Welcome to World Shorebird Day

If you cannot join us, choose a day between September 6 and September 10 and count shorebirds where you are. These birds are coming from the Arctic and heading to their winter home. They travel long distances. When they land on the beach or a sandbar, they need to feed and rest. We can help these amazing globe-trotting shorebirds by letting them rest.  Education is the key.  World Shorebird Day is an excellent way to start.

2015 May Atlanta Shorebirds Workshop part 2

On Sunday May 17, Our Shorebird Workshop was out on the waters of the Altamaha River Delta to look for birds. Brooks Good had the perfect boat. It was a platoon boat. It was just like a floating dock. It made it perfect for looking at shorebirds.   We did see them.  Man, we did see them! It was so much fun.  See! 

At the end of one amazing stop we all let out a celebration whoop.

On the way back we stop by a grass island that was covered with all kinds of herons and ibis.

 All in all it was wonderful morning.

2015 May Atlanta Shorebird Workshop part 1

Brad Winn who was then working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources persuaded Lisa and Art Hurt to do this special Atlanta Audubon workshop in May. The Georgia Coast is one of those secret places where birds have a chance to rest on their migration routes. In May the shorebird time their migration to correspond with horseshoe crabs laying their eggs. Lisa called on Gene Keferl and me to help lead the group which i

s limited to 12 people.

This year’s workshop was time just right for the moon phase, tides and bird. Saturday, we met and carpooled down to the south end of Jekyll. We hit it just right! The tide was going out and the birds were dividing into the fest. 

I invited my friend Georgia Graves to come along. I met Georgia years ago when I starting leading groups for Coastal Encounter Nature Center. She is a wonderful engaging teacher who helps to show the connection between our coast and the birds. Here she is showing why the shorebirds are on the beach.

She uses a sieve to dig up the anthropoids that are

the favorite food of the Sanderlings and Dunlins. She also found a dead horseshoe crab loaded with eggs. These eggs are protein and fat packed perfect for shorebirds that are going to fly to the arctic.

Here are a few birds feasting on those eggs.. 

Of course, the reason I take the group here is to see the Wilson’s Plovers with their chicks. They did not disappoint us we saw all 5 chicks! Here is one picture by Larry Gridley. 

Shorebirds getting ready to leave

Last Saturday, I went out to check on the Wilson's Plovers. What I found was a lot of shorebirds in a feeding freezy. Here are a couple of pictures. There were a couple of Red Knots, Willets, Sanderlings and Ruddy TurnstonesThe Dunlins are far from their dull winter plumage.There was one surprise. A Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the beach.

Sorry everyone I will try to do better about posting my birding notes. I am still working on the grant to study the Wilson’s Plovers at the south end of Jekyll Island. It is a very important grant and I am being very careful.

Male Wilson's Plover on the south end of Jekyll today. He was singing!

But I must work to pay the bills. Today I was out on a Ramble, my birding tours on Jekyll. Well, it started off with a bang. We turned into the soccer field to check of any rare birds and we found one. It was a bird that has eluded me here in Georgia. I have seen it in a lot of state but not here.

We turn in & there it was. It was walking across the grass. Heavy bodied long neck little head big eyes. The bill was sharp and pointed. It was an Upland Sandpiper right here on Jekyll. It was nervous. I did my best to get a photo. It is a poor photo but it shows the bird. Yea! A Georgia bird and a Jekyll bird what a great start to the day.

Red Knots

These days, I am working with a great team of folks to pull together the details of our annual Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival October 8-12. My goal is to share some of the special places on our coast. In that spirit here is a post from Brad Winn. He is the Senior Biologist for GA Department of Natural Resources studying shorebirds on the GA coast.
Thanks Brad for the work that you do and thanks for sharing this information and these great photos. These are four Red Knots in flight.
Since 1996 GA Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Divison, Nongame Program has been documenting red knot use of the Altamaha River mouth during a late summer and early fall staging event there. This year the number of knots appears to be up slightly from the last several years. Tim Keyes, Stacia Hendricks, and I had about 2,500 knots feeding on the mud banks of Wolf Island NWR on September 1. ( Here is part of this flock of knots.)
We will end up with more than 100 individual band codes from those bird. This flock will spend the winter in the SE US after dispersing from the Altamaha later this month. High counts in 2000 and 2001 were approaching 12,000 knots. The Western Atlantic knot population has been tanking.
We are lucky to have these birds staging in GA. Let's keep the Altamaha waters flowing and clean to maintain the health of the food for these birds on our coast. (Lydia's comment: Counting these birds must have been a challenge. Look at the flock!)

Thursday's ramble

Man, did we luck out Thursday. I did a bird ramble with Jean from Bucks Co PA and her niece Charlie. The day stayed overcast. We were able to enjoy the birds without passing out from the heat. The first birds to greet us were the Gray Kingbirds at the shopping center. They were being territorial. Could they be nesting again? Keep your fingers crossed.

We were able to find a few shorebirds, Black-bellied Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, and one Semipalmated Sandpiper. Of course, the most common shorebirds were the Willets. They were in marsh and on the beach. Everywhere we went we heard their calls.

Since I last visited the south end of Jekyll, the tides have been very high. The water was pushed into the primary dunes changing the look of the beach. I was concerned for the Wilson’s Plovers but they were fine. I found all three young one. You can’t call them chicks for they look like they can fly.

