Jekyll Island Birding - Campground and Backyard Feeders

Back in January, Molly and I were brainstorming where we wanted to go on our last vacation before our baby enters our world in June. Our dreams started big by trying to plan a trip to Hawaii. Strict Covid-19 restrictions in Hawaii (testing was required at the time on each island), concerns of contracting Covid while on the flight or on the islands, and flying during the third trimester quickly eroded any chance of going to Hawaii. We then thought about where we could drive. While I love road trips (I can thank my father and mother for instilling a love of driving around the country), Molly was not as keen to drive a long distance while being pregnant. 

With distance as a constraint, Molly put her superb researching skills to the test to find a place we could explore that was not too far away. Since she knew my love of birds, one of her resources was the Audubon website on the best places to go birding in the southeast. Jekyll Island came up on the Audubon link for Georgia and further review of the island by both of us helped us decide that this would be the perfect place to relax. 

Male Cardinal at the Jekyll Island Campground Bird Feeder Sanctuary

Female Cardinal enjoying a sunflower seed at the Jekyll Island Campground Bird Feeder Sanctuary

Jekyll Island is not only an excellent birding location, but also has a fascinating history. This island hosted the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, JP Morgan, and many other wealthy families of the late 19th century and early 20th century at the Jekyll Island Club. This exclusive club was limited to only the wealthiest of families and was a winter vacation getaway for these families to enjoy hunting, horseback riding, tennis, and large multi-course dinners in the clubhouse during the evening. 

A Blue Jay resting on a branch. Spanish moss adds a nice aesthetic to the background. 

A Male Brown-Headed Cowbird. These birds are nest parasites, in which the female will lay her eggs in another bird's nest. Often, those unsuspecting birds will raise the cowbird chick instead of their own. 

Jekyll Island quickly lost its allure as America’s gilded age came to an end, and the next generations of these families were quick to find other alternatives for their winter vacation. The Jekyll Island Club came upon hard times and ultimately in 1948 the State of Georgia purchased the entire island from the club to make it into a state park. 

A Yellow-Rumped Warbler, in its drab clothing before it molts into its spectacular spring outfit. 

This Yellow-Rumped Warbler's "butter butt" is obscured by its wings. 

The island has more history than what I could define in this blog, and a great resource for this history is to do a trolley tour with the Jekyll Island Mosaic museum. Placards also abound on this island with information about the opulent era of America's wealthiest visiting the island. These placards also provide more information about pre-European colonization, the Revolutionary War, and the plantation eras of the island. These placards are best reached by bicycle since they are in various places around the island.  

A Tufted Titmouse, doing hard time. 

A juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow breaking out of its bird feeder prison. 

A juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow making one last look at us before flying free. 

Speaking of biking, this island has a well-established bike trail network that can take you around the island’s perimeter. A 26 week pregnant Molly biked 18 miles with me around the island, which was very impressive. What makes this island great to bike around is that the State of Georgia imposes that only 35% of the island can be developed while the remaining 65% must remain natural. This area is one of the rare beautiful places where beaches are not surrounded by skyrise hotels and condos but instead has remained natural and thus thrilling to experience on a bike.  

A Boat-Tailed Grackle enjoying a nice chunk of suet. 

A Boat-Tailed Grackle giving us the stare down. 

The final tangent about this island before discussing birding is that this island has an amazing sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation center. Molly and I spent a rainy afternoon learning about sea turtles (and Diamondback Terrapins too, which are turtles that inhabit brackish environs) in the interactive exhibits in the museum. We also were able to watch the veterinarians work with the injured turtles through a glass window in the museum to the operating room. One of the veterinarians even interacts with the audience while the work is occurring, which is a nice perk. You also get to go in the hospital pavilion and see all of the turtles in their tanks that are receiving continual treatment before they can be returned to the wild. 

Molly at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, showing off the stuffed animal turtle that we bought for the little one. 

Veterinarians working on a Diamondback Terrapin.  

Sea turtle tanks had a nice mirror that gave you a top view of the turtles.

These poor juvenile Kemp's Ridleys being cared for were given some caffeinated names. 

