My Saturday Morning "Me" Time

As most of you know by now, I like to take off in the wee hours of the morning on the weekends to watch the sunrise and watch the world wake up.  A sunrise bring me inner peace and relaxes me after a busy week.  This morning I took off for Jekyll Island.  Jekyll is my favorite nearest faraway place.  When are the tourist are still in bed that is.  Not that I have anything against tourists, I'm glad that they enjoy our little Georgia Jewel.  But it is very difficult to charm the critters or capture that serene moment on Driftwood Beach with people every where.  So, I came on to the island and hooked a left at the round about and the first thing I see is this little happy family of locals:

Mom

 

Dad

Baby

How perfect is that to start your day.  They were just strolling along the edge of the trees nibbling on leave and grasses.  I was able to pull over on the shoulder of the road and watch them for a long while.  If every one had been up and moving about; some one would have surely blew the horn at me or sped around me and scared my new friends.  After they wandered off into the woods to find a cool place to lay down I moved on to watch the sunrise.

I stopped at the Jekyll Club entrance to the beach and started out.

 Peace and Tranquility

The beautiful early morning light even made my poor old pick up truck look pretty! 

From there I moved on to Driftwood Beach for a few moments:

The beach was surprisingly empty and quiet.  All I could hear was the sound of the waves coming in against the rocks...and the Dora F as she was out there running her shrimp nets.  I was able to capture quite a few good shots of her.  I love watching the old boats and it is amazing how all the birds appear out of nowhere when the nets start coming up.

And although this sweet little red balloon adds a spot of bright color along the edge of the water, this is not a good thing.  I know people like to release balloons at their wedding and they always seems to get away from small children, but the are also very hazardous to sea life.  Especially the sea turtles that nest on the island.  They can mistake the balloon for food and ingest it causing life threatening problems for them later.

And I wasn't completely alone on the beach.  There were many fiddler crabs

and these other creepy insects.  I'm sorry I don't know what they are, and I'm not a big fan of bugs.

I left Jekyll Island and headed south on Highway 17 toward Woodbine.  The further south I drove the foggier it started to get.  Before I knew I was in a heavy fog bank.  Which by the way can make for some awesome photo opportunities.  I came across another family, the turkeys!  They were along the roadside feeding in the high grass.  Unfortunately, fog doesn't make for the best turkey pictures.

But I had fun watching the hens trying to keep the chicks in line, I think she said she had enough of this and headed for home down the dirt road.

I shall wrap this up for now.  I hope you don't mind me sharing some of my "Me" time with you.  I'm all about sharing my experiences after I have had my quiet time.  Until next time, be safe and remember to enjoy all the Beauty that Surrounds Us.

Georgia Shrimp Boats...Working Art in Motion

Well, it feels as if we are into the dog days of summer and it is only the first part of July.  We should be totally deep fried by August and then burnt to a crisp by the end of September!  In all honesty, I prefer this to snow...this girl can't handle the cold anymore.  Well enough of that, I was trying to think of a topic for today and as I was coming over the Sidney Lanier Bridge I saw a few shrimp boats heading out for the day and I thought that's perfect!  I love photographing the old wooden shrimp boats.  They have personality, if they could talk; the stories they could tell:

This photo was taken probably eight years ago or better when the Brunswick City Dock was full of the shrimp boats that helped build the culture of Brunswick.  This particular bunch of boats caught my eye because of the first one...the Himroid.  Which is how I feel about my husband's boat and it isn't a shrimp boat or any near as big!  The Himroid sank in the Brunswick River not far from the Sidney Lanier Bridge.

       

 The photo on the left is an old one also of the Dock behind Knights Seafood.  I don't believe any of these three are still in service.  The Sunrise shot is in Darien and I am happy to say I have seen both of these boats recently.

 This is a shot of part of the shrimp fleet in Darien.

