Common Eiders

On Saturday, I was getting ready for a demo of etching for Glynn Art's gARTen ART pARTy. I had just finished my new etching, when I got a call. Two Common Eiders were floating off Sea Island.
Thank heavens Bill Flatau spotted them for he could get me onto Sea Island. This is Bill's picture. Nice shots! Sea Island is a gated community and someone has to let you on the island. I jump into my van and went. I was not the only one there. As rare birds tend to do they attract a crowd of happy birders. Happy birders see other neat birds. Besides the female eiders there were thousands of Black Scoters. This is the first time I have seen these birds down here in several year. It is nice to see so many.Not a bad day a new etching and a couple of year birds.
Another one of Bill's images. Thanks for sharing, Bill.

Monarchs on the move

Today was a beautiful day. Here is an image to share. The monarchs were everywhere at the southend dunes.
At the top are two Gulf Fritillaries and then count the Monarchs on this blooming Baccharis

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!

A quiet walk

Well, I am a little behind in blogging. Here is an attempt to catch up. Last Thursday, I had a quiet walk on the southwest end of Jekyll. If you don't know this already, it is my favorite place. It is easy to get to the path. As I walked the catbirds were everywhere on the beauty berry. A monarch also enjoyed the bright purple berries.

Once on the beach, I found American Oystercatchers, Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones, and a large collection of gulls and terns. The birds were restless and the flew at drop of a hat. I moved slowly down the beach and found this thing that looked like a jelly fish. What kind of jelly fish, Georgia?

Here is another view. Does this help any in discovering what it is?
One of the last birds I found sneaking in the rack was this Piping Plover. It is good to go on a quiet walk. Each time I do I learn something. I will close with the image of muhley grass. It is the soft feathery purple grass. A Sedge Wren encouraged me to move on and get on with the day.

The Big Sit at the birding & nature Festival

Nita and Lynda helped out with a Big Sit on Sunday October 11. We have a wonderful Bird Sanctuary in the Jekyll Island Campground. It is a camp site in the tent section that has feeders and a bird bath drip.

Here a report from Nita:

Lynda and I thoroughly enjoyed The Big Sit and are ready to do it again next year. Here's the list of what we got at the campground, including fly-overs (fo). There were 29 species.
~Nita Wynn

double-crested cormorant (fo)
wood stork (fo)
turkey vulture (fo)
bald eagle (fo)
mourning dove
belted kingfisher (fo)
red-bellied woodpecker
downy woodpecker
white-eyed vireo
blue jay
tree swallow (fo)
Carolina chickadee
tufted titmouse
Carolina wren
blue-grey gnatcatcher
northern mockingbird
brown thrasher
northern parula
chestnut-sided warbler
magnolia warbler
black-throated blue warbler
black-and-white warbler
American redstart
eastern towhee
scarlet tanager
northern cardinal
rose-breasted grosbeak
painted bunting
house finch

Nature and learning at the festival

On Saturday, we held a Nature Day for people who wanted to learn more about our nature. We started the morning off with a raptor show by Georgia Southern University's Center for Wildlife Education & Lamar Q. Ball Raptor Center. Steve Hein always does such a great show. He gets the crowd involve and active. Perfect start! After that we had some interactive classes like this one on how to draw a bird. It was a popular program.

Here is one of the models for the drawing class. There is nothing like drawing from life. Mallory Pearce is the teacher. He is the adult on the right.

Donna of the Jekyll Island 4-H Center is getting her small group together to go out and learn to use the seine net. Oh yes and to learn what kinds of creatures there are in our waters.

So everyone had fun & we were able to reconnect some folks with our unique Georgia coast.

What a festival!

Wow! Georgia's Colonial Coast Birding & Nature Festival now that was 5 plus days of birding and nature fun. The list was compiled and there were 200 bird species seen. Here are a few pictures. Here is the group that went Rambling with me on Thursday. We had a very special bird show off for us. This is the immature Scissor-tailed Flycatcher who let us look to our hearts content.

Our keynote speaker was Don Kroodsma. He conducted a workshop that made you hear and listen to birds with new insights. Here the group is going out to the Glory Boardwalk to listen to catbirds sing.

Friday night at the Evening Social he signed his books. The newest one is titled Birdsongs by the Seasons. I highly recommend this book. Don Kroodsma in his workshop used it to show us how to listen to birds throughout the year. Fascinating! Now I have a deeper understanding of what to listen to with birdsong.