The past week has been great for migratory birds, especially waterfowl. Most notable was a Blue Goose, which was spotted on November 25 at Sancho Panza beach. We have also seen Bufflehead, Northern Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Hooded Merganser,  Horned Grebe, and Pied-billed Grebe. These birds have been seen at a variety of island locales, including Myrtle Pond, Skimmer Pond, the pond at the beach, and in Mosquito Creek.

On November 11, 2009 two island guests, Robin and Jen Green, spent their afternoon in a skiff sightseeing and taking photos of the beautiful salt marsh, birds, and other wildlife. One photo in particular was pretty unusual; the couple got a great shot of an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin with its dorsal fin out of the water. That in itself is not that unusual, but on the fin they observed some sort of a number. They came back and shared the photo with the naturalists.  We contacted Clay George, the marine mammal biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Clay responded that the dolphin was captured this summer as part of a health assessment project. The DNR was looking at the potential impacts of environmental contaminants on local dolphins in the Brunswick area. Biologists captured the dolphins and collected data, then marked each dolphin with a freeze brand. Some dolphins were fitted with radio transmitters, and some were fitted with satellite transmitters, but the dolphins’ skin responds to foreign objects by pushing them out, so many transmitters have fallen off. The freeze brands will be visible for several years.

The dolphin in the photo that Robin and Jen took is either Z18 or Z19.  Z18 is a male dolphin 224 centimeters (7.35 feet) in length. He was caught on August 11, 2009 in Back River. Dolphin Z19 is a female dolphin 218 centimeters (7.15 feet) in length. She was captured on August 12, 2009 in St. Simons Sound.

If you see a dolphin with a freeze brand, you can take a photo and pass the information on to the Georgia DNR, or contact us, but remember to stay a far distance back from the animal and use a long lens or binoculars to read the number.  If you get a picture from afar, you can zoom and crop on your computer to get a better a look at the number. You need a federal research permit to approach dolphins for photo ID.

On November 5, we spotted an adult Bald Eagle on the north end nest. We have been back to the blind to watch the nest several times since then, and we have seen an eagle there on many of those visits. There has yet to be a day when both eagles are at the nest, but we have seen two adults in the air at Myrtle Pond, probably the same pair.  We will continue to visit and to watch for more nesting activity. We haven’t seen any eagles at the nest on the south end yet, but we are also continuing to monitor the nest for activity!

As always, the wildlife on Little St. Simons is plentiful! We embarked on a journey up Old House Road on Thursday afternoon; the rains from Ida had let up though the temperature was still very cool. We enjoyed seeing the Resurrection Fern unfurled and lush green in color. Golden Silk Spider webs crossed the trail above our heads. At the end of the trail, we visited the north end Bald Eagle nest, and there was an adult Bald Eagle there! While we watched and enjoyed the eagle, the calls of two Great Horned Owls drifted through the forest. We left the eagle nest blind and followed the owl calls into the woods. It was nearing dusk, but there was plenty of light to see, and we did get to one Great Horned Owl fly through the woods. It was very exciting to see one in the daytime!

Today we spent the morning on the north end, and made our way around Myrtle Pond. No eagle was at the nest today, but we were treated to views of Wood Storks, Great and Snowy Egrets, White and Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, and Killdeer at Myrtle Pond. On the south dike, a seven foot alligator basked on the bank, but the highlight was seeing an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake swimming across a creek!

Thousands and thousands of Tree Swallows are still present on the island. To watch their aerial displays and how synchronized they are can take your breath away. Merlin fly through large flocks of the swallows causing quite an uproar and encouraging even more incredible maneuvers as the swallows try to escape! Eastern Meadowlarks have been seen throughout the island over the past several weeks. Pied-billed Grebes are becoming more common with every passing day.  Large groups of hundreds of adult and immature White Ibis are present in the marshes.

As for plants, the sweetgrass is beginning to fade to pale pink and even to a dull light brown. Goldenrod is finished blooming, and most grasses have also faded to a variety of muted browns.  Groundsel-tree, or Silverling, is in bloom, especially along the edges of Beach Road.

The 2009 nesting season for Loggerhead sea turtles is officially finished. For Little St. Simons Island, there were 52 nests, and 63 false crawls for a total of 115 emergences. Of the 52 nests, 11 (21%) were washed over by high tides at some point. One of those washed completely away; 7 out of the 11 hatched even though they had been washed over.

26 nests (50%) were relocated to a higher position in the dunes. During relocation, 2788 eggs were counted. The total number of eggs excavated during the season was 5213. Of those, 3703 were hatched, and 1510 were unhatched. Hatchlings found alive in the nests and released equaled 45 and hatchlings found dead in the nest totaled 51. The hatch success rate was 64.8%, and the emergence success rate was 63.1%

5 nests (10%) were predated on partially. The primary predator this season was the armadillo (3 out of 5 nests); this is a change from recent years. The other predation was by raccoons and by ghost crabs, who are normally the prime predators.

As for distribution, there was 1 nest on Sancho Panza, 16 nests on north Main, 2 on south Main, and 34 nests on Rainbow Beach (everything south of Mosquito Creek).

There were 3 loggerhead strandings this year; 2 turtles were found dead and one was found alive.   The live turtle was immediately taken to to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for treatment of what appeared to be a boat strike.

Additionally, another stranding occurred recently. A dead turtle was spotted on the beach by longtime island visitor and friend, Lee Breuel. She thought that it may have been an immature loggerhead, going by it’s small size. She informed Island staff. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. The cause of death was not obvious. Kemp’s Ridley turtles do not nest on the Georgia coast, but often feed here.