Photographs From Georgia - Photography by Kirk M. Rogers

Photographs From Georgia and a Few from South Carolina & Florida

This article is a follow up to my photojournal A Southern Tour at 400mm, posted in July 2007...

In September of 2007 I again headed south for work related tasks. It had taken several months to get the insurance issues resolved to commence the rebuild of our property in Savannah damaged by fire. Because I planned to oversee the rehabilitation personally and may be in town for multiple weeks, I decided to drive down so I’d have my vehicle available.Although I’m not fond of being away from home for weeks at a time, I viewed this as an opportunity to do some photography and perhaps seek out subjects that differed from the usual in my local area. As I was driving unlike the June trip when I traveled by air, I was able to bring along my cameras and lens set as well as any accessories I thought may aid this effort. It’s a long drive from Maine to Georgia and I took two days in transit. I traveled alone with a good set of audio books and not being in any particular hurry tried to do the bulk of it in daylight. When heading south, I always attempt to get below Richmond the first day. This puts the Northeast Corridor and the worst congestion behind me and although it’s a long day initially, the drive further south from there is fairly leisurely afterwards with little chance of significant traffic issues. On this trip the first night I stopped in Virginia close to the North Carolina border. I was in Savannah the next afternoon and went directly to the project.

I had time to do further research about where to seek out birds while in the Low Country and searched the web for information and localities. Much of what I reviewed for places to go was familiar from my last visit but I wished to follow up just in case I had more time with the upcoming weekends. While doing this I came across a website for Wilderness Southeast and emailed this firm to learn more about what they offered. In the end result, I planned a morning session with one of their guides. A representative from Wilderness Southeast called my cell phone in transit and we discussed time availability once I got settled in. I set up a meeting for the morning after I arrived in Savannah as this worked best for my upcoming schedule from the timeframe they had available. So, I met my guide for this outing, Diana Churchill, at 0700 hours next to the Skidaway Island State Park. It was still dark as I made the drive from the airport area, where I stayed for the first few nights, to Skidaway that morning. Sunrise was just after seven, perhaps an hour later than what we experienced at home. Morning is always best for birding but photographically speaking it’s preferable in my view to start the first hour after sunrise to allow enough light to get the shutter speed up a bit. This varies of course with where you’re shooting - on a beach, in the woods, etc. Even with an extended flash it can be difficult and frustrating to image birds in early morning because any movement will blur the image.

Thursday September 6th

Diana was right on time and we introduced ourselves. It wasn’t difficult for her to know who I was as I was assembling my tripod and mounting my 500mm f4L lens when she drove up. We discussed what she thought would be best to start the morning and we took both vehicles to an area known as Priest Landing, arriving just as the sun was breaking the horizon. It was beautiful morning and when I viewed the sun, knew I had a very short window of opportunity to get a shot to capture the moment. I walked over with the 30D and 400mm lens, my handheld set up, and quickly composed several shots...

Once ready we walked down a path bordered on both sides with trees and other vegetation with the water on both sides of us. The visibility through the trees to the water wasn’t great and this path offered only a few clear views on either side to check out the wildlife. I was hoping to spot a rail doing some morning foraging but our search yielded nothing. There could have been a group just a few feet away that we would never have viewed but we didn’t hear any close by. Diana showed me where the Wood Storks live, at least during this time of year. I’d seen examples of these on Skidaway Island before but there were quite a few more in this one place than what I’d seen previously. Not too close and skittish for certain but I was able to obtain some shots of them in the trees.

As Diana was in the lead, she got to clear away all the spider webs constructed across the trail during the night… Thanks Diana!

Some of the Wood Storks in the trees...

As we walked along birds that were in the trees next to the path bolted across the water as we flushed them. It was dense enough that it was difficult to see them perched until they moved. I didn’t feel like we missed many photographic opportunities with this because although close with a terrific image scale, there was no way to get an unobstructed shot. There were some adult Yellow-crowned Night Herons on stands in the middle of the water and I was really pleased to see these. These are rare in Maine; I‘d taken some images of them before in Georgia but this was the first opportunity to get a shot of an adult in their typical pose. Most of my previous shots had been of immature birds and they really don’t appear much alike.

Adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron

We viewed many examples of Black-crowned Night Herons, seen in Maine regularly in summer. Other than these herons we viewed the usual Great & Snowy Egrets, examples of the Anhinga, Great Blue Herons and many of the common perching birds. I also viewed one of the largest spiders I’d ever seen in an immense web alongside the path. I made a note of this thinking if I got back over this way I’d make a point to get a macro shot of this beast.

A Perched Great Egret in morning light...