This is the male keep an eye on us.

Here is the youngster watching as well.

As we walked back to the van, we enjoyed a few wildflowers.

Aren't these little Sea Pinks pretty?

The morning glories were in full splendor.

We finished the morning at the Amphitheater. There were a few young Wood Stork youngsters hanging out high in the pines.

Surprise Black-headed Gull

Well I left you with a little tease about this gull that was in the last picture.

Here the bird again from my grainy image

Here is a first-cycle Bonapart's Gull I saw on April 28, 2009 on the southend of Jekyll. It is the one sitting down.

During the morning of shorebird watching on May 9, Brad Winn had his boat on the other side of the little no-named island. Looking at all those shorebirds, sorting them out and just enjoying the moments we were sharing was unbelievable. Toward the end of our time there, Brad came around and pointed out this little gull. I got a couple of images but we were leaving. This "little" gull was buoyant as I watched it in water. Thanks to Brad's skill as photographer and his camera we were able to have a better look.

Both the Bonapart's and Black-headed gulls are delicate gulls. But the Black-headed gull is larger. The bill is slightly longer and stouter. It is two-toned reddish at the base and dark at the tip.

And when it flies......

You can see the white wedge on the wing and the contrasting dark wedge that help identify it as a Black-headed Gull not a Bonapart's Gull. What a thrill!

On Monday April 27, I posted about the horseshoe crabs laying eggs. Thursday May 7th I was out on my Thursday Morning Bird Ramble and watched in fascination as shorebirds feasted on these eggs.

Here are a bunch of Sanderling.

There were lines of Sanderlings, Dunlins, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones and a few Red Knots.

This is a Sanderling with three Dunlins Here a Red Knot enjoying the group.

They would crowd around and eat, then they would all run to the water edge splash around then run back to continue feasting. What a sight!

Oysters, mud and shorebirds

On Sunday, Gene Keferl, Mike Chapman, and I joined Chris Depkin in his boat to see if we could relocate the Harlequin Duck that was seen on Friday. The day was such a contrast to the day before. Sunday was a gray day. A cold front blew in. We could see the dark gunmetal gray clouds marching right over us. There was rain and spray. The temperature dropped. We went anyway.

First, we went out where the duck had been spotted. No not there, so we began patrolling the small creeks. Now we never found the Harlequin Duck but there were other birds to see.

The Dunlin, dowitchers, and yellowlegs were feasting on the mud and around the oysters. On one mud bank there were some tiny Least Sandpipers. A few Oystercatchers were hanging out as well.

It is always fair weather when good fellows get together.

Conversations with self

When Don Mumford reran the video he took Saturday. All I heard was my voice saying "wholly moley!" Saturday was the Cumberland Island Christmas Bird Count. Marge Inness & I are assigned the mainland around Crooked River State Park. It is pretty standard birding. This year Don, Debbie's husband, volunteered to take us out into some of the waterways in the count circle. We were looking around Grover Island, a marsh island, when we came up on this dock. It was COVERED with shorebirds. Black-bellied Plovers, dowitchers, Dunlins and a few Western Sandpipers were spread down this dock as far as the eye could see. I was supposed to count these birds. My brain just went, "Wow! you are on your own on this one. You can expect me to help you to draw but this, well I'm out of here." This happens sometime. When my brain decide, "Sorry this ain't happening." I have to take a deep breath and come back with" Ok, let's just take a moment. Can you take one bird?" My brain says, "Well maybe one." With that breath I take a few moments to take it all it. We watch as the bird swirl around and land rearranged on the dock. This wonderful sight of birds as far as the eye can see. At the very end of the video you can hear Don laughing. I enjoy hearing laughter.

Follow up on Shorebirds feeding frenzy

Those shorebirds were really chowing down on whatever. I just couldn't let it go so I emailed Brad Winn our DNR Wildlife Resource Division senior biologist. He has been studying shorebirds on our coast. He had seen a few of these frenzy flocks of shorebirds recently. When he dug around to see what they were after it turned out to be polychaete worms. They must be tasty the way those birds were practically standing on their heads to get to them.

Feeding Frenzy

On Friday I did an hour walk down to Jekyll Point which is the very southwest side of Jekyll. It was ok walking out but once we passed through the primary dunes....the wind hit us from the west. It was a cold wet wind. We want to see if there were any American Oystercatchers were gathered so we walk west into the wind. No oystercatcher but what we saw was even better. A frenzied group of Ruddy Turnstone wildly digging down and gobbing up something. The sanderlings were right there with them. The birds were digging down about 1 inches or more. Did they find a cashe of horseshoe eggs? Do horseshoe crabs lay eggs this late? Here a video of what we watched.

Shorebirds return

A few shorebirds do stay here in June. There are not large numbers of them but they are around. We are now beginning to see some of our arctic nesters returning. Thursday there was a nice flock at pond on Gisco Point Road. Dowitchers, yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers were all loafing on the little island in the middle of that pond. Yea! The shorebirds are returning.

On a totally different bird note, we made a stop under the M.E. Thompson (Jekyll Island) Bridge. Low tide exposed a lot of the mud and grass so we were able to watch five Worthington's Marsh Wrens. They were very gray. It was a rare treat to watch them as they worked their way around in the marsh grass right below us.