Some more caffeinated Kemp's Ridleys. 

Now that we have set the stage about the island, it’s history, and things to do, let’s move on to the birds of the island. To summarize, there were three primary birding locales that we visited: bird feeders, parks with ponds, and the Jekyll Island causeway/shoreline. I will split up them up into three posts. We will first start with the bird feeders.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker at Glynn and Perkins

Downy Woodpecker getting some nice fatty suet. 

Because Jekyll Island is a known and popular birding site, many of the residents of the island (who interestingly do not own the land they live on but own their homes and lease the land from the State of Georgia) put out bird feeders for some of their native species. One such place that we visited was some bird feeders by the intersection of Glynn and Perkins. This area had been a common feeding station for some Painted Buntings who decided to overwinter on the island instead of heading down to Florida or the Yucatan in Mexico for the winter. It was already a bit of a gamble to go to Georgia to see Painted Buntings because Texas would typically be a more likely place to see them, but we were feeling optimistic since other birders in the area had seen them at those feeders the days and weeks prior.

Painted Bunting distribution from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. As you can see in the video, Painted Buntings are not as common in Georgia as in Texas and are especially not common in February/March in that area. 

Carolina Chickadee, which looks nearly identical to the Black-Capped Chickadee. 

A Carolina Chickadee enjoying a seed. 

Molly and I had a stakeout at the intersection to see if a Painted Bunting would visit the feeders. Staking out at a bird feeder always feels awkward and intrusive, especially when you have a large camera hanging out your window aimed at the birdfeeders by the house. Fortunately, when we visited this bird feeder on a later date with local birding legend Lydia Thompson on one of her bird rambles, we were able to meet the property owner of the home and she comforted us that she is fine with birders visiting to see the great species that enjoy her setup. I will talk more about our bird ramble with Lydia in subsequent posts. 

A Carolina Chickadee trying to figure out how to break into the bird cage prison. 

A Carolina Chickadee preparing to fly out of the bird cage feeder. 

A Painted Bunting was the bird I most wanted to see on Jekyll Island and if you look up photos of the male bunting you can see why. They truly are the most stunning bird in terms of coloration that I can think of in the United States and you would expect to see them in the rainforest and not in someone's backyard at a bird feeder. A few agonizing minutes waiting at the feeder resulted in us seeing the flash of color of the bunting visit the feeder. We ended up staying put for 15 minutes and at one point saw a total of (5) painted buntings at one time in this backyard (four males and one female). Using our car as a blind, I was able to get a very subpar photo of the male Painted Bunting to add to my collection. Now that I have added the bird to my life list, the next goal will be to actually get a decent picture of one. 

A Painted Bunting! Too far away for a great picture, but at least this photo shows the vibrancy of this amazing bird.

Painted Bunting without cropping the photo as was done above. 

Another popular birding locale we visited was the Jekyll Island Campground. This campground is nestled in a magnolia/live oak canopy and scrub palm habitat. The campground has a bird sanctuary with multiple nest types and rocking chairs to sit in while enjoying the birds. At this site, we were able to photograph some great shots of another lifer bird that is found on Jekyll Island: the Yellow-Throated Warbler. This warbler is typically found in pine forests in the southeastern United States. 

Yellow-Throated Warbler, which was the bird I wanted to see the second most compared to the Painted Bunting. 

A Yellow-Throated Warbler enjoying some suet. 

A Yellow-Throated Warbler at the Jekyll Island Campground bird feeder sanctuary

We also were able to enjoy some Carolina Chickadees (looks nearly identical to a Black-Capped Chickadee but has some very nuanced differences and a noticeable call and song difference), Tufted Titmouses, Cardinals, Blue Jay, Red-Bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, a juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow, and Boat-Tailed Grackles.

   

Map of the Jekyll Island locales discussed in this blog post. 

Video of the Jekyll Island Campground Bird Sanctuary. I did not show the comfy rocking chairs nearby that you can sit at while watching birds. 

The next post I hope to go into some details on the ponds where we went birding. I will also quick touch on where we stayed on the island and its proximity to Driftwood Beach. Thanks for reading!