Morning Images from Priest Landing - Great Egrets & Anhinga

Diana asked what I’d like to do next. One of the thoughts I had was that Skidaway Island State Park is known to have excellent examples of Painted Buntings that nest in the park. We discussed this and although it wasn’t the premier time to seek out these birds, we decided to head over the park, not far from where we were, to take a look around. We parked her vehicle in a church lot and traveled together to reduce parking cost and so we could talk.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Skidaway Island State Park is a nice refuge which allows camping and includes several excellent types of bird environments. Actually this entire area is like a large version of Scarborough Marsh in Maine for those of us that frequent that area. Diana is smart about where to seek birds - we parked the vehicle packed up the gear and walked behind one of the park buildings to a series of bird feeders they had set up. I’ve found feeders will present a good indication of the birds in the area and this was the case at this facility. I wasn’t employing a flash and it wasn’t as bright as I’d have preferred so the shutter speed wasn’t stopping action well, but this was a fun time and a wonderful photographic outing.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

It wasn’t long before examples of Painting Buntings arrived and Diana pointed them out. Initially this group consisted of females and/or young males; no adult males were to be seen. Eventually this changed and I was pleased to get some images of the beautiful males as they arrived.

A Painted Bunting - probably a young male...

A Male Painting Bunting - In my (humble) view birds just don't get much prettier than even this kind of scruffy example...

There was good cover for the birds in the area and several sparsely leaved bushes turned out to be a favorite perch for many before they made the flight into the feeders. These perches proved ideal to get some nicely lighted shots of the locals as the sun climbed higher... There was also a bird bath nearby and I learned to keep an eye on this also as it was frequented often. We stayed in this spot for some time and I got many interesting shots before we decided to move into The Landings area of Skidaway Island. I think Diana was a bit surprised when I indicated I’d been in The Landings, a gated community, many times as my friend and associate Bill Grotto lives there and I’ve stayed with him often. Before we packed up and left the park we walked a short distance on one of the trails to view the tidal area of the path. We viewed a distant Red-headed Woodpecker, another bird I’d love to get some close up shots of and I took several images at distance of this. We didn’t view much else going on - a Turkey Vulture circled and we both photographed this bird as he kept getting closer in his pattern.

Carolina Chickadee

Images from Skidaway Island State Park - Brown Thrasher; Northern Cardinal; Tufted Titmouse; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Northern Mockingbird; Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Carolina Chickadee; Painted Bunting

We entered The Landings and discussed where to go with what time we had left. Diana asked if I’d ever visited ‘The Rookery’, a spot where many wading birds nested and raised their young. I never had so she directed me on where to go and off we went. I had my GPS with me as usual and once we got to the site I bookmarked it so I could find it again. Getting around in The Landings isn’t all that difficult once you’ve driven around a bit but I the meantime if you don’t know here you’re going it can be confusing.

Turkey Vulture

At The Rookery - White Ibis & Tricolored Herons

The Rookery was pretty neat; in essence you’re standing on a paved path between the backyards of two houses. This didn’t make me especially comfortable as we walked around, but nobody minds apparently as long as one behaves in a civil fashion. The pond is before you and the birds are perched in the trees on an island in the center so you’re not really close. Close enough to image at 700mm to obtain some good shots but nothing like headshot close. There were some Wood Storks, many Tricolored & Great Blue Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Anhingas around – all the usual suspects but nothing especially different or out of the ordinary from my experience. This was the largest group of Tricolored Herons I’d viewed at one place and a group was hanging out along the shore.

Immature Tricolored Herons in the trees.

As we viewed the area to our close left a Cooper’s hawk swooshed in to strike a pair of Spotted Sandpipers that we hadn’t even noticed. The hawk missed its quarry and the sandpipers took off like the gates of Hades had been opened. The hawk fly into a nearby tree and I was able to get several frames off with my handheld camera before the bird flew off into a tree that was entirely backlit.

A Cooper's Hawk at the Rookery.

The Rookery was worthwhile and we practiced some fly by wing shots as the birds moved around. I got some decent but distant images of Wood Storks flying around which were new to my archive and fun. After a time we decided to leave as it was getting later in the morning and I needed to get to work.

Diana writes the “Birder’s Eye View” column for the Savannah Morning News and she indicted she’s doing a compilation of her articles with the thought of publishing. She is clearly an expert birder and I enjoyed spending time with her. As I dropped her back at her vehicle she wrote some notes for me, one indicating the time and place of an Audubon bird walk she was running on Tybee Island the next Sunday, another about a local camera group meeting she’s involved with. As we said our goodbyes I told her I planned to join her for the Tybee walk.

If you ever visit the southeast and find yourself in circumstances similar to mine, you should feel free to contact Wilderness Southeast and arrange a guided tour. It would make your field time that much more productive and if you’re fortunate, you'd most likely end up with a guide as skilled as Diana. I would recommend her and this organization without equivocation.

Saturday September 8th

I was up early on Saturday and decided to head towards Savannah. As is my usual practice, I’d downloaded my memory cards, investigated the group of recent images and was ready to start the process anew. I thought about where to go and where I needed to be afterwards and decided to do another tour around Skidaway Island. In this case, I ended up visiting Priest Landing and going into the park again.

