What a great week for plants on Little St. Simons Island!  Yellow Jasmine is in bloom with bright yellow flowers; you can find this beautiful vine growing along Beach Road. The pink-flowered Azalea bushes are beginning to open, adding a splash of color to the yard of the Helen House. Laurel Cherry also has flowers in bloom. The small white flowers of Dewberry have begun to open, soon to ripen into delicious fruits.  Live Oaks are shedding their leaves. Other plants, such as Beauty Berry, Black Cherry, and Mulberry trees are just beginning to leaf out.  As the weather continues to warm, we’ll continue to enjoy the botanical show!

Night drives are a fun Little St. Simons Island activity; looking for owls, raccoons, deer and other night wildlife is an adventure the whole family can enjoy. Harrison Shapiro, aged 10, of Chicago, Illinois joined his family for one of these night excursions on the previous evening. He and his family were not disappointed… at one of the stops on the adventure an Eastern Screech Owl was called in, and landed in a tree very near the truck the family was riding in. Harrison was ready behind the lens, and snapped this great photo of the small owl.  Thanks for sharing, Harrison, and keep up the great photography!

Our “first of the season” Black-necked Stilts showed up at Myrtle Pond on March 18, and our first of the season Ruby-throated Hummingbird reports came on March 19 and March 22! Spring birding on LSSI is heating up!

Coral-root, a non-green species of orchid, is popping up throughout LSSI. The plant is a saprophyte, which means it gets its food from decaying plant material like fallen leaves. Coral-root is a small plant that can be seen abundantly within the yard around the Main Lodge.  Look for bunches growing in clusters along the main sidewalk between the Lodge and the Michael Cottage, especially in the yard of the Tom House.

There are always lots of fun treasures to discover on the seven miles of open beach at LSSI. A trip to the beach over the weekend produced many colorful whelks, pen shells, moon snails, and other treasures. Walking the shoreline at low tide, the beach was utterly strewn with driftwood, marine life, and other washed up goodies. Some of the more notable items seen included sea stars, sea cucumbers, a Butterfly Ray, and a few dead stingrays. Shorebirds were feasting on the bounty; species noted include Willet, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, and Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.

The two Bald Eagle nests on LSSI are some of the most fun places on the island to be this time of year. Each nest is thought to have one chick this season; on several occasions our naturalists and guests have had the chance to see the adults bring food to the nests. At each nest, we have only seen one bird react to food being brought in.

Each chick is rapidly changing. They have completely lost the downy gray look of newly hatched birds, and are an overall dark brown color. Their flight feathers are coming in and each bird is seen more and more frequently sitting high up on the nest. We believe the chicks to each be around seven weeks old. Typically, young Bald Eagles spent 75- 90 days in the nest.  The parent Bald Eagles at each nest are spending less and less time at the nest site; they are leaving the chicks alone for extended periods of time and only returning to bring food or to roost in the evenings.

Going birding at Sancho Panza beach is always a treat, and now is no exception. Recent sightings on SP beach include 2 Long-billed Curlew, 20 Red Knot, and a group of about 60 Marbled Godwit. There are dozens of Ruddy Turnstone, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied Plover, Semi-palmated Plover, Sanderling, Least sandpiper, and Forster’s Tern. There are hundreds of Dunlin and Royal Terns. We’ve also seen American Oystercatchers beginning to form pairs. Good numbers of Willet, Piping Plover, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls are also present. We have seen a few Black Skimmers. White Pelicans numbering around 50 -75 birds are still present; usually they are seen across the Altamaha River but they are occasionally in flight or on our beaches.

On March 3, a group of 10 Pectoral Sandpipers were mixed in with a group of Least Sandpipers and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs on the north dike of Myrtle Pond. Most of the waterfowl have left for the north. Most of the ducks we are seeing are Blue-winged Teal and Hooded Merganser. Coots and Common Moorhen are present in large numbers. One pair of Ring-necked Ducks is also lingering in Myrtle Pond.

Yellow-throated Warblers are beginning to sing in the forest. Other birds presently on the island include Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Meadowlark, Killdeer, Blue-headed Vireo, Gray Catbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Harrier, and Snowy Egret, just to name a few!

As the weather has finally begun to warm up, we’ve started to notice that all the reptiles and amphibians of LSSI are slowly emerging from their brumation period.  Since they can’t control their body temperature at suitable levels in cold temperatures, most of the snakes, turtles, lizards, alligators, and anoles of the island generally become dormant over the winter.

Walking transects through the areas that were recently burned, we discovered 11 Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes moving about over the course of one day.  This number is more than many people will see in a lifetime! Other snakes that have been sighted include Yellow Rat Snake, Black Racer and Coachwhip.

Yellow-bellied Sliders have been seen at the blind at Myrtle Pond, and beginning in early March American Alligators have been basking in the sun at numerous locations around the island. “Norm,” the adult male found at Norm’s Pond, has been a regular basker on the banks of his pond.

Southern Leopard Frogs have been calling around some of the freshwater sloughs, and Green and Squirrel Tree Frogs are also active.  Green Anoles are dashing about on the ground and in the trees.

As we see a continuation of warm weather combined with Spring rains, we should expect to see an even bigger increase in the number of reptiles and amphibians that we are encountering.

On Wednesday, March 3, a group of 11 Purple Martins were seen on the white Purple Martin house for the first time this season. The group consisted of both male and female birds. The martins were busily flying to and from the nest box, going in and out of the nesting holes, and flying out over Mosquito Creek feeding on insects.

We will be watching the nest box closely to see if the Purple Martins will decide to stay and nest here on LSSI or if they will move on to other locations. Stay tuned!