And they are off

Today, 2 groups of young birders stopped by the Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop on Jekyll. They are starting their Youth Birding Competition. It starts are 5 p.m. today and ends at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Excitement builds Binoculars up

And they are off. Best of luck and great birds for all.

Wow! What a day. The warblers were everywhere we went. But the big surprise was this bird. Grasshopper Sparrow at the Amphitheater I really like this picture of the bird in the palmettos. It ended an amazing day.
Here is a list of the birds I saw today and places they were seen. Most of these were shared with the group. Jekyll Island, Glynn, US-GA
Apr 26, 2012 7:30AM - 1:00 PM
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Brown Pelican Clam Creek
Great Egret Amphitheater
Snowy Egret Amphitheater
Green Heron Amphitheater
Black-crowned Night-Heron Amphitheater
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Amphitheater
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle 2 River Bridge
Spotted Sandpiper 4 Clam Creek,
Willet 1 Clam Creek,
Least Sandpiper 3 Clam Creek,
Laughing Gull 25
Ring-billed Gull 4 Clam Creek,
Forster's Tern 5 Clam Creek,
Royal Tern 3 Clam Creek,
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift 2 Historic District
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 Campground,
Belted Kingfisher 1 Campground,
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Amphitheater
Downy Woodpecker 1 Amphitheater
Pileated Woodpecker 1 Amphitheater
Great Crested Flycatcher Clam Creek, Campground, and Amphitheater
White-eyed Vireo 1 Amphitheater
Blue Jay 2 Campground,
Fish Crow 2 Amphitheater
Tree Swallow 1 Clam Creek,
Carolina Chickadee 7 Clam Creek, Campground,
Tufted Titmouse 1 Campground
Brown-headed Nuthatch 4 Amphitheater adult feeding 3 fledglings
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 Clam Creek,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Campground,
Eastern Bluebird 2 Clam Creek,
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird 2 Historic District
Brown Thrasher 2 Campground,
Ovenbird 1 Amphitheater
Northern Waterthrush 1 Campground,
Black-and-white Warbler 3 Clam Creek, & Campground,
Common Yellowthroat 4 Clam Creek, & Campground,
American Redstart 1 heard Amphitheater
Cape May Warbler 2 Clam Creek, & Campground,
Northern Parula 9 Clam Creek, Campground, and Amphitheater
Blackpoll Warbler 1 Clam Creek,
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Amphitheater seen by Priscilla
Palm Warbler 3 Clam Creek,
Yellow-throated Warbler 2 Clam Creek, & Campground,
Prairie Warbler 6 Clam Creek, & Campground,
Grasshopper Sparrow 1 Amphitheater, photographed
White-throated Sparrow 2 Amphitheater
Summer Tanager 2 Campground,
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak 1 Campground,
Indigo Bunting 5 Clam Creek, & Campground,
Painted Bunting 4 Historic District & Campground,
Red-winged Blackbird 2 Clam Creek,
Common Grackle 2 Amphitheater
Boat-tailed Grackle 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 3 Campground,
Orchard Oriole 1 Campground,
House Finch 6 Campground,
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

A little conflict on the beach

While out with a group at the south end of Jekyll on Wednesday, we watched these two Wilson's Plover males have a territorial  dispute They would circle each other. 

Then suddenly run at each other and clash.  Wow! a little drama and the beach.  In the end, one bird took off and the other stood triumphant.

Kids birding on Jekyll

The first part of April, I had several groups of young people go birding on Jekyll. Here is Janice and her family at the Amphitheater enjoying the wide variety of birds. India is drawing and Molly is looking on.Wood Storks were the high light but a caterpillar also got studied. What fun!
Then on one of my short rambles Emma joined Sandra & I to go find some birds. As we travel a short distance, Emma looked up the birds for us in the Crossley guide I keep in the van. She is very excited about going to Camp Talon this summer. Camp Talon is a birding camp for young people age 13 to 18. She is going to have a blast. She is also an artist. I told her to draw at every chance she gets.

Wilson's Plover sitting on a nest

Thursday's Bird Ramble group went out to check on the area. It was amazing the number of birds that were out there. One of my volunteers was out doing an Operation Plover Patrol beach surveys. He was down the way a bit so we did not disturb him. We found the first pair of plovers or should I say the male Wilson’s spotted us and began to attract our attention when another male Wilson’s came over. They did do a little sparing and then settled back down. Our attention was divided between the large number of gulls, terns and shorebirds resting beyond Jim the volunteer and looking for the Wilson’s. We did locate one nesting plover sitting on a nest. We then moved down the beach and watched the main flock. We had skimmers, Forster’s Terns, Royal Terns, Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls plus a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Mixed into those birds were Dunlins, and Sanderlings. Two Least Sandpipers landed with 30 feet of us.
When we finally got up to Jim, he was almost finished with his two hour survey period. He pointed out the American Oystercatchers. He also told us there had been two Wilson’s near him during the survey period but had lost them. Two of my groups were looking for the birds and they located them up in the dunes well inside the fencing. The Wilson’s pair was mating. They will be nesting soon. There is even a pair of Eastern Willets flying around looking for a territory. In years past the Willets have failed when they attempted to nest. This year they might succeed. So nesting season on Jekyll is off to a good start.