Hudsonian Godwit & Two Ruffs

Onslow Island was Birder Central this morning as folks from far and wide flocked there hoping that the Ruff and Hudsonian Godwit found there last Wednesday had stayed the week until the area was once again open to the public on the following Wednesday.

Mark McShane was once again on site early and posted that both birds had been relocated and that the one Ruff and become two - male and female.

Thanks to my co-worker Nicole and my boss Craig, I was able to switch days and get there a bit before nine. Folks were looking at the Hudsonian Godwit so all I had to do was walk up to a scope and take a look. The bird was actively feeding, flew a couple of times, and ended up feeding near a flock of dunlin. My photos are not great.

Hudsonian Godwit lands

Hudsonian Godwit near flock of Dunlin

The Ruff and Reeve had been quite close when the group arrived early,  but could not be located when I arrived. After a while, we walked to the right along the dike to search for them. At this time, the godwit flew and some saw it go across the dike and towards the river. By mid-afternoon, it had not been relocated.

We had better luck with the Ruff. First we found the female feeding near the edge of the water. She flew closer in company with a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Lesser Yellowlegs flies in with female Ruff (Reeve)

Lesser Yellowlegs & Reeve

Lesser Yellowlegs and Reeve

Reeve (left) and Lesser Yellowlegs - note difference in bill length, marbling on back of Reeve, buffy breast.

Later, others in the group located the male Ruff back where it had been earlier in the morning. Then it
flew over to join the Reeve and gave me a good look at the signature U pattern of white on the rump.

Ruff raises wings and shows U pattern of white on upper tail.

Note the white "U" on the upper tail

Eventually, both birds returned to feed together near the front dike. The light wasn't great but it was fabulous to see them side by side and in the company of yellowlegs and avocets.

Reeve (left) and Ruff

Lesser Yellowlegs (left) Reeve (center) and Ruff (right)

Of course, I had to sneak in a few shots of the avocets since they were being very co-operative.

American Avocet with Refection

Thanks again to the folks who found these birds - Joel Vos, Mary Lou Dixon, and James Fleullan.

Franklin's Gull on Tybee North Beach Nov. 2 2015

I went to the beach at high tide hoping to find a large group of oystercatchers. No luck! In fact, the beach seemed almost empty of birds except for a small flock of sanderlings. Finally, after I walked all the way around the point and headed in the direction of the lighthouse, I found a smallish flock of gulls and terns. I was scanning the group and counting when I spied a slightly different looking gull.

I see Franklin's Gulls so rarely that I worry I won't recognize one when I see it. This bird was slightly smaller than the adjacent laughing gulls, had a more defined partial hood, large white eye crescents, and a more petite bill. Bingo! I quickly took photos.

Who's that hiding behind those Laughing Gulls?

 

 

Ah! There it is! The Franklin's Gull

After I had taken about ten photos, along came a pair of walkers and flushed all the birds. The Franklin's flew over my head several times and let me get a number of photos.

Note partial hood, white crescents, and dark wing tips.

Almost white underwings with dark wing tips

Lovely from underneath!

 It did not rejoin the flock on the beach, though I looked for quite a while.

Fall Warblers and More

Finally, some nice north winds that brought in some migratory birds. It takes work to find warblers in the fall, since they aren't singing. You have to listen for chip notes and peer into the tops of trees for the slightest movement.

Finding them is tough enough, but getting one to hold still in the open to be photographed is demanding and often frustrating.

Here are a few of the ones that would co-operate a little bit over the past couple of days.

American Redstart male

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler v1

Black-throated Green Warbler v2

Common Yellowthroat juvenile female

Magnolia Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler - fall plumage

Parula Warbler - juvenile

Other warblers seen that avoided being photographed: Prairie, Black-throated Blue, Bay-breasted,
and the first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the fall.

Other fun sightings included a Swainson's Thrush in Forsyth Park and a Clay-colored Sparrow on
Tybee from the boardwalk to the pond near the North Beach.

Swainson's Thrush - note buffy eye ring

Clay-colored Sparrow

In Richmond Hill at my friend Nicole's house, we were able to photograph a very cooperative yellow-billed cuckoo who sat in the open while I retrieved our cameras from the house.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Hanging with the Buffies

The buff-breasted sandpipers that I first found on Sunday, Sept. 13 on Hutchinson Island were still around as of Sunday, Sept. 20th. I went back looking to get some better photos on Saturday am and had no luck. The birds (now up to 8!) seem to fly back and forth between the fields at the Reserve and the nearby greens of the golf course.

