Day 10 – Talking Turkey

We certainly talked this one up – Wild Turkey at Harris Neck NWR (photo courtesy of Jane)

Today we did two reserves – spending the morning at Altamaha Wildfowl Management Area and the afternoon at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge. The former site is an old rice plantation which has been turned over to a wildfowl reserve – albeit with limited hunting in season. The birding was steady but we did manage to amass a reasonable list by coffee time including: Cedar Waxwing and Bobolink, a few water birds – herons, egrets etc with the highlights being several Least Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Virginia Rail (a US tick for me) and a reasonable variety of waders. We then drove thirty miles north to Harris Neck which is a vast reserve encompassing several large ponds, woodland and scrub. There is a five mile wildlife drive with various trails leading off it. At one point I was saying there must be a chance of Wild Turkey – twenty minutes later we rounded the bend and there was a fine specimen feeding quietly by the roadside! Other highlights from this site included a very large breeding colony of Wood Stork and a couple of nice warblers – including Pine, which was new for the trip.

Trip tick – Pine Warbler
There was a host of wildfowl and wetland species at Butler’s Plantation (Altamaha WMA) – including this Little Blue Heron
The old plantation house on Butler’s Island – you can’t imagine the horrors which went on to maintain this pre-abolition life-style
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