Jekyll Point nursery school

Last Friday, I went out to the south end of Jekyll.  There were all ages of terns.  There were Least Terns resting before another attempt to catch a small fish or maybe even be feed a fish. 

Here is a Royal Tern fledgling looking hopefully at any tern. 

 When that doesn't work, it gets up and begs.  It didn't work the adult just walked off. 



 However for me,  I enjoyed watching all the Sandwich Terns resting in the area. 

 This is a very young Sandwich Tern.  The first time I saw one of these terns, I thought I had a rare species. 

Of course that bubble was popped when the adult came in and feed it a fish. It might be hot getting to Jekyll Point but it worth it to stand in a nursery school of terns.

Wilson's Plovers are beginning to move off the nesting grounds and up and down the coast.  Help the scientists who are studying them.  Here is what they are looking for and where to report the birds. Thanks to the hard to the hard work of these scientists, we can help these beach nesting birds.

Swallow-tailed Kite on Jekyll in June

There were several people who told me they had seen a Swallow-tailed Kite on Jekyll in June.  This is rather early or late for this species to be seen regularly on a barrier island.  However, they do nest just over the marsh so I did not think much about it.   Well, I did feel I was missing a beautiful bird so I did think about it a little. 

Late in June I got a call from Cheryl,  Captain Mark Miller from Little Cumberland Island had fished a bird out of the St. Andrews Sound.  This is the body of water between Little Cumberland and Jekyll Islands.  She wanted to know where to take it.  It was a raptor.  "Take it to the Turtle Center" I replied.  We need to know more about the health of our birds.  So the bird went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.  The bird was a juvenile Swallow-tailed Kite.  Was this the same bird everyone had been reporting to me? 

This is the kite when it arrived at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. 

 Here is Mark's story of finding the kite:

"Last Saturday, I was running a boat and spotted a bird floating in the water in front of St Andrews Park on the southern tip of Jekyll Island. I turned around and observed the bird trying to swim. We drifted up to it and at first glance thought it might be an eagle. It was attempting to paddle with its wings, definitely not a waterbird. We made a pass by it and I simply reached over and scooped it up. I took the bird to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Rachael checked the bird in to the center. It turned out to be a juvenile Kite. Over the last week it has been cared for by the Center and brought back to good health."

This bird recovered.

And yesterday July 10, Tim Keyes,
Wildlife Biologist,  Nongame Conservation Section, Wildlife Resources Division sent out an email. 

Since I don't have any pictures of the release, this a sketch I did last August of Swallow-tailed Kites feeding over a field.

Here is what Tim said:  "The release went well. We found a group of about 50 Swallow-tailed Kites feeding in Brantley county. Upon release the bird flew to a tree and perched for about 1/2 hour. It was then seen circling and foraging with other kites, and was seen feeding on the wing.


We have a transmitter on it, so we will try to keep track of it to confirm it is able to feed etc..."

This is a wonderful ending for a young bird.  Thanks all of you who were there to help.

Surprises happen when you least expect.  I am lucky to have a great group of volunteers for the Plover Patrol.  One of them is Molly.  She is my church pew mate.  When she heard about this project of mine, she just jumped right into the task.                                            Well, Molly had a youth group coming to the Golden Isles to work in the area.  She needed one more project.  She thought of me.  So on June the 21, eleven young people from Durayton Ave. Presbyterian Church, Ferndale, Michigan were on the south end of Jekyll to help Ben Carswell, Jekyll Island Authority's Director of Conservation.  There is a cross over to the beach called the Glory Boardwalk.  This boardwalk has been undermine by the rough surf in the last couple of storms.  Now, there is debris all over the south end.  These young people and there advisers were there to help.

It was a perfect day to be on the beach.  The group broke into smaller groups and went right to work.

 Here is one group uncovering part of the board walk partly buried in sand.  Last Monday, it had been floating.  Four day later on Thursday, it had to be dug up.

 Right down to the last board.

This group was working on just one part of the boardwalk.  There was lots more debris.  

Here they are filling up the truck.

While they were working, they learned a little about the beach.  Here is a wharf crab that they found.    One young man told me he enjoyed being outdoors and would love to be a Beach Ranger on Jekyll. 

 You never know, do you?  The Plover Patrol helps the plovers and other shorebirds but it is helping Jekyll in small ways. 

Thanks Ben for pulling it all together. 

Strong east wind

A strong east wind piled up Sargassum grass on Jekyll over the weekend

 This is one of those sea weeds that is really wonderful....quite cool.  When out on the ocean, it is a safe world for all kinds of creature, like baby sea turtles.  It has Wilson's Storm-petrels dancing over it looking for tiny crabs that live in it.  Wilson's Storm-petrel are sometime called sea swallows for their swallow-like silhouettes.

 Here some sargassum grass is rolling in the surf at the south end of Jekyll.  Don't you like its golden color?  It has little bladders so it can float of the surface of the ocean.

It is piling up right in front of the huge wrack line.  It appears the oldest Wilson's Plover chick has fledged and is now flying.   The second oldest Wilson's Plover chick still has the drooping wing.  Still it is running around and  gleaning insects in the middle of Sargassum grass.  Time will tell if this bird ever flies.  On the good news front,  we now have 4 new chicks on the southwest side of Jekyll.  Yea!

Putting up the fence one more time helps.

 Here is the oldest Wilson's Plover chick.  This bird is flying now! 

 The Second Wilson's Plover chick is close but we are wondering if this birds will fly.  However this little guy has surprised us before. 

 Sue Wagoner took all these pictures.  She surprised me by showing this picture.  It is the third chick on Jekyll! 

It took some work. Just last Friday, June 8, we had to put stakes back up. Here is Ben Carswell, Jekyll Island Authority's Director of Conservation hammering in one of those stakes.  It is a hard job but it is worth it.

      See!   The smallest chick is so cute.   It ran right by Sue.  Thanks Sue for these pictures.

The Wilson's Plover chicks grow up

I am just like a proud parent. Want to see the Wilson’s Plover chicks? They are growing up. Now I didn't take these photo. The credit goes to Melanie Kist.

 Melanie went on several of my Rambles at the end of May. She has a very good eye for photography. And she shares the photos. Here are a series of the younger Wilson’s Plover chick.

Here is Dad grabbing his own dinner 

 

These are tough little birds and a joy to watch.

  This little bird started out with a bad leg but that healed.

See this little one just eats one wharf crab after another. As you can see nothing hold the little guy back. 



You can see why I call this chick little. Here it is with the older sibling.