fun. We couldn’t believe it when we were finished we had around seventy species that every one saw or heard. Here is the morning’s list:

Common Birds of the island
Double-crested Cormorant
Northern Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Carolina Wren
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Brown Thrasher Seemed to be everywhere today

DOWNING MUSGROVE CAUSEWAY
2 Pied-billed Grebe
2 Brown Pelican
11 Tricolored Heron
20 Snowy Egret
1 Great Blue Heron
2 Great Egret
25 White Ibis
1 Roseate Spoonbill
20 Wood Stork
1 Bald Eagle
3 Red-tailed Hawk
4 American Kestrel
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
20 American Robin
1 Gray Catbird
2 Marsh Wren
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Louisiana Waterthrush Day’s Highlight.
1 Seaside Sparrow
50 Red-winged Blackbird
WELCOME CENTER
1 Tricolored Heron
2 Little Blue Heron
2 Snowy Egret
35 White Ibis
1 Northern Harrier
4 Clapper Rail
3 Marbled Godwit
1 Greater Yellowlegs
30 Willet
1 Ruddy Turnstone
40 Short-billed Dowitcher

WELCOME CENTER continued
150 Western Sandpiper Estimated count.
100 Dunlin
12 American Avocet
10 Black-bellied Plover
2 Killdeer
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Male
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 House Wren
200 Tree Swallow
JEKYLL ISLAND SHOPPING CENTER INCL. BEACH AREA
5 Brown Pelican
5 Black Vulture
50 Willet
30 Least Sandpiper
50 Dunlin
50 Ring-billed Gull
10 Laughing Gull
25 Royal Tern
35 Forster’s Gull
2 Black Skimmer
8 Eurasian Collared Dove
1 Pileated Woodpecker
2 Fish Crow
2 Loggerhead Shrike
10 European Starling
3 House Finch
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Savannah Sparrow
6 Boat-tailed Grackle
2 Brown-headed Cowbird
TIDELANDS NATURE CENTER AREA
1 Hooded Merganser
20 Snowy Egret
3 Great Egret
2 Osprey
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
4-H WEST
1 Eastern Phoebe
QUALITY INN
2 Eastern Bluebird
HAYES STREET
3 Red-headed Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
5 Blue Jay
GLYNN AND PERKINS
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Gray Catbird
JEKYLL ISLAND CAMPGROUND SANCTUARY
5 Blue Jay
2 White-eyed Vireo
5 American Robin
10 Carolina Chickadee
3 American Goldfinch
1 Northern Parula
Yellow-throated Warbler
10 White-throated Sparrow
2 Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
2 Boat-tailed Grackle
5 Common Grackle
AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA
2 Pied-billed Grebe
4 Anhinga
1 Great Egret
8 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
12 Black-crowned Night-Heron
2 Black Vulture
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
30 Cedar Waxwing
2 Hermit Thrush
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Carolina Chickadee
Yellow-throated Warbler
3 Pine Warbler
HISTORIC DISTRICT
5 American Robin

First bona fide blog

Hello there,
This is my first bona fide time to record my bird rambles along the Georgia Coast. What is a ramble? I choose an area and I spend a morning exploring it. Birds are my focus. These rambles are meant to be a time of learning as well as a coastal adventure. Jekyll Island is my favorite place so I spend most of the time exploring Jekyll.
For those of you who don’t know about Jekyll Island, it is called Georgia’s gem. Jekyll is a barrier island just north of Cumberland Island and just south of St. Simons Island. It is about fifty miles north from Jacksonville, FL and sixty miles from Savannah. It is one of the true barrier islands on the Georgia coast. There is causeway so you can drive out and enjoy the island. The whole island is owned by the state. It is run by Jekyll Island Authority. This is a board appointed by the governor of Georgia. Sixty-five per cent of it is to remain underdeveloped by state law. Thirty-five percent is tastefully developed with motels, few restaurants, four golf courses and a convention center. There is a small residential community. These are all leased by the state. Jekyll Island can be a base to explore other coastal areas or just spend some time exploring it by bike, by foot, by electric cars called Red Bugs and of course by your own vehicle. It is the best of two worlds. So take some time and come along as I bird ramble on Jekyll and other wonderful places here on the coast.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Dunlin on the South end of Jekyll Island

Today I met Christa Frangiamore. She is the new Conservation Manager for Jekyll Island. She and I took a little tour of Jekyll Island looking at a few birds along the way.
One of my favorite places on the island is the very south end. The walk to this area is always interesting as you work your way from uplands through the scrub to the sandy beach. Today there was a nice flock of Dunlins and Western Sandpipers. There were Ruddy Turnstones and Least Sandpipers as well. Some of the Royal Terns are already in breeding plumage. It is always a unique experience to be out here with the birds and dolphins.