Little St. Simons Island

On February 19 a group of Bird Ramblers were going on an adventure. We were exploring another Georgia barrier island, Little St. Simons Island. This small island is north and a little east of St. Simons Island. Little St. Simons Island is a private island with an extraordinary small lodge.

The only way over there is by a ferry. There is a limit to the number of guests permitted on the island at a time so we made our reservations for a birding day trip. What an opportunity! This island is know for the abundant of birdlife Let me quote from the website “Little St. Simons Island and the surrounding Altamaha River delta are recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the American Bird Conservancy and are also recognized as a reserve site by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). "
The last part is what our little group is looking forward too. We all wanted to see shorebirds.
Here is the way we got around the island. See Ben on the left, he was our guide.

All the staff is great. Thanks Ben for a great day!

After weeks of rain and cold we finally had good weather. In the morning we visited the south end and looked at a Great Horned Owl nest. There sitting snug in that nest was a big fuzzy owlet. On our walk back to the truck there were a few little birds flitting ahead of us. To our surprise two of them were Brown-headed Nuthatches! Everyone got great looks at these piney woods birds.

After a wonderful lunch we were off to the beach for shorebirds galore, Marbled Godwits, Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets, Piping Plovers, and Red Knots just to name a few. What a day!