Tybee Vacation Rentals Concierge and Tybee Information Site

Recently 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.

Recently we had a question about the Tybee Island beach. “How much has the southend or point eroded over the years? Is it comparable now to the way it was fifty years ago?” Good question.

Mr. Erik Olsen our City Coastal Engineer, was kind enough to answer the question.

The condition of the South end of Tybee is now stabilized (via groins and beach fill), and has been at its most seaward location since at least the 70’s or 80’s. In 1995, prior to groinfield construction, there was literally no beach at high tide at that location. The water was back to the 1930s seawall. In the 1960’s, prior to the COE dredging sand from Tybee Inlet, it may have extended a little farther south as a sandy spit. At that time, however, there was no dry beach around the corner seaward of the parking lot near the pier until the initiation of large scale beach restoration by the COE in the 70’s. The “take away” here is that with a renourishment project every 7-8 years, the sandy beaches of Tybee are in their most robust condition.

Good news!!!!

Nesting turtles compete with tourists, businesses and coastal residents for use of sandy beaches. They need a quiet, dark beach to nest and produce babies, but it’s getting harder and harder for them to find them. The biggest problem may be the artificial light coming from those businesses and houses which confuse the turtles.

Artificial light discourages females from nesting. If a female fails to nest after multiple false crawls, she will resort to less-than-optimal nesting spots or deposit her eggs in the ocean. Hatchlings instinctively move toward the brightest illumination, which is normally moonlight reflecting off of the ocean. Artificial lighting causes hatchlings to become disoriented and wander in land, where they die of dehydration or predation.

Tybee does her part to help the turtles by reminding residents and businesses to keep their lights low, and/or to purchase turtle safe lighting and fixtures. From May 1 to October 31, we ask that you turn out the lights for the turtles or purchase special red lights that emit a very narrow portion of the visible light spectrum which is less intrusive to nesting sea turtles and hatchlings. Another option is to tint windows that face the beach; close opaque curtains or blinds after dark or install special fixtures to shield the lights from the beach. For these special lights you can go to Starry Night Lights’ website at: http://store.starrynightlights.com/trufrli.html.

Do your part and work with the environment to keep our turtles safe and producing.

The Savannah College of Art & Design is a blessing for the city of Savannah and surrounding areas. They take the big “white elephant” buildings that have lived out their lives; refurbish them–using them as working classrooms; studying the architecture, design, layers of paint and wallpaper, and construction to learn while refurbishing, and then turning them into state-of-the-art, usable structures. They also take on other unusual projects such as the Colonial Cemetery which was left a mess after Sherman’s troops came into Savannah, and now they are taking on the project of getting beach showers at Tybee Island.

Tybee Island has a problem Continue Reading »

Did you know that there are a number of species of aquatic life that are threatening the environment, local economies and human health? Most of these are caused by people (1) releasing unwanted aquarium plants and pets into local waterways, storm drains or sewer systems; (2) water gardeners not handling their gardens properly; (3) anglers and (4) boaters.  For example, the Red Lionfish, normally native to the western Pacific but contained in aquariums in Florida, were released in the Atlantic during a hurricane. The species became established along the Atlantic coast from southern Florida to New York. It is thought that these Lionfish are impacting commercially important native fish populations through Continue Reading »