This boat The Mary B was once owned by Jeff Brannen and was named after his wife Mary.  Mary had asked me a few years ago to photograph this boat and it seemed I could never find it while it was out working.  Then this spring I was out on Jekyll in the early morning and there she was.  I met Mary's son at one of the festivals and he bought this picture for his Mom.  I later found out that Mary passed away that night after a hard battle with cancer.

On that same morning I also was able to photograph this boat the Gambler as it passed by Little Cumberland Island.  The Gambler is currently docked in Woodbine, Georgia and is still currently shrimping.

Here is the Miss Harley shrimping of the coast of St. Simons Island.  She is no longer in service.  The other is the Kevin and Bryan along the shoreline of Jekyll Island, they came in so close I thought I could climb on board.  The Kevin and Bryan is docked in Darien and I believe it is still in service.

 I find the wooden shrimp boats very interesting, a piece of working art.  I find it very peaceful watching them heading out in the early morning.  I realize it is a lot of hard work for the people that work these boats.  This one is the Hard Times heading out past Jekyll.  I think the name says it all.  The price of fuel going up, imported shrimp running the prices down, high cost of insurance and the long hard days can make for some Hard Times.

And all to often they meet their demise, some times just wear and tear, the carelessness of others, the victim of unseen sandbars or they fall prey to the ocean....

 The Sunhippie was originally out of Key West, Florida but wound up on the hill in Brunswick to be scuttled.  She looks as though she put in many years of service.

 

The Capt JW was at the dock, when another boat came in and pushed against the pylons and she sank and was later stripped down of all valuable parts and she eventually wound up in the same heap as the Cobia shown below.

  I was told at one of the Art Shows, where I get to meet many of the people who work and own these boats, that the Captain of the Cobia had a heart attack, wound up running aground and passed away.

This last one is All that Remains of the south end of Jekyll of the shrimp boat the Marianne.  Well, this is just a small collection of some of the shrimp boats I have photographed.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Keep the shrimpers and their families in your prayers and remember friends don't let friends eat imported shrimp.  Wild caught sweet Georgia shrimp Only!!

All this in just a few hours!

I look forward to the weekend not just for time off from work, but for the ME time I get in the early mornings.  On the weekend, when I don't have to work or have an Art Show, I look forward to the early morning hours between 5:00am to may be 10:00ish.  Glory Beach in search of the nesting Wilson's Plovers my friend Lydia has been working with and hoped for maybe a chance to see a Loggerhead heading back to the water after laying her eggs.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Loggerhead, but I did see the evidence of previous turtles and thanks to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, these nests have been documented and marked so people do not unwittingly disturb the nest.

 As I walked down the beach in the early morning light, I felt the peace and solitude I look forward to all week.  Just the morning breeze, the birds starting to chirp, the sound of waves rolling in, watching the pelicans flying low along the water and the glow of the sun as it slowly rises.  You have no idea how much this helps recharging my batteries for the week ahead.





It is hard to believe but I am the only one on the beach this morning, all of this; all to myself!  I walk down a little further and I see a small little bird, he is walking toward me then toward the water, from the water back up the beach a bit, but he is watching me.  This is the Wilson's Plover area I was looking for:  I believe this is the male trying to distract from taking notice to his chick.

Now spotting the chick or "Junior" as I call him, is a bit more challenging.  It is like to spot a cotton ball with legs along the high tide line.

After sharing this photo with my friend Lydia Thompson she informed that this is the youngest of the Plover chicks on Jekyll Island, he hatched out on May 26th.  After watching this amazing little bird for a while I headed back to the boardwalk.  It is important to remember that this is an endangered species and we should do all we can not to disturb them or stress them out.  We can make them more vulnerable to predators by getting to close or causing the chick and parent to run and hide.  This little baby is only 18 days old.  If he uses all his energy running from people, he won't be able to run from the natural predators that would find him a tasty snack.  To learn more about these amazing little birds you can contact the Plover Patrol on Jekyll Island or check out Lydia's Blog Coastal Georgia Birding, which you can find on the left hand side of my page.