The area had experienced significant rains and high winds over the Labor Day weekend and the water level was high. I’d become aware that it appeared to bring with it a bumper crop of mosquitoes and other stinging insects and they were becoming bothersome. Little did I know what was in store for me before these trips in and around Savannah were through... I was a bug-bitten, scratchy mess before I got back to Maine. These insects weren’t troublesome on the job, but the places I frequented with my cameras led me to believe I was a popular individual.

Wood Stork at Priest Landing...

This morning I imaged much the same birds in the same locations as the day before, starting with Priest Landing. It was different lighting and angles at times but much the same overall. I went back and found the large spider and took a few exposures of this beast. The spider remained in the same location with a hugh web stretched out between two trees. I tried to get a better angle on some treed wood storks and in the process flushed some more herons out of the trees near the trail.

The image at right really doesn't do this female Golden Silk Spider (Nephila clavipes) justice... It was quite large. I looked this creature up in a field guide which indicated they grow to 7/8-1 inch - yeah right - not in Georgia... These spiders are also known as ‘Banana Spiders’, not so much for their color from what I found, but because of the hue of the webs they weave. In the south they have been known to have over a five inch leg span with bodies that are quite large. I didn’t measure this female but I would estimate the abdomen was around three inches in length. The web this spider created was perhaps spanning six feet between several trees. Everything about the spider and web was quite large and I was impressed with seeing this assembly along the trail. Thankfully it was off the trail, not on it, so Diana didn’t have to walk through this web when we first spotted it yesterday...

Afterwards I planned to visit Skidaway Island State Park for a short time hoping to see some more male Painted Buntings to photograph. I didn’t stay long as I had things to do on the work site and the sun was rising higher; overall it was a brief and enjoyable start to the morning.

I was perplexed to find my primary camera, the 5d, was shooting in large jpeg format. I used this setting in automatic mode the day before while doing some project shots for the photo record and for some reason the camera didn’t accept the raw setting when I made the change. I worked with this and got the setting changed, but the first group of images was captured in jpeg, including a male painted Bunting that had been in the area. I was not especially pleased learning this as I was hoping for a fairly close digital capture with a large file and a great deal of data to produce prints.

Shooting in raw will present new challenges and workflow issues when enhancing – you'll require a raw converter, perhaps a later version of Photoshop to handle the files & lots of storage for example, but once you get there the benefit is significant. I can’t imagine shooting in anything but raw format anymore and this morning’s example only reinforced this fact. Keep in mind as you view the images in this article that you are viewing the significantly reduced jpeg versions created from the layered, master files. If you were to view the 100% original, the impact in some instances could be considered astounding...

Carolina Wren at the State Park.

I’ll close this morning's account with a few more images… Above is a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds; below, a Painted Bunting & Northern Cardinal.

Afternoon at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

Later in the day when I had accomplished my work related tasks, several hours of daylight remained available and I decided to take a ride around my old haunt, the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR), not far across the river into South Carolina. I drove there from Savannah but learned the refuge is fairly close to the airport area, perhaps eight or nine miles from where I was staying. Once I got there I bookmarked the site on my GPS; later this really simplified things when getting around.

Great Egret at SNWR.

September in Maine can bring a mixed bag of temperatures but as the season moves into fall a definite cooling trend starts to emerge. It may have been cooler in Georgia in September when compared to July and August, but I’ll tell you what – it was hot... each day the temperature got up to the mid to high ninety degree range and those of us from Maine weren’t especially comfortable; it was warm and muggy. One good point about the SNWR is you can travel the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive in lieu of striking off cross country and still get a good overview of what’s around. I like this because you can stay cool in the vehicle on occasion if the heat becomes an issue.

It appears to me that many folks traveling the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive never take time to even get out of their vehicles at all. They drive quickly over the four-mile gravel road and off they go. I never took a great deal of time to explore that many trails one could take in the refuge but if you take some time to get out and walk along the water and vegetation to investigate the swamp areas, you’d find a lot more going on than you may realize. Most check the water for alligators – this appears to be the most significant draw. However, gator shots all look fairly similar – sometimes you can catch one out of the water sunning and get a full view, but mostly what you see are the eyes or perhaps the head projecting from the murky water and not much else. In the end result you can image multiple individuals but collectively, the images look much alike.

An immature Common Moorhen forages among the lily-pads at SNWR.

I traveled the wildlife road anticipating being somewhat isolated and alone in the refuge. I was hoping to see some migrating birds that weren’t around in my last visit in June. Actually, in the time I was present I didn’t see many songbirds around at all although this clearly is no indication that they’re not all around the area. Those I did see were distant and in the areas where the road entered the trees where one would expect to find these birds, it was so dense that the likelihood of obtaining a successful image was pretty much non-existent. I think it could be done if you set up a shoot zone and remained hidden to a degree with a flash extender, but unless you were phishing or using some other method to draw the birds in, I didn’t see enough activity going on to attempt this. The pay-off for the bug bites received in this effort for the time it may take appeared marginal from my view. I did see some smaller, warbler sized birds and stalked them for a bit but it was in the darkened areas and they never broke cover enough to get an exposure off, even as an identification aid.

