Gray Kingbirds on St. Simons Island

We have a few pairs of Gray Kingbirds that nest on St. Simons Island. One pair is at the St. Simons VIllage. They like to hang out in the little oaks in the pier parking lot. In June, My birding buddy, Melanie and I discovered the kingbirds had fledged a couple of youngsters. 

There was an adult always around. One adult was busy chasing a Fish Crow.

One was just hanging out above the fledglings. 

But there is one pair, I love to watch. The birds are in a most unlikely place. They are in the parking lot of the Winn Dixie. It is fun for me because I enjoy hearing them sing. Look at where they are hanging out.  See the one on top of the light?

 This is him or her on the light.

This is right down the street from my home. I watch them all the time. It makes my day perfect.

Finished 2016 with a Weird Gull

On December 30th, 2016 I found this gull.

I thought it was a Ring-billed Gull. It had a yellow bill and yellow legs. Its back was a middle gray.

However, it looked strange. 

It had a winter hood of salt and pepper.

So I took a picture.

I got it home and looked at it. It seemed like a Laughing Gull.

But I blew it up, and the computer and it looked weird.

 Is it a Ring-bill Gull hybrid? But wait, what is the other gull?

Well, what do you think?

Least Tern are wrapping up nesting

It is August 6, 2016. The sky is beautiful, and it isn't as hot as it has been. I enjoyed this survey.

The Least Terns and Wilson's Plover are still out in the northern enclosure, 

especially in the middle and southeast side.

There are two Least Tern chicks very close to fledging and 

one Wilson's Plover chick that is maybe a couple of weeks away from fledging.

 The terns and plovers are using the north enclosure to rest at around high tide. 

This a young Least Tern. Isn't it lovely? It makes this nesting season worth it.

I counted 190 Least Terns total and one pair of Wilson's Plover. 

Ducky Day

Tuesday, we went to Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge. It is a charming small refuge on the Blackbeard's Creek. It has a lot of interesting history. I was an airforce base then it went to the McIntosh County, and finally, it became a Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge.
The first birds we saw was a large flock of grackles. There is a rhythm to large flocks of blackbirds.

But we came for the ducks, so we went on to Bluebill Pond. There we found ducks, lots of ducks.

There were lots of Blue-winged Teal. There were a few Gadwalls.

But we were there to see another duck. There he was swimming with the Blue-winged Teal.

It was a young Cinnamon Teal. He gave a few look looks and flew to the middle of the pond.

Here he is on the right with his head tucked under his wing. We watched the other ducks
                                                       Here they are feeding.

The Ducks were not the only birds as we walked around Billbill Pond up to Woody Pond; I spotted this Little Blue Heron. It was an excellent end to a Ducky Day.

It was a Ruff day

Last Wednesday evening, there was a post on Georgia Birding Online (GABO) listserv. This post said there was a Hudsonian Godwit and RUFF seen on Onslow Island. Now for twenty some-odd years I have NOT been in the right place at the right time to see the shorebird called Ruff.  Well, when I saw that post on GABO, I was ready to go the next day. There was a problem.

Onslow Island is part of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. It is a spoil island. Right now, it is only open on Wednesdays to birders.  We were going to have to wait six long days before we could try and see this rare shorebird. But wait we did.

It is Wednesday. Plans to carpool congealed and we- Sterling Blanchard, Bob Settelmyer, John Galvani, Priscilla Fleshmen and I piled into Sterling's car and went. Thoughts of will it be there whirled in our heads, but then the email came. The ruff and Godwit were there. Even more exciting news from that post was that there were two Ruffs!

We got to the parking area, and cars were jammed into every nook and cranny. We parked and walked, meeting smiling birders who had been there and seen the birds.

We topped the dike. There in front of us were the impoundment ponds.

There were shorebirds and ducks scattered across the area. We were lucky right off the bat.  The Hudsonian Godwit was in the area out in front of us. Tick that Georgia bird. Godwits are elegant shorebirds so what luck. It was there long enough for us to see it and watch it for a few minutes and then it flew up and over the tree line to drop down out of our sight.

Sorry about the poor quality but it was out in the middle of the impoundment pond.

After greeting some of the other birders who had come from far and wide, we settled down to looking for the Ruffs. Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers were checked out and ruled out. There is always a period of adjustment when I get to a new area. 

We moved over to the west side of the impoundments and shuffled through the yellowlegs. Finally, I found one bird that didn't look like the other shorebirds. The bird I was looking at was a little browner, and the bill look shorter. I called James Fleullan over. He was the one who had seen it the week before. He confirmed the "smaller Ruff."  LIFEBIRD what an incredible feeling to have looked and missed for so many years and there she was.  

