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.

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.