I came across this spider with a dragonfly capture on one of the smaller side roads where you can park and walk around.

It was enjoyable though. Slowly meandering along the road listening and looking to see what may be around. I didn’t see many vehicles but in the time I re-visited the refuge there were enough around to be an issue at times. Anybody going ahead of you definitely flushes the birds for a time when you get ready to travel through. You may be stopped alongside the road with the tripod, lens and camera mounted attempting to get a shot; some people will stop and with a bit of stealth try to find out what you’re doing. Others will drive by and bring an abrupt end to the session as everything near the roadway skedaddles. The speed limit in the refuge is 20 miles per hour; I traveled ever so slowly on the gravel road so I could look and listen. In most places a vehicle behind you cannot pass so there are times when you must accelerate to let other folks by. I suppose another way to look at this would be if you were a serious birder or wildlife aficionado, you wouldn’t be driving on this road in the first place, but out in the swamps or woods on foot along one of the many trails...

Once I completed the four-mile circuit I got back on the highway and headed to Pooler and the apartment for the evening. It had been a good day…

Sunday, September 9th

On Sunday morning I was up with no particular plan of action and considered if I even wished to get out with the camera gear. I definitely intended to meet Diana on Tybee Island for the bird walk she was conducting, but this wasn’t until early evening so I had some time to do as I pleased.

In the end result, I decided to go for a ride around the area near where we were staying in Pooler. I drove around some back roads checking the tree line for birds and looking over the territory. I ended up fairly close to the Savannah NWR, figured it was free and I had time, so why not take a look? It was morning and I’d learned previously that different times of the day can bring different sights so I headed for the entrance to enter the wildlife drive.

This turtle in the refuge climbed up on a log to catch a few rays..

While I was walking in the refuge I viewed a clearing with blue sky beyond and mosquitoes flying around planning to greet me. The images at left were taken about ten or twelve feet away from the subjects with a 400mm lens handheld. Have you ever tried to pan a skeeter on the wing? Give it a try sometime, it’s quite humbling…

It was another beautiful day with the promise of sunshine and that warm Georgia weather we’d been experiencing. I was still scratching from ‘skeeter’ bites the day before so was hoping to not have a replay of this again. I took my time meandering through the refuge stopping when something caught my eye or when it looked like it may have potential to photograph.

One aspect I’d thought about is that as many times as I’d been in this refuge I rarely took time to shoot any scenic photographs. I rarely bothered to change lenses from the longer focal length lenses or had time to do much general photography as I drove through. This trip I wished to change that and determined to get some landscapes while in the area.

The refuge clearly has a natural beauty with the Spanish moss filled trees, rice lagoons and swampy areas with a plethora of Lilly pads and other growth. You can look at all this and know there are many photo worthy subjects to be found if one takes the time and practices patience to seek them out. Unfortunately, time and to a degree, patience is in fairly short supply for most of us and I wasn’t greatly interested in hiking the trails this morning with the snakes, spiders and mosquitoes out in force.

I’d notice quite a bit of activity on the lily pads and this morning I took time to get some new images of birds as they foraged in the distance. Several immature Purple Gallinules were out and about but I didn’t notice any adults. I'd obtained some images of adult gallinules when in the refuge on other visits but all were quite far away.

Imaging birds in the lily-pads means that the subjects are fairly distant from the camera set up. The growth alongside the roadway is high – tall enough to be problematic and there is little chance of imaging any birds close by because you cannot get a clear field of view. So I selected some that were far enough out to allow me to shoot over or in some cases, between the roadside vegetation. A lot of these images displayed the fact I wasn’t successful in keeping the front view clear as the wind blew the reeds around. But I did manage to get a few that were acceptable.

I viewed some gators, dragonflies, more of the same species of spider – must be their time of year I suppose. The little stagnate pond I always check had appeared free of gators when I went by yesterday, but today this wasn’t the case. There were three young gators sunning themselves on logs this morning and a few turtles besides. As you view these images it’s difficult to ascertain an image scale, but these gators out of the water were perhaps three or four feet long.

Another Golden Silk Spider - this one with company. The smaller spider is a male, probably her mate.

After a time I got to the end of the refuge drive road and decided to head home to download the cards, take a look at the images and get prepared for the Tybee Island walk.

This sunning gator had company - a blue dragonfly came in to perch...

Sunday Afternoon – Tybee Island

As I wasn’t exactly certain where I was supposed to meet the group on Tybee Island; my plan was to leave plenty early and do some looking around on my own before we planned to meet. In the end result, I got busy and didn’t leave as early as planned, so when I got to Tybee I was right on time to get to the appointed spot. I was in the correct general area, but couldn’t locate the street Diana had indicated. I didn’t want to miss the group leaving so I called Diana’s cell and within a few minutes she kindly got back to me and talked me through and onto the correct road.

