Lawn Chair Birding October

Well, it was a little chilly Monday evening but Coastal Georgia Audubon members met at Gould's Inlet for a little birding. This time we were watching gulls, terns, shorebirds, wading birds. A couple of artists added a little charm to the afternoon.

After the birding some of us went over to hear about Amercian Oystercatchers in Georgia. Brad Winn, Gerogia Department of Nature Resource Coastal Resources Division, and Terry Norton, Director of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center were talking about the research being conducted here on Amercian Oystercatchers. It was fascinating to learn about these birds which are found all year on the Georgia coast.

Here is a drawing I am working on. No surprise it is a study of American Oystercatchers.

Lastly here is a list of the thirty-five species we saw at Gould's Inlet from 5 pm to 6:30 pm

Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Reddish Egret, Tricolored Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Osprey, American Kestrel, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Short-billed Dowitcher, Sanderling, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Ring-billed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Laughing Gull, Caspian Tern. Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Forster's Tern, Black Skimmer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Tree Swallow, Palm Warbler, Song Sparrow, Boat-tailed Grackle,

If you are in the area next Tuesday, we are meeting at 3 pm at the new viewing platform at the Jekyll Island Welcome Center for another Lawn Chair Birding event.

Images from the Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding & Nature Festival

As folks share their pictures with me I will share them with you.

Here are some from Steve Frazier. He was on two field trips Cumberland Island & Little St. Simons Island

Marshes in the morning show why we call this area the Golden Isles

Here is what Steve said about the marsh shot: "The marsh picture was taken in the morning around 8:20 AM from the dock to catch the boat to Little SSI – it is not touched up what so ever – those are the true colors."

About the butterflies:

" The White Peacock was taken just before noon on Cumberland Island, about halfway between the castle ruins and the path to the water."


"The Queen was taken on Little SSI around 2:00 PM in the flowers in front of the boat landing."

and here are a couple of Shorebirds

Thanks Steve for sharing.

Debbie's blog

Look at what someone else had to say about our Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival.

http://wildlifepersonalities.blogspot.com/2008/10/jekyll-island-bird-banding-station.html

Welcome Center veiwing platform

Christa Frangiamore, Conservation Manager for Jekyll Island Authority, sent the latest pictures of the new viewing platform at the Jekyll Island Welcome Center. I can not wait to try it out!

Wlldbine Festival field trip

Woodbine is a community that is reinventing itself. When I heard this I wanted to make a destination for a field trip. We had 15 on that trip including the leader Steve Wagner and the Satilla Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers. Here are a few pictures.

The field trip group at Satilla Riverfront Park






One of the first birds they saw was a Common Ground- Dove

Wow that was a fun festival

Hello everyone, It has been over a week since the Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival. It was a roller coaster ride for me.
All in all everyone had a good time. Here is Ben Lizdas two blog entries about his expenience. Thanks Ben for the great blog.
http://600birds.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-photos-from-jekyll-island-ga.html

http://600birds.blogspot.com/2008/10/king-rail.html

Festival time

Here is the bill board

Well after a solid year of very hard work. It is here our 6th Annual Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding & Nature Festival. Birders, birds and good times.

More as I get a chance to update.

Moving toward the Birding & Nature Festival

Here are a few images as we move toward the first day of the Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival. October 9-13, 2008

Painted Buntings are still around and the viewing platform is going up at the Jekyll Island Welcome Center.

Coastal Georgia Audubon at Coastfest 2008

Once again Chris Daughtry has pull it out of the hat. Thanks to the hard work of several of our Coastal Georgia Audubon Society members with Chris leading them over the year, there were 200 bluebird box kits for the children to make at the Coastfest Coastal Georgia Audubon Society booth. The booth is always a hit. There were lines of children with their parents lined up to make the boxes. A few of our members spent 5 hours straight Saturday helping the children. We talked about where to put the boxes, the benifits of birds and showed several other kinds of nests. The hummingbird nest was a hit.

Several the parents told me they were excited because the houses they build last year were uses by bluebirds. Thanks to all of you who put in the hours of the hard work putting together this wonderful interactive booth.

Butterflies and Warblers

As I count down the days to the festival, I would like to give you some images.
First Gulf Fritillaries and Long-tailed Skippers are abundant this time of year. There is a vacant lot in my neighborhood that goes wild this time of year. Take a look.
On Thursday I was out looking for routes around Jekyll Island. Two friends were along with me, well we hit the right day for there were all our common warblers around and a few that are not so common.
I went to places I don’t always go with groups. I am rethinking that now.
I tried to take some pictures of the warblers but they were all soft focus. I enjoy my little camera. It is light and can fit in my pocket. The one draw back for blogging is that it has a long lapse between me clicking the picture and the camera actually taking the image.
Here are a few images and landscapes on Jekyll. Our common warblers are Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler and the ever present Western Palm Warbler. Thursday we added Hooded Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler and one Blue-winged Warbler. We kept running into flocks of Palm Warblers so at the end of the morning I just had to check out the soccer field. Sure enough there were one hundred Western Palm Warblers all over the field. It was a magic morning. Now back to the festival.