Yesterday morning was a day naturalists dream of… We took a guest to look at the two active eagle nests and came upon many other wonderful surprises. On the way to the south end nest, we pished a bit in the woods and were happy to find Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers. At the nest, we had a great look through the scope at the adult Bald Eagle patiently tending to the eggs beneath it. As we left the nest area, we looked down on the path and saw an area where a River Otter had been visiting regularly, if we were to judge by the scat left behind. Our guest asked if we knew where any Osprey nests were, and although it is early for Osprey to nest, we said that we would be happy to show her a nest site. When we reached the nest, we focused the scope and found a nesting Great Horned Owl! Next, a Loggerhead Shrike was hunting insects near the bridge on South End Road.

As we drove away from the south end and into the maritime forest, we noted two raccoon out in the woods. At the eagle nest, we got a look at that adult also tending to its eggs. An armadillo had made a den at the base of a tree near the blind. After that, we stopped at North Pond and saw a Greater Yellowlegs. Since we were having such good luck, we decided to make the loop around Myrtle Pond. On the north dike, a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk alighted on a dead snag and watched vultures soar around it. At the east tower, we saw a large group of American Coot, with a male and female Blue-winged Teal among them. As a perfect end, an adult Bald Eagle flew over the marsh and briefly landed on the ground. We thought perhaps it had found something to eat, but as it flew up, it had nesting material in its talons. We watched it head over the treetops towards the nest we had just left. All in all, it was an incredible morning on the island!!

On Saturday afternoon we made our way to Sancho Panza beach for a bit of afternoon shorebirding. We were delighted to see a nice group of Marbled Godwits, including several that were banded during last month’s capture attempt. We took note of three birds wearing the satellite transmitters, four additional birds with alpha-numeric leg bands, and two more birds with green flags. The birds with green flags were captured and banded in a project several years ago, which shows that the birds continue to use the same area year after year. Along with the godwits, we saw a Long-billed Curlew, American Oystercatcher, Forster’s Tern, Royal Tern, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, Dowitcher sp., Brown Pelican, and American White Pelican.

Many of our guests ask us, “What do you do when there aren’t guests on the island?” The answer is, we stay busy! We tend the organic garden, plan new programs, monitor wildlife, and maintain trails, among many other things. Last week, we “rediscovered” one of the less visited trails, the Wishbone Trail, on the south end of the island. Wishbone had gotten a little overgrown, so we armed ourselves with pruning equipment and went at it. Wishbone starts out crossing the marsh, and Fiddler Crabs abounded, quickly scurrying back into their underground homes as we passed. We reached the woods and began to follow the ridge line, making our way past pine trees, stands of saw palmetto, and stately cedar, magnolia, and live oak trees. A Great Blue Heron loudly protested our presence then quietly observed our progress. Songbirds like Yellow-rumped Warbler chirped all around us. When we reached the end of the trail we rested on a bench and watched a Northern Harrier float gracefully above the marsh, searching for its next meal. On the way back out, we saw a quick flash of a bird of prey in the woods, and debated its identity. The flight was silent and the head suggested the roundness of an owl. Within a few minutes, the hooting of a Great Horned Owl echoed weakly through the trees and confirmed our guess. As we headed back to the truck, we were thankful for the beautiful December afternoon and the wildlife that thrives on the island.

Little St. Simons Island is home to many species of animals and plants, and on Saturday, guests had a fleeting look at one of our more elusive mammal species, the mink. We were heading back from the beach and were just nearing the end of the marsh when a quick flash of brown fur scurried up one bank, crossed the road, and dipped down on to the other side of the bank. Mink are smaller than river otter, and smaller and more elongate than raccoon, so even with just a glimpse we were positive on our identification. Mink are usually found along streams and lakes and feed on a variety of foods including small mammals, birds, eggs, and fish. For the naturalists here now, this was our first mink sighting too! We couldn’t have asked for a better surprise to wind up a beautiful weekend afternoon.

