Aboard the Island Hopper, in search of bird in breeding plumage

By Anne H. Oman
Reporter-At-Large
Suzanne Batchelor – Photographer
April 29, 2019 3:00 p.m.

Members of the Nassau Bird Club aboard the Island Hopper.  L – R John Batchelor, Bill George, Marie Larson, Capt. Scott Stewart, Anne Oman, Dutch Hodges, Cathy Ryckman

We are in the Bell’s River, aboard the pontoon boat Island Hopper, seven members of the Nassau Bird Club, including leader Bill George. Dunlins fly overhead in a cerulean sky dotted with puffy cumulus clouds, and binoculars zoom in on black skimmers and a red knot combing the beige beach between the oyster mounds and the spartina grass on Tiger Island, legendary lair of rattlesnakes.

But Capt. Scott Stewart poo-poos the rumors: “I’ve never seen a snake out there.

A bird poses atop an oyster pile, and Mr. George promptly IDs it as a black-bellied plover.

“Black-Bellied Plover” Photo courtesy of Suzanne Batchelor

“They blend in, don’t they?” he says.

“Oh, he’s beautiful,” enthuses Dutch Hodges, and Capt. Scott Steward obliges with a U-turn so photographer Suzanne Batchelor can get a better shot.

“Wait, wait, don’t move,” she implores the bird, and the camera clicks.

“He’s in formal wear – black and white – as if he’s going to the prom,” says Mr. George.

Mr. George, an experienced birder from Minnesota, has planned this voyage of discovery so that the group, which makes regular land-based birding forays on and around Amelia Island, can see some of the birds normally experienced in winter drab in their more colorful breeding plumage.

“Short-Billed Dowitchers” Photo courtesy of Suzanne Batchelor

Ditto the dowitchers, the short-billed dowitcher (whose bills are actually rather long). They are ambling along the mud beach in the company of some willets, relatives of the sandpiper.

“See how they’re changing color and taking on a reddish hue as they go into breeding plumage,” instructs Mr. George.

“There’s fish breaking over there – blue fish,” shouts the captain, who takes people fishing as well as birding.
But today it’s all about birds.

As a tern comes in for a landing, Mr. George tells the group to “look at the bill color – if it’s yellow, it’s a least tern.”

There are also gull-billed terns, Caspian terns, royal terns, Forster’s terns, sandwich terns, and sooty terns – an eternity of terns? – but this one, with its yellow beak and legs and smooth black head is, indeed, a least tern.

“Are those white pelicans or wood storks?” asks Cathy Ryckman, focusing on a flock flying low above the spartina grass. The flock turns out to be a mixture of the two.

“I love the wood storks,” says Marie Larsen. “They’re beautiful in the air, and homely on the ground.”

By this point, we have circumnavigated Tiger Island and, after a few false sightings – a bird in the grass turns out to be a stick and another in the water is really a mooring buoy – Capt. Stewart speeds up, turning the boat into the Intracoastal.

“Holler if you see something,” he says.

An osprey takes off from the shore.

“Oh, he’s got a hit,” exclaims Marie Larson.

We cruise past the paper mill, its odor wafting on the gentle breeze. Least terns fly unperturbed against the smoke belching from the stack, and Cathy Ryckman spots an osprey nest atop a high light pole on the West Rock grounds.

“And they’re on it,” she says, focusing her binoculars on the denizens of the nest.

We speed up again and cross the St. Mary’s River into Georgia waters, heading for Cumberland Island and Beach Creek, which is lined with oaks, dead and alive, among a tangle of palmettos.

“That’s where you’ll find your rattlers – in the palmettos,” says Captain Stewart.

We find no rattlers, but Mr. George points out a least tern and a red-winged blackbird. A clapper rail is heard going kek kek kek in the tall grass.

Another small brownish bird sitting very still on the branch of an uprooted oak raises speculation. Is it a pectoral sandpiper? A Wilson’s snipe?

“Willet” Photo courtesy of Suzanne Bachelor

Mr. George pronounces it a willet, in its breeding plumage of speckled brownish gray.

Mission accomplished and time and tide closing in, we head for home port, but there are still birds to be seen: As we turn up Egan’s Creek, there’s a belted kingfisher perched high on the mast of a sailboat, while a great egret poses on the bow of a power boat.

For information on the Nassau Bird Club, contact Bill George at [email protected].

For information about Capt. Scott Stewart’s Amelia Island Charters, go to www.Ameliaislandcharters.com.

anne-oman-croppedEditor’s Note: Anne H. Oman relocated to Fernandina Beach from Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Washington Times, Family Circle and other publications.

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Tammi Kosack
Tammi Kosack(@tammi-kosack)
4 years ago

Thank you, Anne, for an article that made me feel as if I was right on that boat with you!
Bill George is a gem: an incredible wealth of bird knowledge and a pleasure to be around. I am sorry I missed this trip and look forward to more of Bill’s outings.

Lawrence Less!n
Lawrence Less!n (@guest_54961)
4 years ago

Superb descriptions, Anne, I enjoyed the birding boat trip with y’all and Bill. Can I add the sightings to my e-list? Larry