No time for Shorebirds?

I believe that we should give back to the places that sustain us. Therefore, when the call went out for volunteers to help remove invasive species at the southend of Jekyll, I was there. Jekyll Island Authority's (JIA) Landscape Manager, Cliff Gawron, and Conservation Manager Christa Frangiamore were going to remove the Tamarisk. This plant gets a free ride from Europe in the ballast water of boats. What I liked about this kind of work is that we get to know some of the good people who work for the JIA.

Here some photos of us working together.

We were dragging the bushes out to the beach for pick up to be mulched. To insure that the tamarisk does not come back from the roots a root killer was painted on the remaining stems. At one point, I look down the beach and there were shorebirds galore. The American Oystercatchers were teasing me. However, this work will benefit all birds so I turned back to work.

When I got back home, I had a call from, fellow birder, Gene Keferl. There was a Red-necked Grebe in the Andrew Causeway area. So as the sunset John, Marge and I watched this rare visitor to our coast. The Red-necked Grebe, along with a wide variety of shorebirds, ducks and grebe, was a great way to end the day.

To all of you who spend hours working for the birds and nature wherever you are thank you and I wish you all a Happy New Year!