Thursday in the field

Thursday is my day to Ramble on Jekyll. For those who do not know I conduct a birding tour of Jekyll Island on Thursdays. It is a morning of birding and fun which starts at 8 AM and goes until….well really it should end at 11 AM but I keep birding until my stomach growls. I like to limit this tour to six people so we can have conversations about the birds we saw as we travel between places. From January through April I am overbooked. Starting this week there is room on this morning bird outing.

The goal of my Rambles is to see birds in their habitats, to see the variety of coastal Georgia habitats and most of all to have fun. I want you to forget the stresses of your life, leave them behind, and experience the wonders around you.

This last Thursday I had the pleasure of birding with Nancy Crosby. She is writing a feature article on the Georgia’s Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival for Georgia Outdoors Magazine. Nancy is enthusiastic about birding. Here I am at the end of April the height of migration and I have the pleasure of a morning with a passionate birder. Perfect, the birds did not let us down. To top it off, we had one of those National Geographic moments. We were sorting through the gang of birds at the south end of Jekyll. It was the normal cast of gulls, terns, skimmers and shorebirds. They had been just resting, all doing what they do, preening, snoozing, courting and chatting when all of a sudden they were in the air. They were frantic. We looked around and low and behold an adult Bald Eagle flew right over our heads and into the screaming mass. Wow! The eagle landed and waited for the birds to settle down. He wanted them to forget him and land. He waited and waited and waited. Those birds were not going to land while the eagle was sitting there. He finally gave up and left. Nancy and I went on to bird. At the last stop we popped out of the van and were greeted by a Veery right out in the open but it did not stop there. Right at the end when our stomachs were growling we were amazed by an Ovenbird walking along. It was a great morning.