Thursday, December 2, 2010

Snowy Plover at the Jekyll Point

It was a cold day but not as cold as I thought it would be. Looking at the tide coming across the causeway, it looked great for a tour of the south end of Jekyll. I picked up Linda at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and headed south. First we passed what was once the convention center. It is almost gone. They are moving right a long.

At the south end we went out from the corner of St. Andrews and Macy Lane. We got out to the beach and one of the first birds to run past us was a small pale plover. At first, I called it a Piping Plover. Piping Plovers are always a wonderful bird but then I looked closer. Something was not right about the bird. Oh, the bird was healthy. It was super active. Piping Plover move stop, look then pick. This bird looked like it was in fast forward. It had a thin black bill and the legs with gray...Snowy Plover.
I tried to digiscope the bird but it would not stay in the scope. I did get some great shots of sand. I won't share those with you.
Finally it came close enough I could just point my camera and shot. They are not great pictures but they do show the bird.

It was a good day to bird on Jekyll Island.

3 comments:

rebecca said...

Yes! Jon and I saw this bird too, right where you said it would be - it was a lifer for me!

Lydia said...

It is so great to have two birders on the island. Sharing the birds is fun. Glad to hear you saw it!

Unknown said...

I so wish I was right there with you on the coast just birding away. lol