Savannah GA
Since arriving in Savannah late afternoon yesterday, and I have already added 2 species to my life list as well as 16 species to my 2025 list. This is a Prothonotary Warbler, one of my new life list birds. I expect to see a wide variety of warblers on this trip. Getting photos of them can often be hard as they are constantly moving and often in the middle of branches or brush. I saw this bird and missed my first two attempts. I knew it was a life bird for me, so I was very happy when I captured this image on its third landing place.
This White-eyed Vireo is the second addition to my life list. Unlike the Prothonotary Warbler, this bird was both easy to find, since it had a lot to say, and easy to photograph as it remained stationary for several minutes.
Yesterday, after collecting my bike and taking an Uber to my hotel, I headed out for some bird photography. I picked my hotel both because it was on the southern side of the city, thereby minimizing city riding as I head off tomorrow, and because it was close to the Chatham County Wetlands Preserve, a good birding spot according to e-bird. Since I arrived at my hotel around 5pm, I did not have time to build up my bike and still venture out, so I decided to walk the 2.5 miles over to the preserve. With sights like this along the way, it was quite clear that I was no longer in Massachusetts.
I was met with this sign as I entered the park, yet another indication that perhaps I was no longer in the north.
And it is clear they are quite serious about their signage. There was also a sign saying “No Swimming”. I am thinking that is a very good sign to obey.
I visited the preserve yesterday evening as well as both this morning and late afternoon. I unpacked and reassembled my bike after dinner last night, so I bicycled to the park for both my morning and my evening trips today. In the middle of the day, I took my bike bag to UPS to ship it to New Orleans so that I would have it for my flight home in 3 weeks. Here is a view of one of the ponds in the preserve.
On the first evening, besides the Prothonotary Warbler, I also got a nice shot of this Prairie Warbler.
This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was another of the small birds that I saw.
Besides the birds in the bushes, there were also birds periodically flying overhead. Generally, they were flying quite a distance away, so my photographs are not the best. I saw a variety of larger birds, but many were birds that I have already photographed this year such as Great Blue Herons or Great Egrets. However, this is a Wood Stork which is a new addition to this year’s species list.
This Little Blue Heron is another such addition to the year list.
Tomorrow I begin the trip in earnest, bicycling 57 miles to my next hotel. I will be making one detour to a bird spot at about the 40 mile mark. The timing will not be the best for birds when I arrive around midday, but hopefully I can still find some birds to photograph. For the moment, I will sign off and head to sleep leaving you all with this sunset photo of a Boat-tailed Grackle which I took last night.