Fall is a great time for birding, especially along our northern-most beach, Sancho Panza. Last week we spent several afternoons with binoculars and scopes, watching a wide variety of shorebirds feed as the tide dropped. One day we saw Piping Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers, seven Long-billed Curlews, close to forty Marbled Godwits, large flocks of terns and Black Skimmers and over one hundred American Oystercatchers. It was an incredible sight. After seeing only pairs of oystercatchers here and there on the beach during the summer, it is amazing to see them in large flocks for the winter months. Quite a few individuals were banded, and as a group we all took turns trying to read the digits on each bird’s leg band. The bands are color-coded to represent the location where the bird was banded, and each band has a unique alphanumeric code to identify the individual. We saw several native Georgia birds with red bands, also birds from South Carolina (dark blue) and Virginia (black). By contacting the Department of Natural Resources with our re-sight information, we can find out where a bird was born and where it nested. One bird on our beach came south from Wolf Island, and another, T2, was banded this past summer right across the sound at Egg Island Bar. Using an easy to read band allows the average birder a chance to participate in helping to track these birds, and gives the Georgia DNR information about wintering and nesting patterns. We’ll continue to look for banded individuals to see who is wintering on our beaches!

American Oystercatcher T2; photo by Brad Winn

The plants are LOVING the arrival of fertile growing soil and the cooler weather. Planted in the six raised beds are: Salad greens, spinach, arugula, chard, collards, kale, pok choi, broccoli, carrots, beets, radishes, onions, twelve different kinds of herbs, and edible flowers.

The tilled areas of the garden will soon be planted with a cover crop of rye to grow over the winter and provide fertility and water holding capacity to the soil for future garden or orchard plantings. They call this green manure. Meyers lemon, brown turkey fig, and ruby red grape fruit trees are also part of the garden now!

Silverling trees, also called Sea Myrtle, and Goldenrod are blooming on the island right now, and the butterflies just love it. We are seeing an abundance of Gulf Fritillaries, Monarchs, Zebra Longwings, Little Yellows, Long-tailed Skippers, White Peacocks, and many others dancing through the skies on their delicate wings. The colors and patterns of these amazing creatures are just stunning to behold.

We had a pond tour this morning, and so many neat things are happening on the island that we were delighted to find. On Beach Road, Goldenrods are blooming and the Gulf Fritillary butterflies are all over them! At Norm’s Pond, a Green Darner was flitting over the surface feeding on mosquitoes and there were hundreds and hundreds of Tree Swallows in the air feasting on the same bounty. Two small alligators watched the action with us. After Norm’s Pond we moved on to Skimmer Pond and had a nice look at a Great Egret and two Black-crowned Night Herons, and a Peregrine Falcon flew overhead. The real fun was out at the newly forming beach pond on Main Beach. There, a Reddish Egret danced in the shallows, doing it’s best to find some prey. The bird had his eye on another bird as well — it turned out to be a white morph Reddish Egret; too cool! While we were on the beach, we also saw two more Peregrine Falcons having a rest, an Osprey flying overhead, a Western Sandpiper, Sanderling, Great Egret, and a banded Piping Plover from the endangered Great Lakes population. We also saw Tiger Beetles and a few Long-tailed Skipper butterflies. All in all, a great morning.

There have been some exciting changes and new beginnings in the organic garden. First, we’ve constructed raised beds to help retain moisture for our newly seeded crops. After getting a barge-load of compost delivered (we’re composting many materials on the island, but we needed a LOT of compost to start!) we were able to plant the fall crop. All the plants are starting to sprout and are doing very well. We’re continuing to compost with the use of tumblers, vermicompost bins, and a three compartment manual bin. Amy has also added windowsill garden boxes in the kitchen so that the chefs can have fresh cuttings of herbs at their fingertips.

Today for Fall Birding Days we took a pre-breakfast bird walk up the alternate Old House Road Trail to look for fall migrants. We were lucky to be joined by guest ornithologists Giff Beaton, Brandon Noel, and Joelle Gehring, all of whom have exceptional pishing and id skills. Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, and Brown Thrasher were the birds of the morning.