 

As I headed back I came across this little Ghost Crab doing some house keeping...I tried to convince him to go to my house that there was plenty of house work waiting to be done there.

As I was walking back to my truck down the boardwalk I spotted a cute little bunny and a black tailed Doe.  Neither one seemed to care that I was there...guess they were in their Happy Place also.

 

  After leaving the island, I headed to Darien to check on Momma Osprey and her chick at Butler Island.  What I though was only one chick was a nice surprise when I spotted the second one.



On the way home I stopped by Homer Wilson Way in Brunswick, not far from the downtown area across from the marina.  This is a great place to bird.  I did see the usual suspects: willets, gulls, a great blue heron, snowy egrets, a clapper rail, grackles and red wing blackbirds.  But there was something new this weekend....I saw my first Diamond Back Terrapin!  She was in the middle of road, so as I always do with all turtles and tortoises, I stopped to help her across to high land to lay her eggs,.  I could not believe how beautiful she was.  The Diamond Back Terrapin has the sweetest face I have ever seen on a turtle.  Her eyes are so bright and clear and they just look like they are smiling.

 

All this...and it is only Saturday!  Hope you all enjoy your weekends as much as I do!  I never fail to find something different or new and exciting.







Happiness is watching the Sunrise

I'm going to take a little break from the birds for today.  I apologize for not posting anything this weekend, but I had to work some overtime at my real job.  We work 12 hour shifts which means I start at 4 am and finish at 430 pm; not to mention my 35 mile drive to and from.  Anybody who knows me, knows I love the weekends and heading out early to catch the sunrise and watch the world wake up.  I love to explore our beautiful Georgia Coast and capture all its natural beauty with my camera.  So getting up earlier is really not a problem for me.  I'm up at 4 am everyday.  My regular workday starts at 7 am, So I can usually find a few minutes every morning to drive down by the river, or stop by one of the lakes at work and sit, relax, listen to the birds start chirping and watch the sunrise.  It is my favorite part of the day.


Titled "Inner Peace"    On Jekyll Island, one of my most favorite places.

What I would like to do today is share some of my favorite sunrises that I have captured.  The one thing that bothered me most about working this weekend was not being able to stop and watch the sunrise.  It can take me from a not so nice mood to Happy in just a few moments.
  So for all those people who say I'm crazy for heading out so early on my days off, that I should sleep in and get some rest; I want to show you what amazing scenery you are missing out on while you use your time off to sleep.  Life is too short to miss out on this time of the morning and all the wonderful sights.  I feel my life is made better by each and everyone of these sunrises.


Titled "Marsh Sunrise"  At Etowah Park on Kings Bay Naval Base


The "Marsh Sunrise", just think what I would have missed out on if I had gone to that Sexual Harassment training,  I personally think my choice was much better and if any of you have ever been to this training; you would agree with me!  Beside I know how to harass the pople I work with, you can ask any one of them.

Titled "Daybreak at the pier"  St. Simons Island

Any if you that have ever spent much time down by the pier on St. Simons Island you know that during the day, after day break, you can't possibly take a picture of the pier without having all kinds of peeps in your photos.  What did you want to remember about the Island; the beautiful pier or all the people? My point exactly!!

Titled "Radiance" at Homer Wilson Way in Brunswick

And last but not least I leave you with this inspirational moment I caught at Homer Wilson Way in downtown Brunswick.  Need I say anymore??  Get up and treat yourself to a quiet moment and watch the world wake up!

Great Egrets

In keeping with the bird theme, today I would like to talk about the Great Egret.   Whenever I see a Great Egret; I think Simple Elegance.  The Great Egret stands about 39" tall, is all white with a yellow bill and long slender black legs and feet.  They look sort of prehistoric in light with their long neck tucked in.   During breeding season they get a greenish blue patch in the corner of their eye.  I always tease and say they are wearing their eye shadow.  This bird is so familiar to almost everyone along the Georgia Coast, we see them all time along the marshes, roadside ditches, ponds and even on the beach.  But, have you ever stopped to watch this Egret hunt its prey; they gracefully high step along the muddiest river bank and never seem to get dirty.  Then in a instant they seem to freeze so they cannot be detected by their intended meal.  The pictures below show an Egret in the marsh and one perched in a cedar tree near Ski Rixen Pond on Jekyll Island,  In picture on the right you can see the long plume feathers the Egrets use to display and entice to their potential suitors during mating season.