Tybee Island Light imaged from North Beach

Our group consisted of perhaps twelve or fourteen people and it proved to be an interesting crew. Most of these folks lived on Skidaway Island I learned, some in The Landings. One couple lived close enough to be neighbors of my friends Bill and Rosalie, but they hadn’t met I don’t believe. Diana briefed us on her plan, to walk the beach in pursuit of shorebirds and off we went. We checked the trees & bushes on the way to the beach entrance looking for whatever may be around.

Semipalmated Plover and Sanderling near the water's edge.

Did I mention how hot it was? Well it was hot indeed and we were right out under the sun with no protection. There was a bit of a breeze which proved helpful but didn’t do much to defray the direct light. I’d worn a head wrap in lieu of a hat to protect my head. With no visor, these are good and don’t get in the way when working at the tripod. The down side of course, is folks look at you like an old, left over hippie or something. Being a Harley rider, I have a supply of these and often wear them when imaging. I’d rather have people think I’m a bit whacky than have my balding scalp burned up in the harsh light...

One of the many Laughing Gulls we viewed

Soon enough we were walking on the sand and Diana was looking down the beach pointing out what she could see with her field glasses. She had her camera & 100-400mm Canon lens ready and today it was tripod mounted. As is my normal procedure, I had my tripod and 500 f4L lens mounted on the 5d with the 30d and 400mm f5.6L slung on a strap at my side - we were ready...

We could see some dolphins close to shore as leaped and frolicked around surprisingly close to shore I thought. It would have been great to capture an image of one breaching but as you never know when or where this would occur, it was next to impossible. I settled for some fin shots as they swam by to at least document what we viewed.

Dolphins close off shore

Out by the dolphins some Brown Pelicans were fishing and flying about – we viewed some of these birds making their dramatic full speed dives into the water as they went after their prey. I took a few minutes with my handheld set up to get some fight shots as the lighting appeared good for this pursuit and found later I good some nice shots.

We viewed a fairly large group of birds in the distance and Diana had us observers on the move toward the flock. There were many gulls and terns around that we could make out as well as some smaller shorebirds individually or in small groups – a few Willets, Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderlings. As Diana studied the group with a spotting scope, she indicated there were some Black Skimmers on the sand in the flock. I was really pleased by this news as these represented one of the species I was hoping to photograph as they are fairly common in the area.

Black Skimmer in the flock

This was all pretty neat and Diana and I broke off with our cameras for a bit as we approached, getting some exposures as we moved closer. After a time we decided to ‘push the envelop’ a bit and kept moving closer trying to get a larger image scale. After a time we entered the flocks ‘comfort zone’ and off they went, moving down the beach or taking flight heading seaward. The only way to be successful with this approach would be to lie down and creep slowly across the sand staying low. The birds would know you were there but may not perceive you as a threat. Because we had tripod mounted gear, we didn’t really consider this as an option.

A few of the birds in the gaggle included several examples of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and I was able to isolate and obtain several images of these.

Wing Shots - Black Skimmer, Royal & Sandwich Terns, Brown Pelicans

We’d spent some time photographing the three tern varieties we could see, Royal, Caspian and Sandwich and I obtained some images I was pleased with. Diana was shooting continually as well and I have no doubt she returned with a fine group of images as well.

A group of Royal Terns

This walk took several hours and after a time we headed back towards the entrance and our vehicles. We trekked out on a boardwalk to a raised gazebo over the water to see what we may find. There was a sizable group of White Egrets across the way, but mostly what we found was a whole bunch of skeeters and it wasn’t long before everyone got off the boardwalk...

Multiple examples of Sandwich Terns were on the beach this day.

It appeared to be the usual practice for everyone who wished to attend join the group for dinner afterwards. Diana knew where she wanted to go and we drove over to the restaurant. Parking was a definite issue and we had too many vehicles without places to park. Diana went inside to see if the facility could handle the group, which they could, so we got creative and found places for all the vehicles, including my pickup.

A group of Caspian Terns resting on the beach

We stayed at the bar for a time and everyone had a drink of their choice and talked to whoever they happened to be grouped with as we were spread out. After a time the wait staff came over indicating our tables were prepared and we moved outside onto the deck, which turned into a pier that went down to the water with boats tied up and moored nearby. This wasn’t bad but we were split up to a degree because the picnic table styled seating couldn’t accommodate our group at one table. The deck was full of people and seating was at a premium as folks ate, drank, talked and listened to the guitarist as he played and sang to entertain the crowd. As we were just settling in and starting to peruse the menu choices a major group of mosquitoes came in to the disdain of all... This place went from full to near about empty in ten minutes or so. These skeeters were nasty and plentiful - you couldn’t sit still more than a few seconds without slapping and scratching them off. I felt badly for those wearing shorts. Jeans didn’t help much, but those with shorts suffered much because you had even more real estate to protect from these nasty critters.

