While out birding, I encountered a flock of American Avocets.  They were feeding in deep water.  It was fascinating to watch them.

                                                                                                                Here one avocet that is walking through the mud to join the flock. 


 These pictures were taken at Overlook Park at the east end of Gloucester Street in Brunswick.
 

 

A Book Review, The Scarlet Kingfisher

Last summer, I need a good read since I was stuck dealing with nasty chemo to get rid of cancer.  It came in the book, The Scarlet Kingfisher by Robert Henry Benson.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Most mysteries I read of this type are good but predictable.  To my surprise, this one is a page turning mystery. Robert Benson hooks you right from the start.  The book starts out with a bang when you wonder “How in the world is this guy getting away with this?”   But it continues with the introductions to the maligned hard working ornithologist just trying to complete his field work.  This book has so many twists that it was hard for me to put it down.  Most books like this take you way out in left field leaving the science unbelievable.  Robert Benson is a retired avian researcher and long-time birder. 

I let my friend who is an avid reader and loves good mysteries borrow it.  She said she just couldn’t put it down.  She is a retired US Fish and Wildlife biologist.  In her opinion, the book is rooted in science and packed with adventure.  

Is it possible to still discover a new species of kingfisher in the United States?  How can that be especially since the kingfisher is scarlet?  What else is going on that ranch?  So on the cold winter days ahead why not pick up a copy of The Scarlet Kingfisher and settle in for an indoor adventure.

The publication date was August 26, 2014 and it is now available on Amazon.com. 

  Amazon:  

http://amzn.to/1tbWN0F

Here a taste of the adventure from the book jacket.

“Nothing could excite Dr. Beach O’Neill more than the possibility of discovering an unknown species of bird.  Some day he hoped to travel to exotic rain forests where he could fulfill this childhood dream.  His world is flipped out of control when a south Texas ranch foreman reports seeing a strange red bird on the banks of an isolated river where O’Neill is conducting research. Things turn bad when Beach discovers the mutilated body of the foreman. The county sheriff thinks O’Neill is the killer but doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it.

Thus begins a reckless contest between Beach O’Neill and an array of despotic villains who wish to be the first persons on Earth to possess the “Scarlet Kingfisher.”  Unsavory characters, both local and global, want Beach and his botanist girlfriend Rebecca Schroeder, out of the way and off the trail of this unique avian rarity.  O’Neill is torn between his obsessive desire to capture the bird and present it to science and Becky’s wish to let it remain in its river home as nature intended.  Will this red kingfisher and two different world views tear apart their relationship?  Will disparate forces have their way?”

Marsh Sparrow Banding

Nelson Sparrow on the left   Salt Marsh Sparrow on the right

Breast cancer taught me not to miss life happening around me.  Winter our marshes are loaded with unique sparrows.  We have Seaside Sparrows year around but in the winter the northern race Seaside Sparrow are here.  There are two other sparrows that winter here.  There is the Salt Marsh Sparrow from the northeast.  There are two races of Nelson’s Sparrows.   Breast cancer taught me not to miss life happening around me.  Winter our marshes are loaded with unique sparrows.  We have Seaside Sparrows year around but in the winter the northern race Seaside Sparrow are here.  There are two other sparrows that winter here.  There is the Salt Marsh Sparrow from the northeast.  There are two races of Nelson’s Sparrows

This week the tides are super high.  These sparrows are on the edges of the marshes instead of spreading out across the vast marsh.  We need to know about these sparrows that use out marsh as their winter home.  How does that happen?  

The scientists have to get to know them so they go out to meet them.  To learn more they band the birds.  That is what I went out to watch on Thursday.  I am not able to get in the thick of things because the chemo has weakened my feet and hands.  Now that does not stop me for I can take photos and report this interesting process. 

First they must gather the birds.  They walk out into high marsh with a line.  This high marsh is safe to walk.  (Sidebar: Not all of our marsh is not safe to walk don’t try it by yourself.)  

The birds fly into the special nets.  Everyone is there to get the birds safely into holding bags for trainer master banders.  

The bands they use are from the US Geological Service Banding Lab.  They are light-weight aluminum bands with numbers stamped into the band.  Each number is unique.  These numbers are stored at the banding lab. Here is Tim Keyes preparing to band these birds.  

The two target species are studied carefully.  Then they are photographed with the unique number to study even further. 

It was a fun morning.  I even helped by record the information when they need skilled people to help at the nets.  Life is too short to miss watching these talented scientists at work.  They help us see that the salt marsh is more than a sea of grass.  

Our Glynn County Christmas Bird Count was on January the 3rd.  That was the day that I started looking for Western Kingbirds on St. Simons Island.  That day, we didn't see them.  The next day someone else found them.  That started me looking for them.  Well,I just kept missing them.  Folks would tell me they were here just a minute ago.  But finally on Tuesday January 21, my friend called me that he was looking at them.  I rushed over there and there was one bird.  Yea, what a neat bird.  I have always seen them low on wires.  This time this bird was flycatching from high in the bare tree.  There is always something to learn.

                                             I am coming back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well, it has been a very different life for me for the last nine months.  But I am beating this cancer.

The birds helped me focus on beauty not on the chemo and surgery.  Now it is time for radiation.



Here is the Jekyll Island Bird Sanctuary.  It is one place that helped me through and who does not like to see a beautiful male Cardinal.