Eagles in Savannah!
Last December the Savannah Morning News reported that Audubon’s 110th annual Christmas Bird Count took place and among the birds spotted was an Eagle. There were also the usual birds, including red-tailed hawks, cardinals, blue jays, mockingbirds, a ruby crowned kinglet, a yellow-rumped warbler and a pileated woodpecker. But the crown jewel was the Eagle; three of them at that, with maybe three more immature Eagles in the group. They were all spotted around the Laurel Grove Cemetery on the west side of Savannah. Counters called it an “eagle-rama,” and said that a sight such as this would have been unthinkable earlier in their lifetimes.
Eagles were once on the brink of extinction, but their populations have recovered enough to merit removal from the Endangered Species List in 2007. Still, seeing three of more of them at once anywhere, let alone in urban Savannah is a treat.
Another jewel spotted by the bird watchers was the black and white warbler, which resembles a zebra, spotted in Forsyth Park. They spotted about 35 different species, including the blue-headed vireo, (which is slate gray above with a pale lemon throat and breast, white wing bars and a white eye ring), and a woodstork (the largest wading bird to breed in North America). It is an endangered species.
Savannah and the surrounding area makes for a great variety of birds because of our variety of habitats – wetlands, woods, shoreline, urban and marshes. And we have a lot of public areas where birds can be spotted.