Sunday morning I returned and got distant looks of the birds on the golf course. Russ Wigh was there bragging about how he had just been photographing the birds in the Reserve, and that they had returned when I had to leave for Church! Argh.

I went back after Church. It was then hot and still with nothing much going on. Put persistence pays off. I finally found not one or two but all eight buff-breasted sandpipers feeding along the edge of one of the roads. The mid-day light was a bit harsh and I couldn't avoid some back lighting. Still, it was wonderful to spend an hour and a half of quality time studying these beautiful birds.

Six of the eight Buff-breasted Sandpipers

A quartet of Buff-breasted Sandpipers

It takes two to Tango!

Look who snuck in! The numbers of pectoral sandpipers were down from the previous week.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper strikes a pose

It was hot! Lots of posing with open mouth.

Check out my patterned back!

The other interesting sighting from Sunday morning was a pair of Red-tailed Hawks hanging out together.

A pair of Red-tailed Hawks survey the scene.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper & More

When I went outside on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 13th, the first thing I noticed was that it was cooler outside than inside. It was breezy and there was no humidity!!! I geared up with my anti-mosquito garb and went to scout the neighborhood for migrating songbirds. In one small wooded area I found seven species of warblers - Black-throated Blue, American Redstart, Prairie, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Northern Parula, & Black & White. Later that day I added Prothonotary to the list.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

After church, I decided to make a trip over to Hutchinson Island to see if I the cool winds had brought in other birds. The first thing I saw as I entered the reserve was a large flock of birds soaring above the river. I caught glimpses of black and white. They were American White Pelicans - more than 60 of them.

Flock of American White Pelicans soaring above the Savannah River

I didn't see much in the way of songbirds - an Eastern Kingbird, a Northern Mockingbird and several Loggerhead Shrikes. However, I noticed a large flock of shorebirds hunkered down in the recently mowed, still muddy grass. On closer inspection, I realized they were Pectoral Sandpipers.

Pectoral Sandpipers hunkered down in the grass.

Pectoral Sandpiper up close

After counting more than 100 of them, I kept driving around thinking that maybe there would be something else mixed in with the group. At last I saw it - with a more delicate bill and buffy color - a Buff-breasted Sandpiper! And I didn't even have to drive to the Marshallville Sod Farm!

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

I studied it carefully, took photos and then sent text messages to my friends. It settled down in the grass and I could compare it to the Pectoral Sandpipers nearby.

Buff-breasted (front) and Pectoral Sandpipers

Later that evening, while Larry Carlile was observing the birds, most of the them flew off in the direction of the Golf Course. Steve Wagner went over there to scan the driving range and found 200+ Pectoral Sandpipers and 5 Buff-breasted Sandpipers.

Today, on a happy Tybee note, I went to the North Beach and found a flock of 14 American Oystercatchers resting among the gulls and terns. I was thrilled to see RedHH - one of the chicks that fledged on the North Beach last summer and that I helped to band. Great to see that it survived the winter, spring and summer to return to the place where it was hatched!

American Oystercatcher Red HH - fledged on Tybee North Beach in 2014

The Late August Gray Kingbird Report

Gray kingbirds are doing well on Tybee Island! One pair nested in early June in a palm and Hotel Tybee and fledged 3 chicks. Then Mrs. Kingbird moved to the palm tree next door and started a second nest. I had observed her flying in with bugs but the young ones were deep in the nest and I couldn't tell how many there were.

Today, when I looked at the palm, there were three juvie gray kingbirds all in a row, trilling that wonderful "pittirri" call.

Three alert young Gray Kingbirds

I checked the wires and found an adult (I think Mom) perched nearby.

Gray Kingbird adult on wire.

She was working hard to bring in the bugs for her growing brood.

Mom brings in the bugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to get more bugs!

Bug delivery isn't easy, nor is choosing which mouth to stuff it in!

This time the middle one gets lucky.

It turns around to poop while the siblings keep begging.

At the other end of Butler Avenue, near the Sugar Shack, I found 2 more Gray Kingbirds. Obviously, this species is doing well on Tybee. Many of the island mockingbirds have started imitating Gray Kingbirds so if you hear one, be sure to look twice!!