The restaurant staff knew they had to do something or the outside seating would soon be devoid of business... The deck was about vacant when they brought out a sizeable post mounted electric fan in an attempt to blow the skeeters out. Everyone moved to try to get within reach of the fan hoping for some relief. Diana, another fellow sitting with us and I moved to a table right next to the fan and I ended sitting with it at my back. This worked well but we still received many unwelcome visitors as we dined. The added guests created an early ending to the dining and as soon as everyone in the various parties were through they asked for their checks and beat it out of Dodge – anywhere was better than sitting on this deck under these circumstances...

One of the few Sanderlings we viewed in the surf.

Tuesday, September 11th - A Return to Tybee

The next opportunity I had to get out with the camera gear came after work on the following Tuesday. Tybee Island isn’t too long a drive from the Victorian District of Savannah where we were working so I decided to head back over after work before going home. I didn’t expect to see much different of consequence but thought I’d check it out. After the end of work day traffic dissipated, I’d head back to Pooler.

It was another hot day with harsh sunshine. As I’d just been at Tybee a few days before, I knew what to expect for lighting conditions at about the same time of day. What I didn’t expect was the high winds experienced once I got on the beach. I thought this a bit odd actually; not wind at the ocean of course, but so much wind with little indication of it inland. I parked in the same spot as last Sunday and as I got the camera gear set up and ready to walk to the beach. It was calm with little breeze. However, once I crossed the dune line it was blowing a mini-gale. I walked out to where we’d viewed the flocks of shorebirds. This wasn’t bad with the wind and sun at my back. This changed considerably when I started the trek back. I was concerned my lenses were going to get sandblasted as I could see the sand coming across with the gusts and it was really moving. The end result of all this was I didn’t stay long and cut my visit short.

I did take a few tern wing shots and was fortunate enough to find some more Black Skimmers. I was able to obtain a few better wing shots then I had in file for these birds. On the way back I noticed that the gulls and other birds flocked with them stood together facing the wind as the sand scudded by. I watched these birds for a time and they adjusted with the gusting winds somewhat but really didn’t vary much from facing windward and letting it blow by. I thought it would make an interesting image if I could portray the scene as I was viewing it. The obvious thing would be to lie down; get down on the birds level to capture the windblown sand action. It did not do this however; I was concerned with orientating the lens like the birds, down low and facing the wind. I believe my lens hood would be full of sand in quick fashion. I did kneel down and quickly took some shots – you can see the result in the next image below. This shot may not have the visual impact as seen naked eye, but one can get the feeling of the moment I believe.

Facing to windward on a blustery day...

Wednesday, September 12th - Skidaway Island State Park

Wednesday morning found me up early and raring to go... Traveling into Savannah from Pooler during the morning commute has one in heavy traffic from around 0730 to 0930 hours. I learned that if you’re up anyway and plan to be in Savannah, you can save some road time by leaving a bit early. This morning as I was up and ready, I got on the road. I figured I’d get the cameras out somewhere to see what I could find.

I still had an inclination to find some male Painted Buntings that I could get close to; close enough to produce a larger image scale then the photographs I had archived. Although these birds are fairly common in the area in summer, the only place I’d viewed any on this trip was at Skidaway Island State Park - this became my destination for the morning.

The park officially opens at 0830 hours and they have an entrance booth where you pay the fee on the way in. Because they had campers in the park, they never close the gate that I’m was aware of and at this time of year, they don’t appear to expect enough traffic at the park to warrant having someone in the booth all the time. In Georgia and as I later learned in Florida, they get around this by having an honor system. The fee one pays when entering isn’t to use the facility, but is considered a parking fee. So you drive in and park, visit the metal box installation where you obtain an envelope, put your cash in and tear off a dated tag that you display on your windshield. If anybody cares to check, they can look at this to make certain you paid as indicated by this receipt; or I suppose they could check the payment box to verify there was at least some money in there, which there would have to be provided one paid the fee. The cost at Skidaway Island State Park was three dollars and I put this fee in multiple times when I was in the area.

Several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were dive bombing one another in the area including this female.

Once the payment was behind me – I was the only car in the entire parking lot, I got the camera gear prepared, checked the batteries, compact flash cards & camera settings then walked to the feeders. I took my time and checked out several areas before getting there and walked down the trail a bit where we’d viewed the Red-headed Woodpecker. I did see one fly by high in the trees but nowhere near close enough to attempt a photograph. I walked over to the feeders and tried to get into a good position with a commanding field of view.

The feeders aren’t significantly far from the back of the building. One not insurmountable issue I had was which side to set up on because shooting at 700mm, no matter where I placed the tripod I had to change the range switch on the lens between the feeders and the background. For example, the closest feeder was in range of the nearest setting. Shortly distant from this it had to be switched to the middle setting and the background trees and bushes would require the 3rd setting – farthest away. This switch controls the range of focus so you have to move it to achieve critical focus depending on the zone you were in. I did this as required during the session. None of this is a compliant really because if you image a bird in the closest range you know you’ve achieved a good image scale... I set up where I thought I may see the buntings, actually standing inside a doorway – it looked close to perfect. However, this was short-lived... There were around a bazillion mosquitoes in this confined area as well and they appeared quite pleased that breakfast had arrived. I thought to myself that I was never going to complain about Black fly season (cousins to the mosquito) again in Maine after this trip....

