Labor Day Catfish Festival

I want to start by wishing eveyone a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend. This weekend marks the celebration of the Kingsland Georgia Labor Day Catfish Festival in Camden County. The Festival will run from August 30th to September 3rd.

I want to let ya'll know that I will be setting up my Wildlife Personalities and Scenery booth, selling photos of local nature, scenery and wildlife that I write about on this page. I will also be introducing a new DVD I have put together featuring scenes from our beautiful scenic coastal Georgia.

This Festival offers lots of good food, including Catfish, a parade, lots of Arts and Crafts booths, typical carnival rides for the kids and usually a large variety of entertainment all weekend long.

If you are in the area stop and say Hi and introduce yourself. I love meeting new people and making new friends.

Hope to see ya there!!

Georgia's Jewel After the Storm

Today was a good day. The rain finally stopped and the water and tides are receding. I stopped at the Welcome Center on Jekyll Island this morning to meet with Lydia and get some books and cards concerning the Birding and Nature Festival being held on Oct. 9th-13th. Today was also the start of on-line registration. It can be a bit of a nut house at first but it all worked out and it appears that the festival is going to be a great success! We had something like 219 hits on the web page in about two hours. Many trips are already booked to capacity!! This is great, this is my first year helping with the Festival and I'm learning alot, it's great to see it all come together. and Thanks to the lovely ladies at the Welcome Center for all their help this morning. But, anyway when we finished with all that my friend Lydia Thompson and I took a ride around the island looking for birds and checking out storm damage.
One of our first stops was along the banks opposite St. Simons Island. We lost alot of beach. Check out some of these pictures: The first one shows how high the water rose take note of all the debris in the path. The second shows a pipe access, which I am pretty sure was on solid ground before Tropical Storm Fay. The third picture shows how deep and far back the banks were cut by all the wave action.


We also had time to do some birding and ran into a friend of Lydia's named Ruth. She was down from Atlanta and was birding on Jekyll also. She took us down to St. Andrew's Picnic Area where we saw quite a few warblers such as the Yellow-throated Warbler, Black and white warblers, American Redstarts and a Yellow Warbler. While riding the Island we also saw lots Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Gulls and Terns. Here is a picture of a Little Blue Heron and a Great Blue Heron.

I haven't heard on any reports of how the Loggerhead Sea Turtle nests faired during the storm. This was a record year for nesting turtles on Jekyll Island. I would hate to think they were all lost. Mother Nature can be viscious sometimes. That's why we have to pick up the slack and help preserve and conserve our beautiful coastal area and all its resources. All in all I had a very enjoyable day! Thank you Lydia :)
Until next time be safe, slow down and take notice to all the wonderful things around you.

Quiet Little Pond in Brunswick

There is a quiet little pond in Brunswick behind the public ball fields which seems to be home to a variety of birds. I have made this small pond a regular stop on my weekend morning outings. Almost every weekend with out fail in the early morning I can find a Great Egret, a Woodstork, a Great Blue Heron, Yellow-Crowned and Black Crowned Night Herons, usually three Green Herons and a very shy Kingfisher. I do see a variety of other birds there also, I have seen Clapper Rails, Black Skimmers, Blue Jays, Doves and Woodpeckers to name a few.

This weekend I had a special treat....I found a juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron and I got about three feet away from him, resulting in some pretty good pictures I would like to share with you.

The two Photos on the top are Juveniles and the Photo on the bottom is an adult, most likely one of the parents. In all I spotted 3 juvenile Yellow Crowns. This little pond is just one more example of the Beauty that Surrounds Us. Every weekend without fail dozens of cars and people on their bikes pass by this inconspicuous little area and never take notice to the lovely creatures that call it home.

Although, I must admit it would probably be a much more memorable place if people would stop throwing their trash out around there and that would definitely benefit the wildlife.

Until next time, be safe and keep an eye on Tropical Storm Fay.

Hello

Hi ya'll! I'm Debbie, and I'm new to this. Just wanted to give some background about me. I live in Coastal Georgia and spend much of my time on Jekyll Island and the surrounding areas. Local parks, wildlife management areas, Kings Bay Navy Base, wildlife refuges and pretty much any dirt road my old Chevy Pick Up Truck can make it down. It doesn't always make it back out without assistance. Thank you to all those that have helped me in my time of need.
Anyway I hope to share with you some of the sights I see while out on my morning rides and walks. I want to share some of the places I go to, in hopes that you will go there too and appreciate all this area has to offer.

This area becomes addictive, there was a time when I didn't take the time to notice the Beauty that Surrounds Us. I was always in a hurry. Never slowing down and looking across the Marsh or even glancing at the top of the telephone poles as I went by. You might be surprised by what you can see on top of the poles such as Red Tailed Hawks, Ospreys and Bald Eagles just to name a few. Now I only live 10 minutes from the Jekyll Island Causeway, but I have seen days when it can take me and hour just to get to the Causeway and sometimes another hour to get down the four mile stretch of road to the Island. There really is soooo much to see.

I will also post the local Festivals and Shows I will be attending and I hope to meet lots of great people and get a chance to talk to many of you.