Beach survey July 23 2011

The smell hit me before I even saw the beach. When I got to the beach, I saw what the troubling smell was. It was millions of dwarf surf clam. Last Friday and Saturday we had lots of rain. There was five and half inches at my house. These clams are indicator in changes in their environment. Was a rush of fresh water what killed them off? I will see if Donna, Georgia or Richard can help answer the question. Stay tuned. Can you see where I stepped into the shells.
This is a view down the beach there were dwarf surf clams as far as I could see.

My mission on Saturday was twofold. One was to check on the Wilson’s Plovers nesting and the second one was to check for live and death birds on this portion of Jekyll’s beach. It was low tide and I found no dead birds. It was hard enough to find live ones near enough to identify. At low tide the birds are way out sitting on exposed sandbars. Mostly Laughing Gulls and one lone Ring-billed Gull were loafing at the edge of the surf. Oops, there were three Western Willets. With all the rain and a high tide there was a good bit of wash over in the dunes. I could not find any sign of the Wilson’s Plovers so I don’t know their fate. Are they in the dunes? There was no sign of the nest. I will keep looking.
There were also a lot of whelks exposed. I watch a group gathering some up. I didn’t go down to be nosey. But I did wonder if someone had whelk stew?
I also encountered Barn Swallows, one Northern Rough-winged Swallow and one male hummingbird. The hummingbird was flying straight and fast. It did not look right or left. It was making a beeline south right out over the sound. Migration has begun.

Christmas Eve Birding Jekyll

It is a Christmas tradition to go birding. My father started this when it was just us. My mother had passed away when I was young. Then brother had married and went to spend the holidays with her family. That left us, so we were off to find birds. At first, I looked forward to life birds. Now it is all about just the thrill and beauty of the adventures.
With that in mind, I went to my favorite place, Jekyll Point. The walk out to the point is calming. The shrub-scrub transitions into beach meadows and then into sandy dunes held in place by hardy plants like panic grass, sea oats and beach croton. Every year the walk gets a little longer as the point grows.

It was high tide. There were all kind of gulls, terns and shorebirds. 200 Western Willets. They are just stunning birds, standing there along the edge of the surf. These birds are understated elegance.
It was a challenge to count them for in the middle of that flock were a couple of Marbled Godwits. Whoa, it is a splash of cinnamon in the gray.
Then the shorebirds all gathered together. Merry Christmas.

Willets in the marsh

Last week, we had a Willet on the south end of Jekyll. It looked very different because it was an eastern Willet returning to nest. They are the long legged shorebirds sitting on the wires on the causeway. The western Willet are the gray guys eating all the small clams on the beach. They should be heading out to the Great Plains soon. As we walked back to the van we crunched through lots of those tiny clams. Look that is all those tiny clams.

March 22, 2007

March 22, 2007 Jekyll Island
Willets, Willets and more Willets and a Greater Yellowlegs were the stars of the early morning part of this Thursday Morning Bird Ramble. It was low tide & rising so I choose the causeway and Welcome Center. There were a good many shorebirds mostly Dunlins, Western Sandpipers and dowitcher the Short-billed kind. These were all spread out across the marsh mud. A few Marsh Wrens were singing to brighten the overcast view. One lone Greater Yellow-leg showed up to stroll and bob along the water edge we all appreciated it.
Moving on to our beach location we watch the Loggerhead Shrike who is always hanging out just south of the Convention Center. We just crossed over to the beach and there were a good gathering of birds with at least 50 Willets all being constantly moved around by the beach walkers. I spotted two medium size terns. The size of these birds was between the Royals and Forster’s tern. I would put my scope on them & some group or child would run through them. Fortunately it was easy to relocate them for their breast had a strong blush of pink. Eventually we all got to see the thin black bill with the mustard yellow at the tip that confirmed these were two Sandwich Terns.
In the last section we did some woods birding. The Bird Sanctuary was over run with Common Grackles but still we got great looks at Northern Parula in bird drip. Also the White-throated Sparrows were singing and feeding. We finish the morning at the Amphitheater with the night-herons. The Great Egrets and Anhingas are nesting. The Wood Storks are sitting possessively on the tree they have nested in for the last six years. Will they nest this year? Stay turned.
In the meantime here is the list for the morning.

Jekyll Island
AUDUBON IMPORTANT BIRDING AREA

Thursday March 22, 2007 Species 69+3
High Tide 11:30 a m Height 7.1 Low Tide 05:33 a m Temp 63.0 F-71.1 F Humidity 97%-75%
Barometric Pressure 30.35” & Steady. Wind ENE to NE at 9.2. mph to 12.7 mph Overcast becoming Clear

COMMON SEEN BIRDS- Double-crested Cormorant Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove,
Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal

DOWNING MUSGROVE CAUSEWAY
7 Brown Pelican
3 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Tricolored Heron
5 Little Blue Heron
4 Snowy Egret
1 Great Blue Heron
2 Great Egret
8 Wood Stork
1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 American Kestrel
2 Clapper Rail
1 Greater Yellowlegs
10 Willet
30 Dunlin
2 Forster’s Tern
2 Belted Kingfisher
2 Fish Crow
1 White-eyed Vireo
European Starling Not counted
3 Marsh Wren
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle Not Counted
WELCOME CENTER
1 Marbled Godwit Fly by
1 Whimbrel
30 Short-billed Dowitcher
50 Western Sandpiper
500 Tree Swallow
1 Purple Martin
M E THOMPSON BRIDGE (JEKYLL RIVER)
1 Bald Eagle
JEKYLL ISLAND SHOPPING CENTER includes beach
8 Brown Pelican
50 Willet
JEKYLL ISLAND SHOPPING CENTER includes beach
20 Sanderling
10 Dunlin
2 Killdeer
10 Ring-billed Gull
2 Herring Gull
20 Laughing Gull
15 Royal Tern
2 Sandwich Tern
40 Forster’s Tern
6 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 Fish Crow
1 Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
TIDELANDS NATURE CENTER AREA
5 Brown Pelican
1 Snowy Egret
2 Osprey
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
2 Gray Catbird
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Northern Parula
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
1 Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
3 Brown-headed Cowbird
NORTH END AREA
JEKYLL ISLAND CAMPGROUND SANCTUARY
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
5 Blue Jay
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
6 White-throated Sparrow Singing
10 Common Grackle
AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA
2 Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
6 Anhinga Sitting on nests.
1 Snowy Egret Nesting
4 Great Egret
AMPHITHEATRE POND AREA cont
8 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
12 Black-crowned Night-Heron
10 Wood Stork
5 Black Vulture
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-eyed Vireo
2 Brown-headed Nuthatch
2 Carolina Wren
1 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet Singing
2 Carolina Chickadee
1 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Pine Warbler
1 Red-winged Blackbird