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.