The Peach Bowl matchup between our two favorite college teams the Michigan Wolverines and the Florida Gators provided a great way to add birds to our Georgia life lists.

On Friday afternoon we drove to Macon through some pretty heavy rain, arriving in time for a great Italian dinner at Natalia’s. It was quite cold when we arrived in downtown Atlanta the next morning and walked through Centennial Olympic Park on our way to Mercedes Benz Stadium. This is a magnificent state of the art facility with great views from everywhere. We really enjoyed the game, but we’re ready to do some Georgia birding over the next few days.

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Sunday morning we stopped back in Macon at the Rose Hill Cemetery where both Gregg and Duane Allman are buried. It is kind of interesting that the band would hang out there in the early days and several of their songs, including Elizabeth Reed and Little Martha were written there. Cemeteries are often great birding hotspots and we found Red-tailed Hawk, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwings and Chipping Sparrows.

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Jekyll Island

It was time to head for the coast and our destination was Jekyll Island and Driftwood Beach. This beach was recently named the number 10 best beach on Trip Advisor. Jekyll Island has been a popular wintering location for more than a century and there are several mansion-sized cottages built by the Vanderbilts, Morgans, Rockefellers, and others. There are about 25 miles of trails on the island and most offer great birding opportunities. We got up early and walked to the campground with lot’s of birds and a designated bird garden with feeders.

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Next, we headed to the boat launch and the boardwalk back to Driftwood Beach. This is a 2-mile walk through a variety of habitats and we picked up 34 species including Clapper Rail, Wilson’s Snipe, Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Orange-crowned Warbler. All the expected herons and egrets were present as well. Other birding spots we recommend are the beach by the soccer field and the Tidelands Nature Center. Our final stop at the Welcome Center added Peregrine Falcon, American Avocet, and Belted Kingfisher.

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Florida

After a special few days in Georgia, it was time to head home to Florida. A recent report of Purple Sandpiper added another stop on the way. Huguenot Memorial Park in Jacksonville offers great birding, camping and you can drive on the beach. We added our first 21 Florida birds of 2019 including numerous gulls, terns, and shorebirds. In retrospect, we should have photographed more of the Ruddy Turnstones so we could study them later to see if the Purple Sandpiper was hidden in with them. Cannonball Jellyfish were everywhere on the beach.

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While we didn’t get the coveted Purple Sandpiper, we did add 44 Georgia life birds to bring our Georgia list to a total of 68 birds.

Trip Birds: 66     Life Birds: 0

Next Up: Lakeland Exotics and Wimauma