Saturday, November 29, 2008

St. George Island Vacation, Pt. 4

The boys and I took one last walk down the shoreline on the northern edge of the island. I had only been over there during high tide and wanted to see what might be feeding there on the mudflats. There were a different variety of species on this side.

Out on the far edge of the flats were Killdeer and a Semipalmated Plover.

Semipalmated Plover

A bird I find more and more attractive as I photograph them, Willet, feeds in great morning sunlight.

Willet

Out at the tip of the island, a large gull fed on something mysterious on the beach. As we got closer the gull walked to the edge of the beach and I could see it was an adult Herring Gull. I am used to juveniles on the Atlantic side of the state so the adult version was throwing me for a minute.

Herring Gull

But what was it feasting upon? Yum! An octopus!

Octopus

On our walk back, we had many other birds fly past us. This Brown Pelican made a close pass.

Brown Pelican

As did this Laughing Gull.

Laughing Gull

We got back to the campsite and packed up and began our trip home. There were a couple of stops I wanted to make along the way so we headed over to Bald Point. The weather was taking a turn for the worse (it had been raining inland for a day or so) and there were not a lot of birds to be found.

The best spot was the main entry to Bald point which was alive with sparrows, Blue Birds, and more. I stepped out to investigate and heard a familiar voice. A Carolina Chickadee!

Carolina Chickadee

Finally, I found some Brown-headed Nuthatches. Not the Siskins I was hoping for but something nice all the same.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

A great trip. Some day we will have to get back here and really go through the other bird sites such as St. Marks. Until then, back through the rain, into the night, and home.

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