Female Northern Cardinal.

Because I’d been in this location often of late I didn’t want to keep imaging the same species of birds over and over unless something unusual was viewed. I didn’t stay in the park long but it was most successful morning. Besides finally obtaining the images I was seeking on the male Painted Bunting, I was also quite pleased to be joined by a Northern Parula. This male bird decided to take a bath in a perfect spot for my camera set up. I have images of the Parula in my Bird Images Index that was taken in the May migration. These along with many warbler photographs, were taken high in the trees in far from ideal circumstances. This opportunity was a significant improvement and I was pleased with the end result.

This beautiful Northern Parula represents one of my favorite photographs from my time in Georgia.

Thursday, September 13th - Skidaway Island - The Landings

The next day, Thursday, I followed somewhat the same procedure. I didn’t plan an imaging trip actually, but I wished to get into Savannah while it was fairly early. As I was driving in I decided to drive around The Landings on Skidaway Island before going to the project.

It was another fine morning and I enjoyed meandering around some. I pulled into the ‘Sparrow Field’, a somewhat isolated spot between some ponds that has some equipment sheds and no homes close by. This field was established by local birders and they had some nesting boxes around and a few other bird amenities. Once I looked around a bit I didn’t see much of anything and learned a worker was in one of the sheds. He was driving a golf cart, the standard of transportation around The Landings if you’re staying within the facility and I figured whatever may have been around most likely had been flushed. Except for an Anhinga by the water I didn’t see much and decided to move on.

Having been here before I checked the usual spots in the immediate area. There’s one pond where I knew many wading birds roosted. Last December when I was in the area I was astounded by the quantity of birds in the trees around this pond on any given morning, although they were generally the same species – great and some Snowy Egrets, Anhingas, Great Blue, some Little Blue, a few Tricolored, a plethora of Black Crowned nigh Herons occasional Wood Storks, etc.

One species I wished to image last December I learned could only be found in one spot on the island – the Yellow-crowned Night Heron. These aren’t as plentiful as the Black-crowned, but I did find some around the pond this morning in trees not far from where I could approach. I set up and took a few images of these birds and some Black-crowned Night Herons nearby.

Afterwards I took a ride down to the Rookery to see what may be going on there. There were quite a few Tricolored Herons on the bank and I took a few shots of these. I viewed a lone Spotted Sandpiper and took several exposures of this bird. I couldn’t get as close as I’d wished and didn’t delay long before packing up to head to work.

Anhinga & Great Blue Heron Sharing a Branch

Friday, September 14th

I didn’t get out with the photographic gear this morning. I’d been shooting often and enhancing each evening so thought it was time for a break. However, by the end of the day when it was time to head back to Pooler, I figured I’d do another look around the SNWR before heading home...

I’m pleased I took the time as I located a Green Heron. These birds aren’t especially rare or unusual and they can be found in Maine in the summer. My experience indicates they are fairly shy and secretive and any time an opportunity presents to photograph one it should be taken advantage of. As I approached one of the bridges I spotted a Green Heron perched on a tree stump not far from my location. This was great; the only problem was it had started to rain and I didn’t know how this would impact my efforts. I took a few images and determined to wait a bit – the timing was good because soon it stopped raining and I set up for some more images on this bird. There was also a Great Blue Heron stalking some fish not far away I took some exposures on this bird as well.

I was surprised to see a second Green Heron further on in the refuge. This one was crouched on the bank next to the water watching for fish to swim by. I viewed this bird make multiple stabs in the water after game without success. I took a series of shots of this activity hoping the heron would extract a fish that I could capture with an image, but the shutter speed was too slow in the available light to stop the action and I never saw the heron pull a fish up anyway. Packing up the tripod I moved on.

I found a gator in camouflage swimming around. This animal had green vegetation on his head and back. I took several images of this specimen and attempted to get a close up head shot, which I was able to obtain as viewed here. I was close enough so that the master file would produce a great print at 16” X 30” if I chose to do so. It rained sporadically during the time I was in the refuge so I drove around stopping or going at my leisure.

Off in the lily-pads I viewed a new sight for me in the refuge. An American Coot could be seen and I definitely wished to get some exposures of this bird. This proved more difficult than anticipated though; the reeds close to the road were so grown up they interfered with a line of sight shot. I couldn’t move anywhere that would allow a clear view of the coot. The image at right represents the best of the group. I found it interesting that this bird appears to have a white frontal shield on the head and not a red one. If it were red I don’t recall seeing it and there is no indication of this in the image.

Later as I drove the wildlife road I viewed some birds flying around and stopped to investigate. The Great Egret and Anhinga flight images at left were taken during this interlude. Once the rain ceased again I decided to get a few landscapes of the refuge. As I close out this day’s activities, I’ll post some of them here...

