Keychains for the plovers

Sorry for the long delay since the last post.  I have been busy with one of the perfect jobs for me.  I was an Eagle Monitor for US Fish & Wildlife.  I watched as two adult Bald Eagle connect, nest and raise two young one male and one female.  The last one flew on April 2.

In the meantime,  I have also been building the Plover Patrol for Jekyll Island.  I talked about it so much that Bryan, the buyer for Jekyll Island, made a key chain for the plovers.  They can be bought at the Jekyll Island Guest Information Center.

I am so excited to see how the breeding seasons

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!

Thursday in the field

Thursday is my day to Ramble on Jekyll. For those who do not know I conduct a birding tour of Jekyll Island on Thursdays. It is a morning of birding and fun which starts at 8 AM and goes until….well really it should end at 11 AM but I keep birding until my stomach growls. I like to limit this tour to six people so we can have conversations about the birds we saw as we travel between places. From January through April I am overbooked. Starting this week there is room on this morning bird outing.

The goal of my Rambles is to see birds in their habitats, to see the variety of coastal Georgia habitats and most of all to have fun. I want you to forget the stresses of your life, leave them behind, and experience the wonders around you.

This last Thursday I had the pleasure of birding with Nancy Crosby. She is writing a feature article on the Georgia’s Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival for Georgia Outdoors Magazine. Nancy is enthusiastic about birding. Here I am at the end of April the height of migration and I have the pleasure of a morning with a passionate birder. Perfect, the birds did not let us down. To top it off, we had one of those National Geographic moments. We were sorting through the gang of birds at the south end of Jekyll. It was the normal cast of gulls, terns, skimmers and shorebirds. They had been just resting, all doing what they do, preening, snoozing, courting and chatting when all of a sudden they were in the air. They were frantic. We looked around and low and behold an adult Bald Eagle flew right over our heads and into the screaming mass. Wow! The eagle landed and waited for the birds to settle down. He wanted them to forget him and land. He waited and waited and waited. Those birds were not going to land while the eagle was sitting there. He finally gave up and left. Nancy and I went on to bird. At the last stop we popped out of the van and were greeted by a Veery right out in the open but it did not stop there. Right at the end when our stomachs were growling we were amazed by an Ovenbird walking along. It was a great morning.

Watching Fay

Tropical Storm Fay is crossing Florida right now. The Georgia coast has more trouble with storms that sneak across center Florida and hit us from the south and west than from the south and east. Several times we have had near misses from huge storms like HUGO and FLOYD. These storms scare the ….. out of you. The thought of that storm surge washing over theses tiny barriers to the mainland is like kissing everything goodbye. PS it is. When Floyd came through in 1999 I loaded my van and said goodbye to everything that was home. It was a weird feeling and not a good one either. But Floyd was catch up in the Gulf Stream and was drug up the coastline. We were safe…..that time.

In 2004 we were pounding by several storms. All these storms came across Florida and hit us from behind. I’ve lived with these storms all my life part of me is still fascinated by them. The other more logical part of me is screaming get the heck out of here. That is the part of me that lived on the road and when the weather got uncomfortable I left. Now I am part of the place so I stay and watch.
Today I was out doing, you guess it, festival work. I was on Jekyll. Bob Reed who helps with the field trips told me he had just seen two Magnificent Frigatebirds. They were well on their way by the time I got out. There were lots of Ospreys out and one Bald eagle. Here are my shots of the bans of storms. More tomorrow.

This eagle was eating a big fish and did not want to move. No worries here mate.