Thought I would recap the Georgia section of the trip and intend to do this for each major destination I stop at. This would have been helpful for me when I was planning this trip, so I hope it is helpful to someone else looking to do a Florida Road Trip or even just visit an individual destination.
Spent basically two elapsed days in the Saint Simons Area of Georgia although we spent the most time on Jekyll Island and had a good session in Brunswick. I ended our time there with 86 birds on my Georgia State Life List.
Most notable were –
Life Birds – Wood Stork
Anhinga
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Rare in the area – Common Goldeneye - Female
We saw very few ducks, but both Maria & I were surprised that there were Hooded Mergansers practically every where we looked. They are so plentiful in Rhode Island this time of year we couldn’t imagine they would be down here as well.
Also unexpected but possibly naively – Great Horned Owl who hooted us to dinner on our final night and Tree Swallows that flocked over us in the last place we birded in the area.
Overall, a productive and pleasant place to bird. The rest of this post is more about the sites where we birded and the habitat – I am going to group them by place because I think that will be more helpful for anyone considering a visit to the area. We were based in the middle of St. Simon’s Island in a Condo that overlooked the Ocean. Birded by ear from the balcony and had a Sora one day and a Virginia Rail the next from the scrubby and wet habitat between the condo and the ocean.
Saint Simon’s Island
The Condo was just one property down from Massingale Park. The park has wooded habitat that extends about 100 yards from the road then walkways that lead to the beach which has a salt “gully” (I
hesitate to call it a pond because it is only @30 feet wide). There is not direct easy access to the ocean side, it requires walking around the gully and it is not a quick jaunt. That being said, the edge of the gully was pretty productive with small short birds. There is a small marsh area around the corner (1st Street & Wood Ave) that we added to the session – that is where we found the Wood Stork (which a Garbage Truck flushed shortly after we arrived). Maria’s tip – she sees something there almost every time she passes by, you might want to stop in.
St. Simon’s Pier is a pleasant park & boardwalk on the water. It’s a short walk and often has Pelicans perched on the pier waiting for Fishermen to haul in a catch and share. Had my first Eurasian Collared-Dove and some lovely Bonaparte’s Gull. It was a nice way to start the morning, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go again.
Gould’s Inlet was the St. Simon’s super-spot. We arrived at just about the perfect time – Mid-rising tide. Tons of shore birds, pelicans and such on the surrounding sandbars. A scope it pretty important and you’ll find at low tide, the birds are too far away and at high tide proper they start to disappear. There were over 400 Semiplamated Plovers (but too far away to look for Wilson’s Plovers) Maria found a Tricolored Heron and some kind of rail, but it slipped away before she could identify it. Met several other birders there as well. One of the walked out to the point and spotted some Northern Gannets. Lots of different habitat and we hit it at the end of a long day of birding or we might have explored more. This is a don’t miss spot.
Jekyll Island – in general this was “eh” the first day when we were there at High Tide. We decided to return the next day at low tide and had a much better experience. If you are going here – check the tides!
The Causeway, which is simply the road into Jekyll Island, but it is surrounded by lots of productive marshes. We had to pull off a lot to look at birds and often because people are on a hurry to let someone pass. We had all kinds of shore birds, egrets and herons. Our first Red-winged Blackbird showed up just after I said “I’m surprised we haven’t seen a Red-winged Blackbird. Not the I was expecting a lot of them, but certainly a few. This was all birding from the car.
Welcome Center is just before the “toll” plaza where you pay $8 for access to the island. The Center has a bird observation tower where we saw basically nothing the first day at high tide and more the low tide day. Still not a lot of birds and nothing we didn’t see elsewhere. They have a clean bathroom – although in general there are lots of bathrooms around both islands.
Amphitheater Pond is mid-island and is a walk through a nice woods. We got there mid-day so it was kind of quiet. We entered through the Archway path, but found a flatter way back on the road to the right. There is a rundown Amphitheater where you could see a sliver of the pond – not worth the “climb” in my opinion. After a bit of exploring Maria found a path to the pond which had several kind of Herons, an Ibis, tons of mixed Egrets and of course the requisite Hooded Mergansers. It might be more productive earlier or later. I don’t think I would do it again mid-day.
Jekyll Island Wharf was really more of a lunch stop at high tide, there was almost nothing but Gulls & Grackles. We stopped the next day at lower tide and didn’t stay. The restaurant was good and there are good clean public bathrooms there, otherwise don’t bother.
Public Beach Access on the ocean side. There are two large public parking areas on the beachfront drive and both have easy access to the beach. Lots can be seen from the boardwalk we had a nice raft of Scaups and the expected Terns, Gulls & Pelicans. It is worth a stop and might be more productive with a scope or if you spent more time there. Our stop was a quick one.
Marina to reach it you drive through a new community under construction. There wasn’t anyplace to park (legally or otherwise) so Maria strolled around while I stayed in the car. It was a weekday and there is a business there, so parking might be easier on a weekend. I had a Peregrine Falcon flyby, but that was the best of it. Not sure I would go back.
Tidelands Nature Center/Public Boat Ramp This ended up being our favorite spot on the island. You enter into the Nature Center and there is a large pond that had good stuff around the edges and again, Hooded Mergansers. It is a quiet road but narrow, so an occasional pull off is required. Once we got to the boat ramp the real fun began. Someone had left most of a fish on the ramp and we had some very close encounters with a Turkey Vulture & 2 Black Vultures. Also a distant view of 5 American Avocets and my first Anhinga. We were there @11am, it might be even more productive earlier or later.
Clam Creek Picnic Area, another place you might want to skip. It is all the way at the top of the island – a long ride! We decided to picnic in the parking lot looking at the water and were besieged by Boat-tailed Grackles. There were at least 80 probably more and they were like the gulls at our beaches. We ate quickly and departed. Some terns and gulls on the pavilion/boardwalk and some nice habitat on the ride in. There is a trail that looked fairly flat and well maintained along the shore that might be more productive but we didn’t walk it.
Thanks to Maria Bloom for this addition:
Jekyll Island -- St. Andrews Picnic Area and beach is a productive birding hotspot on the southwest side of the island. There is a memory trail path which commemorates the story and survivors of the Wanderer, the last known slave ship which came ashore illegally in 1858 with 500 enslaved Africans (it's a World UNESCO site). Excellent birding there in the wooded trees and bushes along the path. The beachfront is also a short walk from the parking lot. The beach faces a marshy area, and has a lookout platform. It's a peaceful and serene spot with a nice picnic area and restrooms, and hits the mark for a good mix of habitats. We did not make it here, but Maria has been on a prior visit so put it on your list when visiting Jekyll Island!
Brunswick
Andrews Island Causeway this was also a wonderful birding spot. All from the car with a few stops. You do need to drive through a somewhat dicey area to get there. It is gated except from 9-5 daily. There is a “canal” on one side a cove on the other and lots of marshy areas it open to a large mudflat near the end. Tons of shorebirds, Egrets & Herons. Scope is helpful on the mudflats and there were many many many birds too far to ID on the flats. Had some great encounters and we had limited time, would have liked to have stayed longer or revisited.
That’s it until we return!
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