Too many birds to little time!

This was the Friends second visit to the Little St. Simon's Island, the first being February 2006.  It was much colder on the earlier trip and we spent a lot less time outside!  However, it was a really fun trip.  I will always remember standing out in the cold and wind, watching the nesting Bald Eagles and a Great Horn Owl.  The Owl hunkered down into the nest so that what we mostly saw were the feathered ear tufts blowing in the wind.  We also saw numerous shore birds during that trip on a visit to Sancho Panza Beach on the North end of the island.  Many of the gulls, tern and sand pipers were difficult to identify, but I was excited to see some White Pelicans which are rather rare.

Spring is a great time to bird watch, and I was able to see a lot of birds I had never seen before.  Having blinds, spotting scopes and a guide familiar with the local birds was a plus!  I captured a few photos while at Goose Pond and the Rookery, and used them as references to complete my quickly drafted sketches of both locations.

It had been dry for a long time, and the ponds the birds depended on were quickly drying up.  This concentrated the birds, but they still managed to remain too far off to see without binoculars or a spotting scope.  I created a two page composite featuring some of the more interesting birds we saw that day.