Big Sit Sunday

I have been planning this for a while. On Sunday October 9, I will be at the Wildlife Viewing Tower at the Jekyll Island Visitor Information Center on Jekyll Island Causeway. Now from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 Ms. Klahn and her Salt Marsh Solders will be joining me. These are Middle Schoolers. Let's hope the rain holds off. We will celebrate the life of 2 Whimbrel, Machi and Goshen who were shot on September 12. There has been two whimbrels using this mud flat area since early August.

Good Birding to us all!

Machi, A Whimbrel's Story

Since August 2009 when a small solar power tracking device was put on Machi, a Whimbrel, the Scientists at the Center for Conservation Biology have been following her life. For 756 days they followed her learning about the life and travels of Whimbrels. She summered in the Hudson Bay area and then wintered in Brazil. She made 7 nonstop flights of more than 2,000 miles. One of those flights was in September 2010. It was a staggering 113 hour flight that covered 2673 miles without stopping. She flew right over the Caribbean to land in Suriname. This year she spent the summer about the same place in the Hudson Bay Area. She then started her southward flight. She ran into Hurricane Irene in the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She made it through that storm floating on marsh wrack. She then had to fly through Topical Storm Maria. She didn’t have the reserves to make her long jump to South America. She had to land in Guadalupe in a “shooting field.” This is where Machi was killed. She was not shot for food. She was shot for one person enjoyment. Her life ended on a man- made mud field constructed especially for people to go out and shoot every bird that lands. (This is an unbanded Whimbrel that is visiting Jekyll right now. Sorry I do not have a picture of Machi. )

I first heard of these shooting fields just a few weeks ago. I was talking to Abby from Little St. Simons Island. She had just gotten back from an International Shorebird Working Group Conference. Being an avid shorebird person who works for the conservation of these amazing bird, it is hard to believe that people would enjoy just gunning them down. Abby told me of the in creditable numbers of legs of shorebirds that are brought in to counted and logged. Among the species identified are endangered shorebirds like Red Knots.
She went on to say that there are groups trying to buy up these shooting field and closing them down. There is hope.

Just not for Machi. We did learn a lot about what Whimbrels are doing and the amazing life they lead through Machi so she will not be forgotten.

Post Script there are islands in the Caribbean, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Barbados, which do not honor The Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This act was passed, in part, to protect dwindling numbers of birds that migrate across country borders. Shorebird hunting within these areas continues to be unregulated to the present time.

I just learned that another Whimbrel, Goshen, was shot in Guadeloupe. Read the full story from the source

She was tracked 399 days and spent some time this past spring in the St. Simons Area of our Georgia coast.

Follow the two other Whimbrels Hope and Chinquapin at: http://ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm
This tracking project is a collaborative effort between The Center for Conservation Biology, The Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.

Thanks folks, keep up the great work that you do.

Weekend for Wildlife

In Georgia our state wildlife agency is called Department of Natural Resource (DNR) Department. The Nongame Conservation Program is a part of the DNR but they are not funded by the state of Georgia. They must raise their own money. They do this by a special vehicle tags and by a Weekend for Wildlife event. This event is the weekend. They have their hardworking biologists, scientists and researcher taking the folks out to show them what they are doing for the birds, turtles, whales and other creatures.

Last night at the evening get-together I saw this display. One Nongame programs is banding shorebirds.

On May 22, 2o1o, Brad Winn and Tim Keyes banded Chinquapin, a Whimbrel . They also put a tracking device on him. Following this bird has been fun. Chinquapin has summered in Canada and now wintering in South America. You can follow this bird at Whimbrel Tracking at SeaTurtle.org

I can not say it any better than this:Our Nongame folks do a great job. I hope they raise the money they need to continue these important programs. Here the monotype I donated to the cause.

The Whimbrel Watch, May11, 2007

As the old song goes “Standing on the corner watching all the …..” That is what happens for Whimbrels at Gould inlet from the middle of April into May. Before I write about this wonderful show of Whimbrels let me get you oriented. Gould’s Inlet is on St. Simons Island. It is created by Postel and Rainbow creeks coming together and pouring into the Atlantic Ocean these two creekd are what separate Sea Island from St. Simons Island. The fact that these creeks are tidal and wash over drifting sand flats is the reason the gulls, terns, shorebirds and other water birds gather here.

A while back Brad Winn discovered that in the spring Whimbrels gather here in the evening in good numbers. These Whimbrels seem to use this area like a gathering point something like a bus stop. In the evening they would fly in to preen rest. They waited to almost too dark to see them then they would all leave at once. Brad thought they were flying off to roost on sand bars and small treeless island in the mouth of the Altamaha River. The Altamaha River spreads out into a delta area just north of St. Simons, Sea, and Little St. Simons Island. It is a rich diverse area. It is an area you can only see by boat. Egg Island Bar is one of four bird islands just set aside for birds to rest and nest. These sand bars and island are treeless too far out for the relentless predator, the Great Horned Owl.

The really neat aspect of Gould’s Inlet is you can drive right up for there is a small parking area. There are benches to sit on in other words it is very easy for any one to and watch this show. So I suggested as a Coastal Georgia Field trip. We meet here at 7:30 p.m. I was there at 7:20 and people were already there. It is a dream come true when I can drive up to an area and see birders. Scopes and binoculars at the ready folks are looking through them and chatting about the glories of past birding days or the next trip they are planning. Years before when I spent a little over a year just traveling to see birds there would be times when I would see no birders. Then I would turn into some famous birding spot and there the birders would be all line up scopes point in one direction. Birders were whispering, pointing and smiling as the special bird someone had spotted. So here I was getting out of my van and seeing quite a few birders. Man it just did my heart good. Grabbing an arm load of books I walked over to the group. It is important to me that everyone is included from beginners to experts, so I always try to bring bird books to share.

Looking over to the expose sand bar, there weren’t any Whimbrels yet. The group was enjoying watching the Red Knot in their summer finery. There were Semipalmated Plover, Sanderlings, Willets, and Rudy Turnstones to look at as well. I point to the sand bar and the group looked over there and because there were no Whimbrels there yet they went back to the terns, skimmers and other water birds. A few minutes later the Whimbrels started quietly gather. The group was amazed at how quickly these fairly large shorebirds just came in. In the end we had about one hundred or so Whimbrels on the sand bar. As the light was fading around 8:30 pm the Whimbrels all opened their wings and flew off. It appeared choreographed. They flew in a line across the tip on Sea Island before gaining height. As they gained altitude they bank left and disappeared into darkness.
With Georgia’s Wildlife on my mind, Happy International Migratory Bird Day!
Lydia