For the second year in a row, it looks as though there will be two active Bald Eagle nests on the island. The pair with a nest on Three Pines Trail (visible from South Pond Trail) appear to have started to incubate eggs. The pair on the north end (visible from the Backbone Trail) haven’t started to incubate yet, but they are spending a lot of time around the nest and should be laying eggs soon. Bald Eagles lay an average clutch of two eggs, but can sometimes lay one or three eggs. The eggs hatch after 34 – 36 days. Once hatched, the eagle chicks will spend an average of 70 – 98 days in the nest before fledging. We will continue to watch and update you as the nests progress throughout the season.

Anglers are really having a blast going after spotted sea trout on the island. One couple caught and released 91 of the fish in one afternoon, and another fisherman pulled in a 23 inch whopper. Many of our recent guests have been introduced to these feisty fish and have thoroughly enjoyed their catches during cocktail hour. Fishing is good at the dock, at Mosquito Creek, and at Sancho Panza Creek as well. Guests have been catching the trout on red  jig heads with a variety of artificial lures.

Early in November, while on a kayaking adventure through Mitchell’s Marsh, we discovered a large green caterpillar floating in the water. I scooped him into my kayak; fairly certain he was dead, but still eager to identify him. However, as we returned to the lodge he began to twitch slightly, and by the time I reached the dock he was quite lively! He was crawling all over, and I began to worry that he would end up back in the creek again if I wasn’t careful. Once our group of kayakers were all on dry land, I decided to name the caterpillar Fernando and learned that he was an Imperial Moth. Since most caterpillars eat only one food source throughout their lives, and are not adaptable to switching once full grown, I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what Fernanado would like to eat. I offered him all the possible plant species listed as common food sources that grow on Little St. Simons Island. He ignored the live oak, the cedar, and the slash pine and instead spent all his time crawling around his new home. He continued to crawl and refused to eat for nearly two days, and began to turn a darker green color. I was getting very worried about Fernando at that point, so I decided to make his home more comfortable and added several inches of sandy dirt. With that he was happy! Within thirty minutes he dug down into the dirt and disappeared from sight. Imperial moths pupate underground, and when they reach their final instar they begin to travel away from their food source, which is presumably what Fernando was doing when he accidentally fell into Mosquito Creek. Fernando has been happily in his pupa for almost a month now, and will spend the entire winter tucked away. We will update again as soon as there is any movement!

We are seeing a lot of waterfowl moving through the island. There have been a lot of reports of Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal at several of our ponds. There have also been Wood Duck at Goose Pond, Black Duck at Myrtle Pond, Hooded Merganser on Beach Road, Redhead at Goose Pond, and Bufflehead in the Altamaha River. What a great time of year!

On Wednesday, December 3, biologists Brad Winn and Chris Depkin returned to Little St. Simons Island to continue the effort to capture Marbled Godwits. The goal was to catch godwits that could be fitted with radio transmitters. Four birds were fitted with transmitters on November 20, leaving four more transmitters for Wednesdays effort. The cannon net was set off right at noon, and the amount of birds captured was spectacular. 11 Marbled Godwit were netted along with 43 American Oystercatchers. Two of the Marbled Godwit were able to be fitted with transmitters, and all the rest received shiny new metal bands and colored alpha-numeric bands.

Several of the 43 American Oystercatcher were recaptured birds, meaning that they already had bands from previous capture attempts. One bird in the net was A1, the first bird to receive a red band in Georgia. Other state use other colors for their alpha numeric bands, and we also captured one bird from Virginia and one bird from North Carolina. Collecting data on these birds is a great way to track where the birds go and where they spend their time throughout the year.

Our guests got a special treat because they had a chance to see the process of data collection on shorebirds, and some of them were able to release the birds as they got finished. Future guests can help by looking for banded birds and recording the information. The more sightings that are reported, the better an idea we can get about where the birds spend their time.