[Birdtalk] birding southeast Georgia (note: not about Utah birds)

[L. D. Giddings]

I had the opportunity for a few days last week to spend some time
birding in southeast Georgia. Yes, it was rather warm and humid and
buggy and I did run into alligators and snakes every once in a while.
But even on a part-time basis, the birding was absolutely marvelous. I
had an opportunity every day to see birds one only dreams of seeing out
here in the arid west. Every morning I was awakened by the calling of
blue jays, northern mockingbirds, brown thrashers, northern cardinals,
and carolina chickadees immediately outside my window. The variety and
abundance of waders was mind-boggling to behold. Pileated woodpeckers
were a "dime a dozen" bird - well, ok, almost, and least terns were as
common as America robins here at home. I had a chance to see species on
the Utah list which have that nasty little "O" designation because they
only show up in state once every 50 years or so, while others are not on
the Utah list because they have never been reported in Utah at all,
ever. Perhaps it's something about the liquor laws? But I digress.

By way of preparation, I bought a copy of "Birding Georgia" by Giff
Beaton and found it remarkably helpful once I was in Georgia and
wondering where to go. It was my good fortune to spend time birding on
Jekyll Island, St. Simon's Island, Altamaha waterfowl management area,
Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and the East Georgia Turf Farm,
all of which are well described in Mr. Beaton's book. The Georgia
birding hotline was also a helpful resource.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was my visit to Harris Neck NWR, about
50 miles south of Savannah. I went hoping to catch a look at a wood
stork. Stopping at the visitor's center, I was delighted to find painted
buntings at a feeder as an eastern wood peewee fluttered back and forth
from a nearby wire, fly-catching. According to Beaton, wood storks nest
at Woody pond, about 0.5 miles from the visitor's center. Parking is at
the base of a 10' high embankment that helps form the south end of the
pond, which appeared to be about half the size of Mirror Lake. As I
walked up over the edge of the embankment, I was met with the amazing
and unforgettable sight of thousands of birds, mostly white, roosting in
the trees along the east, north, and western edges of the pond. There
was an uncountable number of wood storks, great egrets, snowy egrets,
cattle egrets, little blue herons, tri-colored herons, green herons,
white ibises, glossy ibises, and anhingas soaring on the thermals
overhead, flying away over the trees or returning to the pond from who
knows where, sitting on nests, feeding young, or simply lazing in the
early afternoon heat. The din made by such a large number of birds is
indescribable. There were wood ducks and many dozens of common moorhens
swimming nonchalantly about as every now and then an enormous alligator
stealthily cruised past. It was my extreme good fortune to have a
roseate spoonbill soar immediately overhead and at a low altitude. About
an hour later a yellow-crowned night heron made a brief appearance. This
pond is one of the most remarkable natural sights I have ever seen.

I decided that my wife, who is not a birder, needed to see Harris Neck
and so I returned with her the following afternoon. The painted buntings
very obligingly fed from the visitor center's feeder as we watched. A
red-bellied woodpecker squawked at us from a nearby tree. When we
visited Woody pond, my wife found it as awe-inspiring as had I. We spend
about 15 minutes at the west end of the embankment as I helped her learn
what the various species look like. Many birds were so close to the
embankment that it was not necessary to use binoculars or a scope to see
them clearly. As we began to walk east, across the embankment, common
moorhens careless and casually ambled out of the grass and onto the
pond. My wife pointed to one moorhen and observed that "that one looks
different." It was because it was a purple gallinule. As I raced back to
the car for my camera, a vehicle pulled up with a Georgia birder. I
mentioned to her that we had just found a purple gallinule and she
hopped out of her car and began to quickly walk with me back to my wife,
who was now silently but wildly waving and gesturing for us to hurry.
When we reached her, we found that she had discovered a second gallinule
with two little black gallinule chicks in a small patch of cat-tails
about 20 feet from shore. The three of us stood there for nearly an hour
in that Georgia heat, the sweat pouring down our faces and backs, as we
watched mama gallinule preen and tend to her young while papa gallinule
worked the grass at our very feet looking for bits of food which he
carried over to his mate and babies.

Lu Giddings

trip list- species seen (75):
  American White Pelican
  Brown Pelican
  Double-crested Cormorant
  Anhinga
  Great Blue Heron
  Great Egret
  Snowy Egret
  Little Blue Heron
  Tricolored Heron
  Cattle Egret
  Green Heron
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
  White Ibis
  Glossy Ibis
  Roseate Spoonbill
  Wood Stork
  Black Vulture
  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
  Canada Goose
  Wood Duck
  Osprey
  Red-tailed Hawk
  Northern Bobwhite
  Clapper Rail
  Purple Gallinule
  Common Moorhen
  Wilson's Plover
  Killdeer
  Willet
  Laughing Gull
  Royal Tern
  Least Tern
  Black Skimmer
  Rock Dove
  Eurasian Collared-Dove
  Mourning Dove
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo
  Common Nighthawk
  Chimney Swift
  Belted Kingfisher
  Red-bellied Woodpecker
  Hairy Woodpecker
  Pileated Woodpecker
  Eastern Wood-Pewee
  Great Crested Flycatcher
  Eastern Kingbird
  Gray Kingbird
  White-eyed Vireo
  Yellow-throated Vireo
  Blue Jay
  American Crow
  Fish Crow
  Tree Swallow
  Barn Swallow
  Carolina Chickadee
  Brown-headed Nuthatch
  Carolina Wren
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
  Eastern Bluebird
  Northern Mockingbird
  Brown Thrasher
  European Starling
  Northern Parula
  Pine Warbler
  American Redstart
  Eastern Towhee
  Northern Cardinal
  Blue Grosbeak
  Indigo Bunting
  Painted Bunting
  Red-winged Blackbird
  Common Grackle
  Boat-tailed Grackle
  Brown-headed Cowbird
  House Sparrow