It just Beachy

Yesterday, the ramble group spent the morning exploring the south end of Jekyll. We started with a walk out the Glory Boardwalk to the Atlantic Ocean on the south east side. There were tons of Willets, in fact there were tons of Willets at every beach spot. Willets are elegant birds so I was in heaven. As we looked out over the Willets, we pick up other shorebirds. The one bird that stood out was the Marbled Godwit. It was smack in the middle of all those Willets adding just a hint of color.
Looking north there was a huge raft of ducks. Most of them were Lesser Scaup so we went back to the van. We needed to get to South Dunes Picnic Area to see them all a little closer. Once out on the dunes crossover we could get scope looks at the rafts. It wasn't all Lesser Scaup there were Greater Scaup mixed in the flock. Off to one side was a tiny gathering of Black Scoters. It is nice to see so many ducks. Priscilla's favorite birds are American Oystercatchers. The tide was right but the time was late. I thought we would do a quick walk out to Jekyll Point. Jekyll Point is on the south west side of Jekyll. From there you are looking at the Jekyll River and St. Andrews Sound. Dolphins were feeding out in the river. It is always fun to see a dolphin break the surface of the water. We were on a quest but birds keep getting in our way. Dunlin and Sanderling were madly feeding on Surf Clams. They were so busy feeding that they didn't want to move. More Willets with some Red Knots mixed in with them slowed us down. I had to look for bands but none of the knots were banded. Then at the point we saw the oystercatchers.

What a bird!

Needless to say our quick walk was not quick. Why waste a good bird for the sake of a clock? We took our time and enjoyed all the birds at the south end of Jekyll.