The Lighting of the trees

Wow! Time does fly by. I have had several tours on St. Simons and on Jekyll. The shorebirds are here. I will tell you about them later. Last Saturday, November 28, our Coastal Georgia Audubon Society was invited to be apart of The Lighting of the Trees on Jekyll Island. This was our third year of helping the folks make pine cone bird feeders. It was very easy to do.
First station choose a pine cones. These were gathered by Audubon members, Carole and Fredi.

Here's the first crew of volunteers from Glynn Academy putting string on the pine cones. This was at the beginning everything was so neat.

Second station was the slathering peanut butter on the pine cone. This was messy but a lot of fun.
Third station was the rolling of the bird seed. Our friends at Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop provided the seed, cookie sheets, butter knifes to spread the peanut butter. The fourth station was putting the pine cone feeders in a baggies to take home. The last station was the clean up station. Here's the late crew from Glynn Academy. They really got into it.Sue from Jekyll Island volunteered to help and our crew Fredi, Marge, Debbie and me. Debbie brought her flash cards of birds she photographed. They were a big hit. Here is a couple of Audubon members testing themselves.

At the end of the evening we had made around 150 pine cone bird feeders. The birds are going to be very happy.

More on plastics

Back when I was on the road full time, I became alarmed at the amount of plastic. It was just floating around everywhere I looked, on roads, on trees, on beaches. For a few years after that, I refused to get anything plastic. Do you know how hard that task was? I bet you do. Now we can be all negative about this problem or we can find solutions. I favor finding solutions. Buy Recycled! Do any of you have some ideas on how to be part of the solution?
By the way check out this post from SEANET blog just in case you are not sure just how far reaching this plastic problem is: http://seanetters.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/more-sad-plastic-related-news/

Late Migration Spotty Migration

Dawn asked a good question. How long do the Tree Swallows stay?
Well, this year is an odd year. Generally the hordes of Tree Swallows come in Mid-October and build to wow factor flocks by the end of October. They are noticed by everyone driving the Jekyll causeway. By Thanksgiving, they start to taper off . This year the birds would come in and then thin out. They appear to be late but I have observed that in most of the migration this year. Has anyone else noticed that the migration of birds is spotty and late?

Tree Swallows return

I was driving down the Jekyll causeway when I saw them. They are finally here. Oh, there were one or two days when we had large numbers of Tree Swallows But now they are back in hordes. They are amazing. At least 3 weeks late but still amazing.

Common Eiders

On Saturday, I was getting ready for a demo of etching for Glynn Art's gARTen ART pARTy. I had just finished my new etching, when I got a call. Two Common Eiders were floating off Sea Island.
Thank heavens Bill Flatau spotted them for he could get me onto Sea Island. This is Bill's picture. Nice shots! Sea Island is a gated community and someone has to let you on the island. I jump into my van and went. I was not the only one there. As rare birds tend to do they attract a crowd of happy birders. Happy birders see other neat birds. Besides the female eiders there were thousands of Black Scoters. This is the first time I have seen these birds down here in several year. It is nice to see so many.Not a bad day a new etching and a couple of year birds.
Another one of Bill's images. Thanks for sharing, Bill.

Monarchs on the move

Today was a beautiful day. Here is an image to share. The monarchs were everywhere at the southend dunes.
At the top are two Gulf Fritillaries and then count the Monarchs on this blooming Baccharis

Looking up

Funny what you see when you look up.
An Osprey perched on the top of a tree on the Fancy Bluff Creek Then the Wood Storks just a little lower How about a Roseate Spoonbill just flying up and over the marsh grass It is important to look up and over to your left when you come on Jekyll. Two adult Bald Eagles often sit on the power poles. They are a young couple.
As an artist, I love to look up into the live oaks. Gosh, what a design!