Thursday, October 13, 2011

A little rain and the Big Sit

Sunday was a wonderful day at the Wildlife Viewing Tower at the Welcome Center. This is the view first thing in the morning The weather was questionable at best; however that often creates great birding opportunities. Diana Churchill came over in the morning and helped me spot. We had 9 Peregrine Falcons. One came so close that I felt I could have reach out and touch it.




In the afternoon, several groups of folks came by to take a look from the tower. This is a Georgia Ornithological Society group who stop by to help spot for a while.
Sheila Willis was an excellent guide and as always kept wonderful notes.. There were several Coastal Georgia Audubon members who brought scopes and binocular to share. Charlie and Tracey Muise were wonderful. They carefully scanned the mud for one more species. There were several Jekyll Islanders that came by to support my effort including Mac DeVaughn, Executive Director of the Jekyll Island Foundation. He has been very supportive of my Operation Plover Patrol project. His board has set a fund to get this project running. If you interested in this project, please comment and I will send you the details.

Here is my poster explaining the Operation Plover Patrol project. I had at the Georgia Ornothological Society meeting the night before the Big Sit.

Now to the birds, I ended up with 45 species. The Whimbrel made several appearances. Clapper Rail antics were shows in themselves. The complete list of birds is below. It is always fair weather when good fellows get together.


Jekyll Island, Glynn, US-GA Oct 9, 2011 6:50 AM - 5:50 PM Protocol: StationaryComments: This was a BIG SIT for Jekyll Island at the Wildlife Viewing tower on the causeway. This area is a hammock (small marsh island) It overlooks a wide mud flat. 45 species

Wood Stork 10, Double-crested Cormorant 110, Great Blue Heron 3, Great Egret 30, Snowy Egret 12, Little Blue Heron 1, Tricolored Heron 4, Roseate Spoonbill 24, Turkey Vulture 10, Osprey 1, Northern Harrier 6, American Kestrel, Merlin 5, Peregrine Falcon 9, Clapper Rail 24, Black-bellied Plover 8, Semipalmated Plover 50, Greater Yellowlegs 2, Willet 49, Lesser Yellowlegs 1, Whimbrel 1, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper 75, Least Sandpiper 7, Short-billed Dowitcher 40, Laughing Gull 40, Herring Gull 3, Great Black-backed Gull 1, Forster's Tern 1, Royal Tern 8, Mourning Dove 2, Great Horned Owl 1, Chimney Swift 2, Belted Kingfisher 1, Red-bellied Woodpecker 1, Tree Swallow 4, Marsh Wren 1, Northern Mockingbird 1, European Starling 1, Common Yellowthroat 3, Palm Warbler 1, Seaside Sparrow 1, Indigo Bunting 1, Red-winged Blackbird 33, Boat-tailed Grackle 50

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