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.

January 31 sunset

Every time I cross the Jekyll Island bridge going home, I just want to stop at the top and look out over the beautiful marsh. January 31, it was so beautiful I did stop. Here is the sunset reason why.

Picture of the day

Here is a photo taken by Bill Flatau. It is the Common Eider that was seen last year off of Sea Island. Thanks Bill for sharing.

Day two; Water bird count & sparrow hunt

Day two intense birding continues:
The Sunday evening I got home just in time. My friend Paul Lehman was coming into town. He was on a ticking mission. What is a ticking mission? Well, Bird Ticking is a game birders play. The idea is to get at least 50% of the birds possible in each of fifty state and the Canadian Provinces. It means you get to know the birds well and see the habitat. Paul goal here was the Common Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, and Harris's Sparrow.
Paul & I met many years ago when I lived on the road. He was traveling too so we often ran into each other. Over the years, I have camped at his home. Now, I was returning the favor.

Monday Morning, we were at the Harris's Sparrow field at first light. The Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area just south of Darien, GA is managed for wildlife. There are lots of grassy field with great seed crops for wildlife. The sparrows are plentiful. Do you want to really get to know your sparrows? Well this is the place. There are Savannah Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Field Sparrows. Early we both got a glimpse of the Harris Sparrow but it quickly disappeared into the thick brush. Paul got several more glimpses. While we look he talked about where this sparrow might be found in the field. Knowing where to look is half the game. At one point, I flushed a Barn Owl. It was a beautiful owl.

I had the Winter Waterbird Survey. We had to leave. This year, the count was combined with the Piping Plover count. U.S. Fish & Wildlife joins forces with Canada and Caribbean countries to count Piping Plovers. There were birders on the beaches from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida all at the same time counting birds at the same time. This is a great snapshot of the number of shorebirds, sea ducks and sea birds there.

So at 10 a.m. We met Chris Cappola and drove over to Sea Island, a private island. Bill Flatau had a beach vehicle. Paul went looking for the large raft of scaup (ducks.) We head south to survey. We did find one Piping Plover and a lot of shorebirds. Paul called to tell us he had the ducks including the rare ones. We were counting so it took us a little time to get to 27th Street. We were not too late. The raft of ducks were over 3000 strong.

I have a counter so I took on the task of counting the entire raft. Bill and Chris started looking for the Common Eider and Long-tailed Duck. They were found and we all got looks. Still that many ducks was a stunning sight.

Still we could not linger. We were on the count so we headed up at the northern end of Sea Island. There were more shorebirds. Yes, I was in my element. By the time we finished it was a little after 2 p.m. Lunch and a quick look at Gould's Inlet and we were headed back to the sparrow fields.

Gene Keferl joined us and we looked and we looked. We looked at a lot of sparrows but none of them were the Harris's Sparrow. Paul did find a Lincoln Sparrow. After the frustration of the Harris's Sparrow the Lincoln Sparrow was a good end to the day. At the end of two day of intense counting I saw 94 species of birds. Not bad, I also saw pine lands, wetlands, weedy fields, beach and ocean and a lot of wonderful birds.

Intense birding Day 1

The past two days I have been intensely birding. My goal was to count birds. Sorry, there was not a lot of time to take pictures.

Birds are important to all us because they are indicator species. They tell us how our planet is doing. No birds around, we are in big trouble. But how do we know when to push the panic button? These bird surveys give us a base line to see if we are doing OK.

On Sunday, I was helping with a winter bird count on the Federal Law Enforcement Center. We had a great day for counting. It was a cold but the birds were active. Here are a few highlights. A Sharp-shinned Hawk started our count. It flew out of the trees in front of us. Sharp-shinned Hawks are small agile birds of prey. They hunt small forest birds. Hawks are equalizer. We counted several species of warblers, the jewels of the bird world. They eat bugs that bug us. We kept going until well after 3 p.m. We finished the count day with an immature Red-shoulder Hawk.

After that count, I raced home. I was invited to a party with some of the birders gathering for the next day's count. But before I could get out the door I got a bird alert phone call. Two Western Grebes were seen off Sea Island. Birders had them in the scopes. OK, I can chase that sighting. Chasing a bird is natural adrenaline rush. You get there and there are other birders there. When new birder come in questions are fired off. "Do you have the bird?" "Where is it?"

Yes I asked the questions. Yes, the two birds were out there. They were way out there on the ocean. Bob Sargent was kind enough to let me look through his scope. I saw the birds but all I saw was a very white cheek, a very black above the white cheek as the birds bobbed in and out of sight. I did see a very long white neck and a very black back. Better view desired, please. But not this evening. The light was fading.

The birders all got to Bill's place to share a little chit-chat. It was a perfect cap to a beautiful day. Thanks Bill for thinking of me. Stay tuned to part 2.

Jonathan's project update

Remember Jonathan’s project, well here is a good beginning. It is out of the way down a path. It will be a good outdoor classroom for the Jekyll Island 4-h center. This center has sessions for schools from all over the states. The kids learn about the Georgia coast first hand. They are in the mud. They are on the beach. They see fresh water and salt water. They will learn at this outdoor classroom while birds fly in and out of the feeders. Maybe it will spark some of these kids get out side in their own hometown. Maybe they will recognize a bird and spark a life time connection to the out-of-doors. Way to go Jonathan and the Jekyll Island 4-h center!

Hidden Lake on St. Simons Island

Silver Lake is right smack in the middle of St. Simons Island. It is down a quiet lane off Frederica Road, one of the busiest road on the island. But just turn down Silver Lake Drive and you will find a beautiful little lake and lots of Hooded Mergansers. It is an elegant duck.