Here is the Reeve on the left and the yellowlegs on the right.

It was fun watching them but where was the "bigger one." The group went looking and found the Ruff feeding on the edge pond.  

So I didn't just get a lifebird, I got two parts of the whole picture of the lifebird, both male and female. 

Onslow Island is a good little shorebird spot and Priscilla, and I will be back. Please remember that this area is only open to birders on Wednesdays. Be good birders so all of us can enjoy this Georgia Shorebird spot. 

I was out two times this week to look for birds.

Friday September 25, Breanna and I conducted an International Shorebird survey. There were lots of shorebirds gathered up in the wrack. We were fortunate to see two Piping Plovers. One was banded with color bands. On the left leg there was one orange band. On the right leg there was a metal band above the knee and a green band below the knee. I am excited to learn more about this little banded bird.

We also found one Common Tern among the Royal Terns.



On Sunday September 27, I joined a group of women who have known each other since the grade school.












We were going out to the beach but the tide was extremely high. We did find a Reddish Egret enjoying the surf. Then we walked up to 4th street to see the egrets and ibis.

 We also discovered some tiny frogs. You never know what you are going to discover when you get outside. To quote Bilbo Baggins, "It is a danger business stepping out your door. Step out on the road you don't know where you'll be sweep off  to."

 Katherine, my Grandniece is working on an school assignment called "concentrating." This was a perfect walk for her to spend some time discovering nature.

A gathering of Wood Storks

On Monday, I noticed this group of wood stork out in the marsh.  It 

was fun to take some time just to enjoy them.

Here they are enjoying a little gathering

They look like a bunch of judges to me. They are just hanging out.

A Kite Day

The kites that are right the end of the street inspired me to go see the congregation of kites at the Skeen Farm in Long County. That is about an hour and half northwest of the Golden Isles. There can be 100's of kites at the location a little later in the month. However Priscilla Fleshman is here for a week.  She wanted to see this show.

  On Tuesday July 21 we got to the farm around 10 am.  There were a few Swallow-tailed Kites flying over the fields.

 As the morning warms up, the kite numbers grew. It is a typical summer day, hot and very humid.

The kites keep come finally a few Mississippi Kites join the gathering. What a show! These birds are poetry in motion.











Beautiful Swallow-tailed Kites flying over the fields. They are swooping and catching the June bugs.








Then they eat them on the wing. It is fascinating watching them doing this graceful dance.













As noon approached, the birds began to disappear over the trees.

As we left the farm, we discovered we weren't along watching the show. These cows were enjoying it from the shade of a few trees. Not to be left out a Cattle Egrets had found its own perch.

These kites help make being here in the hot and humid well worth it.

2015 May Atlanta Shorebirds Workshop part 2

On Sunday May 17, Our Shorebird Workshop was out on the waters of the Altamaha River Delta to look for birds. Brooks Good had the perfect boat. It was a platoon boat. It was just like a floating dock. It made it perfect for looking at shorebirds.   We did see them.  Man, we did see them! It was so much fun.  See! 

At the end of one amazing stop we all let out a celebration whoop.

On the way back we stop by a grass island that was covered with all kinds of herons and ibis.

 All in all it was wonderful morning.

2015 May Atlanta Shorebird Workshop part 1

Brad Winn who was then working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources persuaded Lisa and Art Hurt to do this special Atlanta Audubon workshop in May. The Georgia Coast is one of those secret places where birds have a chance to rest on their migration routes. In May the shorebird time their migration to correspond with horseshoe crabs laying their eggs. Lisa called on Gene Keferl and me to help lead the group which i

s limited to 12 people.

This year’s workshop was time just right for the moon phase, tides and bird. Saturday, we met and carpooled down to the south end of Jekyll. We hit it just right! The tide was going out and the birds were dividing into the fest. 

I invited my friend Georgia Graves to come along. I met Georgia years ago when I starting leading groups for Coastal Encounter Nature Center. She is a wonderful engaging teacher who helps to show the connection between our coast and the birds. Here she is showing why the shorebirds are on the beach.

She uses a sieve to dig up the anthropoids that are

the favorite food of the Sanderlings and Dunlins. She also found a dead horseshoe crab loaded with eggs. These eggs are protein and fat packed perfect for shorebirds that are going to fly to the arctic.

Here are a few birds feasting on those eggs.. 

Of course, the reason I take the group here is to see the Wilson’s Plovers with their chicks. They did not disappoint us we saw all 5 chicks! Here is one picture by Larry Gridley.