Georgia Venture Trip Report: October 28 -31 2004

Late fall is always an exciting time of the year. The summer birds are moving out and heading slowly south towards their wintering grounds and the winter arrivals are trickling in. Anytime one heads out into the outdoors to go birding, there are almost always a few surprises. We have just returned from a long weekend along the coast of Georgia, using Jekyll Island as our base for 3 wonderful days of birding. From coastal marsh and sand beaches to live-oak woodland and freshwater swamps, this area of Georgia offers a wide variety of habitats and consequently a large selection of potential bird species. Our trip started at the Super Sod Farm in Orangeburg, South Carolina where overcast and somewhat cool conditions kept the bird activity low. This is usually an excellent locale for dry land shorebirds, as well as for species such as Eastern Meadowlark and Horned Lark. It took us a little while to find the best birding spots, but we were soon rewarded with all of the typical grassland species, along with a most obliging female Painted Bunting. It was looking as if we would have a very pleasant and bird-filled weekend. Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is always a must-see place and so good this time that we made both evening and early morning visits. An American Bittern made a slow pass by where we were standing and hundreds of thousands of Tree Swallows clouded the air in insect-like swarms. We did not manage to see the Virginia Rail that scampered past our feet, but the other birds certainly made up for that one miss. 

On the coast of Georgia, Jekyll Island is always a pleasant place to stay and is an excellent base for our birding trips. A quick trip to the southern part of the island produced excellent comparisons of Royal, Caspian, Forster's and Sandwich Terns, along with thousands of Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring and a few Great and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. To see all of these birds in very close proximity to each other made learning the similarities and differences so much easier. It was the same with the hundreds of shorebirds roosting on the mud flats as we were able to pick through the mass looking for Short-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plover and Western or Stilt Sandpipers. Another one of the classic coastal marsh species we found include the bizarre looking Wood Stork, a species that has come back from very low numbers in the mid 1960's. This wetland species is now a fairly common sight in the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia, along with all of the other herons and egrets. An immature Reddish Egret was seen "dancing" in the shallows on St. Simon's Island and a roost of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons was at Youman's Pond. Other highlights were the 2 Soras that were quietly feeding in the marsh at the Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area. We had great views while the mosquitoes buzzed around our heads making continued viewing a little difficult, outstanding views of both Seaside and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow in the marshes near Fort Pulaski and a single Clay-colored Sparrow in the coastal thickets, also on Jekyll Island. With the good local seafood, hot, but good weather, and good company, this was a very good and enjoyable Venture with a total of around 130 species seen or heard.