Saturday, September 15th

I was up fairly early and motivated to get out with my cameras before heading into Savannah to check on the project. I decided to head back to Skidaway Island State Park to see if I could get any new shots on a Brown-headed Nuthatch. This is another species not found in Maine. I’d obtained one good image of this bird and wished to add more when I uploaded this as a new species. This quest was not successful in the end result and I never did see another Brown-headed Nuthatch up close in my time in Savannah.

I took quite a few images mostly of the same birds I’d been photographing all week. I did manage to find a Red-headed Woodpecker, again high up in a tree, but managed a few exposures that were superior to those I’d obtained earlier in the trip. One of these days I’ll get close enough to one of these to obtain the type of image I’d prefer – up close and personal... These are rare in Maine so it’s unlikely this will happen in my local area. After walking the grounds a bit I returned to the truck, packed up my gear and went into Savannah and work. I set my laptop up in Bill’s office for several hours so I could check and write emails and get current with the world. He and I went to the project to check a few dimensions as he prepared to re-install the ductwork and new air handlers as part of the renovation. By late afternoon everything was set and I decided to take a drive to the Savannah National wildlife Refuge before heading home for the evening. Find below some bird images from the morning at Skidaway Island State Park:

Red-headed Woodpecker

Saturday Afternoon - SNWR

I drove around the refuge grounds looking for whatever may be around the water and environs for wildlife and soon came to the entrance of the wildlife drive. This was all pretty familiar and I again commenced the circuit to learn what May be found. In one area a group of Common Moorhens were out and about, more than I’d generally viewed at once. They were far off in the lily pads but within range of my lens at 700mm. I took a series of shots of these birds and noticed some other activity not far away. I noticed a Pied - billed Grebe fishing, the first I’d seen of this bird in the refuge. The grebe would dive for long periods of time – at least it appeared a long time when you’re waiting for one to surface for a photograph – and eventually was able to get some exposures as the grebe frolicked and fished.

Further down the road I viewed some Great Egrets, perhaps younger versions as they weren’t as large as many in the area. I didn’t really need more egret images, but stalked them for a bit and took some photographs as they foraged around the banks passing the time.

I came to one of the bridges that span the water and found some people there looking at a gator. Nothing was particularly unusual about this, but one gator perhaps seven or eight feet long, was swimming about and we could see the length of the reptile. I took a few head shots with the longer lenses and decided to change to a shorter focal length to capture the entire animal. As I was doing so a fiddler crab swam by under water and I took a fuzzy image of him as well. After taking a few more exposures including a dragonfly or two, I loaded the tripod and moved on.

I didn’t enhance many images from this group but what you see here is a representation of the afternoon’s photographic effort. Actually this is true of all the images in this article. I enhanced perhaps four hundred images out of the sessions in Georgia from this trip of all subjects. I didn’t count the total exposures, but I would surmise that I exposed around three thousand images during the twelve days this photojournal describes. Of course many of these are deleted upon review...

Sunday, September 16th - Georgia Into Florida

I learned through my office that several associates were flying to Jacksonville, Florida the following Monday to investigate a potential acquisition. They asked me to join them to evaluate the property before an offer was placed. They were flying in Monday evening and had made hotel arrangements where I was to join them. Once I received their itineraries my schedule was adjusted accordingly. What this meant was I had to be in Jacksonville no later than Monday evening when they arrived. I formulated a plan to visit several state parks on the ‘Great Florida Birding Trail’ as I drove south. After going on-line and selecting several possible sites, I decided to head to Jacksonville, about two and a half hours drive time from Savannah, on Sunday around noon.

After reading about what was in the area I decided to start at Fort Clinch State Park near Fernandina Beach. I traveled the park roads and stopped from time to time to look around. One of these stops featured a newly constructed deck that overlooked the marshy environment and the Amelia Island Lighthouse could be viewed across the way. This drew my attention so I pulled the tripod and handheld camera out and went to look around for imaging opportunities. Afterwards I traveled to where the fort was located but didn’t tarry long as it was getting on in the afternoon. Once I’d driven around the interior roads a bit more, I headed to the exit and left the park.

Next I drove the coastal route to visit Amelia Island, where I’d journey to some other sites in the area and stay for the evening. Overall I visited seven parks that were ocean sites or inland marshes with varying environments. I remember which ones I stopped at but didn’t attempt to take notes or anything so some of this kind of runs together as to what was what as I write this account. On Sunday besides Fort Clinch, I visited Amelia Island State Park, Big Talbot and Little Talbot State Parks, plus made various stops along the coast as I drove south. This wasn’t as ambitious as it may first appear; some of the stops didn’t even include leaving the vehicle, just a brief and cursory inspection of what the areas offered. I had the next morning, the premier time to seek birds, available and I was inspecting, hoping to find the right spot to dedicate my efforts the next day. I’ll take you through a visual tour of my Sunday afternoon...