In addition to all the superb presentations and break-out sessions at the Bird Education Network National Gathering at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel on Jekyll Island, Georgia, field sessions were also on the agenda (it’s a bird-related event; would anyone really expect us to refrain from doing at least a little bird watching while located in such a bird-rich location as Jekyll Island?).
Harris Neck NWR, about an hour’s drive north from Jekyll Island, was established in 1962 by a transfer of federal land that were formerly managed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a U.S. Army airfield. Covering over 2,800 acres, the refuge contains a variety of habitat types, including saltwater marsh, grassland, mixed deciduous woods, and cropland. Among the birdlife to be seen there are a wide range of waterfowl and waders, including the ever-popular Wood Stork, as well as open forest and edge-loving birds, such as the seemingly ubiquitous Yellow-rumped Warbler and the seasonally present Painted Bunting.
Wood Storks, Mycteria americana, nest right in the refuge. To promote this, the areas around the ponds, particularly Woody Pond where we spend considerable time, are improved to promote and protect stork nesting.
Tactile feeders, Wood Storks often gather together in shallow water and use their movements to drive potential prey into a small area then sweep the area with open beaks, sometimes even partially submerging their bodies into the water. Unlike Wood Storks I have encoundered in more developed areas, the storks at Harris Neck were rather skittish and easilt spooked. This one was the last of a large flock we approached only to see them take flight into the distant corner of the pond.
Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, are also a common late February sight on the refuge. Their vocalizations were particularly striking (as well as a little startling). Our guide informed us that as night draws near, the Common Moorhen calls mix with the Pied-billed Grebe vocalizations to produce a truly awe-inspiring and slightly erie chorus capable of giving even the most experienced field naturalist a little chill.
Two particularly interesting ducks that were seen by the party were the Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, and the Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus. Given its unmistakable crest, I’ve long found Hooded Merganser to be a particualrly regal-looking bird.
Oh yes, and there were alligators there as well.
This particularly specimen of American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, was not especially large. A few more somewhat larger individuals were basking in the sun a little further off on another small island in Woody Pond. According to our guide, the population on the refuge ranges from nestlings to some more than twelve feet in length. Althought I’ve observed wild alligators in the field before, I must admit that every time I do I get the same slightly uneasy feeling. Perhaps it is simply a deeply ingrained, primitive response to being visually reminded that without our technology (and sometimes even with it), Homo sapiens are not the uncontested top level predators on the planet.
