Georgia Big Day and Marie Mellinger Grant

 Hello!

It has been a very exciting few weeks for the Pendleton King Park Restoration Initiative! The Georgia birding Big Day team that I was a part of, Zugüncrew, completed our Big Day on April 29th. Over the course of 24 hours, we were able to spot 189 species. Although we fell 11 species short of our record-breaking goal, we were very satisfied with our effort and felt that we gave it our all. One day, one day, we will break that 200 species barrier.

Ticking Warblers at Pendleton King Park

Scoping shorebirds at Gould's Inlet, SSI

Rounding out the day at Massengale Park, SSI

But perhaps our greatest triumph was nearly meeting our fundraiser goal of $5,000. We were able to secure funds from 88 generous donors totaling $4,727. Thank you to all of our donors and supporters!

All of this money will be directed to the Pendleton King Park Restoration Initiative and will benefit the birds that rely on PKP's special urban habitats. Our stop at Pendleton King Park during the Big Day provided three unique species that we did not encounter elsewhere on our journey: Veery, Worm-eating Warbler, and Chestnut-sided Warbler. Mac's summary of the day on the GoFundMe site is transcribed below: 

*Good morning everyone,

I’ve been able to catch up on sleep over the past few days, so here’s the full report as promised. But first, thank you all again for your generous support of the Pendleton King Park Restoration Initiative. You contributed some $4,750 which will go far in restoring the park to its former glory and providing habitat for many of the migratory bird species we tallied last Saturday.

John Mark, JP, Sam, and I started our 2023 big day enduring hordes of mosquitos as we trudged through the overgrown sparrow field at Phinizy Swamp Nature Center. Shortly before midnight on Friday JP flushed a confused American Woodcock, which we were unfortunately unable to relocate after the clock struck twelve. Our first countable birds were a hooting Barred Owl and a sleepy Northern Waterthrush which Sam spotlighted. Driving the dykes which delineate the wetland impoundments at Phinizy, we flushed and spotlighted Green Herons and a Black-crowned Night-Heron. King Rails and Pied-billed Grebes called from the reeds. Many thanks to Ruth Mead, my childhood birding mentor, for granting us after-hours access to Phinizy. 

By 4 AM we arrived at our next main stop; the drop zone at Fort Gordon, home of the Army Signals Corps and Cyber Command. In the dark, legions of migrating songbirds passed overhead, hell-bent for the Canadian boreal forests. Sitting silently in the dirt and straining our ears, we noted the repetitive, soft flight calls of Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Swainson’s Thrushes. Underneath this invisible flood of birdlife sang a chorus of nightjars and owls; Eastern Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Chuck-will’s Widow, and Eastern Whip-poor-will. 

At around 5 AM we moved to our dawn chorus spot, a sample of the well-maintained longleaf pine stands on Fort Gordon. We shuffled in the cold, awaiting the first hints of grey in the sky. The nightjars slowly began to quiet as they settled into daytime roosts. Then, a first strain of Northern Cardinal song. Then another. With twilight, the floodgates broke, unleashing a springtime torrent of birdsong. In rapid succession we ticked all of our targets; Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman’s Sparrow, Northern Bobwhite, Wild Turkey, Swainson’s Warbler, Kentucky Warbler. JP, armed with an incomparable knowledge of the Fort (where he works), led us as we blitzed through other locations, picking up Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Common Ground-Dove, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. By the time we left Fort Gordon at around 8:30, we had counted 93 species there alone. Thanks to Steve Camp and the entire Fort Gordon team for their support. 

For the next few hours we specifically targeted neotropical migrants, many freshly arrived on a northbound journey from Central and South America. When transiting through urban and suburban areas like Augusta, these birds are attracted to parks with water that act as oases within environments of asphalt. At Reed Creek Park we picked up Blue-Winged Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and a suprise Bank Swallow. Similarly, at Pendleton King, we grabbed Chestnut-sided Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Veery. The restoration work at Pendleton King already progressing rapidly, and I can’t wait to see it turbocharged by all the money that ya’ll have contributed. We tallied 23 species of warblers, our best total yet on a Georgia big day. Before we left Augusta we sprinted to the river and breathlessly ticked Mallard, a duck that somehow manages to plague us every big day.

As the day began to heat up and the early morning buzz of birdsong quieted, we moved south into the warm agricultural country of Burke County, ticking Swallow-tailed kite and a hungry Limpkin courtesy of private landowner and locating a late flock of Northern Shovelers at Southern Swiss Dairy. A shout-out to Milton Hobbs for scouting this part of the route for us. After Southern Swiss nearly three hours of monotonous driving stood between us and the coast. On any GA big day, these hours are some of the toughest. The adrenaline rush of dawn chorus has long since worn off and your body starts to realize how tired it actually is. New birds are few and far between from the windows of the car. Everyone slugs coffee and eats sugar and salt as fights about the route and birds inevitably begin to break out. 

No matter how bad it gets, the Coast is always worth it. In Late April, the marshes and beaches are crawling with migrating shorebirds. As we barreled down I-95, storm clouds began to bear down on the coast. Now pressed for daylight, we were tied to a rigid schedule for our remaining hours. Disembarking at Altamaha WMA, we operated with ruthless efficiency under grey skies, dashing between impoundments and ticking Purple Gallinule, Least Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, and Gull-billed Tern. At Andrews Island Causeway we fanned out into spartina marsh at high tide, trudging through pluff mud and salt water, flushing Seaside and Nelson’s Sparrows. Inside the Andrews Island spoils site, bloodshot eyes shakily scoped flocks of shorebirds, picking out Long-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, American Avocet, and Roseate Spoonbill. Without warning, the entire flock flushed in panic. We raised our eyes to see a small falcon, a Merlin, hunting above this shorebird buffet. A Northern Harrier cruised above the baccharis as the phalanx of storm clouds brushed overhead. Thanks to Eliot van Otteren for providing us access to this restricted location and invaluable scouting intel. 

With no time to spare, we dashed to Gould’s Inlet, picking up Grey Kingbird at the St. Simons pier en route. Deploying onto the riffraff above the beach, we deliriously scoped birds resting on the sand. Common Tern, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and a bedraggled Red-breasted Merganser. We closed the day with 189 species, ultimately unable to tally any additional ones during the final night hours. While we weren’t able to reach the elusive 200 species mark, we’re happy with our performance this first year on the Augusta route. After a much-needed sleep in Brunswick, we strategized for next year the entire way home. The big day is equally exhausting and thrilling, and we can’t wait to run it back. Thank you all for your generous support of the part of this that actually matters; protecting the birds and ecosystems of our beloved state of Georgia. 

Until next year,
Mac *

For those who would like to see our trip report, follow this link:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/122729

But the good news doesn't stop here. In addition to the nearly 5K that we raised from our Big Day effort, the Pendleton King Park Restoration Initiative was selected to receive $1,160 from the Marie Mellinger Grant through the Georgia Botanical Society. This grant is aimed at supporting field-oriented research that is focused on documenting, protecting, and conserving native plants by investigators in the state of Georgia. Marie was a self-taught naturalist and author who was heavily involved in the Georgia Botanical Society. The PKP Restoration Initiative is honored to be selected for this grant. 

https://www.gabotsoc.org/?page_id=9162

So we have a lot to be excited about, and this is only the beginning.