June Wrap-up
June has been a very exciting month for wildlife on LSSI! Here are some of the highlights:
- Fallow Deer fawns are being born and can be seen with their mothers throughout the island
- Black Skimmers, Least Terns, Wilson’s Plovers, and American Oystercatchers are all nesting successfully on our beaches; three of the American Oystercatcher chicks were fitted with leg bands to help track them throughout their lifetime and two of the three have been seen flying along the waters edge at the beach!
- Groups of baby armadillos have been seen on Beach Rd.
- Sea Oats are maturing on the beach and are a beautiful pale green in color
- Sea turtle nesting is very successful; our current tally is 64 nests and 91 non-nesting emergences (false crawls); on June 9, an injured green sea turtle was found and taken to the turtle center on Jekyll Island, and on June 14, a green sea turtle crawl was found — no nest was discovered, but the area is marked as a potential nest site that we will continue to monitor
- Fishing in the surf and the creeks has been productive for small to medium sized sharks, and the creeks are very productive with bait fish and shrimp; juvenile (6 – 10 inch) redfish can be seen swimming just under the surface in Mosquito Creek when the conditions are right
- Black Terns and Reddish Egret have been sighted in and around the beach pond
- There was a lightning strike mid-month that ignited a small wildfire in the large tract of marsh east of Myrtle Pond; because these types of wildfires are a natural process (and beneficial!) the head fire was allowed to burn itself out naturally and the backing fire was extinguished for safety. The estimated area burned was about 4 acres.
With all of these exciting things happening on Little St. Simons Island, don’t you think it’s time for your next (or first) visit? We hope to see you soon!