   

These long feathered plumes almost caused the demise of the Great Egret and many other wading birds in the late 1800's due to hunting the birds for their plumes to decorate fancy hats and boas.  The formation of the Audubon Society surely helped restore these magnificent creatures back to a healthy population.  The picture below is two Egrets displaying and building their nest at Etowah Park which is located o Kings Bay Naval Base.  The Navy Base had originally intended these nesting platforms to be used by the endangered Wood Stork, but the Egrets, Anhingas and Herons moved in quite quickly.  These nesting boxes sit in the middle of a small marshy pond which has developed into a lovely little rookery.  If you take notice around the eyes, you can see the blue/green eye shadow I was speaking of.

These little chicks with bills that seem way too big for their bodies were photographed at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm..  Which I may add should be on your list of places to visit if you would like to see many wild birds up close and personal.  The Alligator Farm also serves as a natural rookery for many amazing wading birds such as the Great Egret, Wood Stork, Snowy Egrets, Tri-color Herons, Cattle Egrets and the always pretty in pink Roseate Spoonbills.

 

 Then last but not least, I leave you with one of my favorite images of the graceful Great Egret taking flight along the creek bank.  This photo was taken along Homer Wilson Way which is an Important Bird Area (IBA) located just west of Mary Ross Waterfront Park in Brunswick.

 

Time to take to the Water

Well, the weatherman sure was wrong today!! It turned out to be a really nice day. My wonderful Husband, Don, decided to treat me to a day on the water. He loaded up the boat and we launched at Blythe Island Regional Park. The Brown Pelicans were lazily watching us. This is also my Captain and Hubby, Don.

I have been wanting to take some photos of the Shrimp fleet in Brunswick so we headed that way. I was rewarded with some really nice pictures, these are from the City Dock and a Private Dock.

Then we cruised on down to the concrete pilings where the Cormorandts, Pelicans, Gulls, Terns and even some Grackles were hanging out. They were all kind enough to let me snap a few shots. I also took a few pics of the old ship ways from when Brunswick played a large role in the Shipbuilding Industry.

Today I was suppose to be riding out to Bird Island as a volunteer to help remove all the vegetation from the Island. But, it was cancelled at the last minute. I'm looking forward to it being rescheduled. Anyway, if you are not aware of what Bird Island is....It is basically a large sandbar/small island that was made a few years ago in St. Simon's Sound. It is mostly to benefit nesting and resting birds such as Brown Pelicans, Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers and shore birds mostly. So we decided to check it out from a distance. The important thing top remember here is to NOT disturb the birds. People are not allowed on this ground and there are several signs posted around it. But, it sure is a treat to check out with your binoculars or a zoom lens. Today there were many Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans and Cormorandts. Check them out!!

And of course since we were in the area we had to cruise along the Coast of my favorite Island, Jekyll Island. This is a picture of the Fishing Pier at Clam Creek Picnic area and the other are from Driftwood Beach. As you can see there were lots of people enjoying the Beauty of Jekyll Island today.

We finished our little excursion skimming the coast of St. Simon's Island. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph the Lighthouse from the water. As you can see the St. Simon's Fishing Pier was packed also! Lots of people taking advantage of a beautiful day and enjoying all the wonderful and beautiful things that surrounds us.

We had a nice quiet ride back to the boat ramp enjoying the sun on our faces and wind blowing through our hair. And of course the welcoming committee of lazy Pelicans was still there. I hope everyone else had a chance to slow down and enjoy Beauty that Surrounds Us. Until next time, Be Safe!!