On Sunday, a day off for us, we headed to Harris Neck NWR south of Savannah along the Georgia coast. Harris Neck is part of the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. There are 7 NWR's in the complex with Savannah NWR being the largest and housing most of the staff for all 7 refuges. Harris Neck does have some staff on site, but the refuge manager and visitor services staff are located at Savannah. Harris Neck along with Savannah and Pinckney Island NWR in SC are accessible via land; the rest are barrier islands which must be approached by boat. Sea turtles nest on Wassaw Island NWR, and there are volunteers living on the island from May to September monitoring the sea turtles and their nests.

I had visited both Harris Neck and Wassaw last week as part of my volunteer duties. So, on Sunday Shannon and I went to Harris Neck since I now know the best way to get there. Harris Neck was an Army Air Force training base during WWII where pilots flying P-38's and 39's were trained. There is still lots of evidence of the old asphalt runways and parking areas. However the island is now grown up with predominantly second growth pine. It is also the one refuge that has developed a nesting population of wood storks. Nesting platforms were built after storks were discovered in the area. Baldcypress were also planted, and now the baldcypress are large enough that the storks nest in the trees rather than on the platforms. We were disappointed that we would not be here to see the nesting storks and thought we would likely not see a bird species that we had not yet encountered.

Lo and behold, we saw two groups of them about a dozen in number in each group. They were a distance away, as you can kind of see in the photo, but there was no mistaking them. They aren't the most beautiful bird in the flock, but, hey, a new species is a new species for us. We were thrilled to see them. Also note, if you can, in the foreground of the photo, there is an immature white ibis and a couple of moorhens. Will wonders never cease?

We must have seen at least 25 alligators. This is just one small example... It was a cool day with a strong cold north wind blowing but the sun was out and the alligators were out trying to catch as many rays as possible. We saw groups of 6 or 7 of all sizes just hanging out together. The ducks swam close by and didn't seem to be afraid. We were told that alligators really don't eat during the winter when it is cold. We did not wade into the water to find out.

On our way home we stopped at Molly MacPherson's Scottish Pub. Shannon had chicken potpie, and I had bangers and mash. We did not sample their many brands of Scotch, however, since we had miles to drive. We did stumble into a Robert Burns celebration the pub was hosting; so, we got to hear bagpipes, watch Scottish dancing, and participate in reciting toasts to all the lassies and then to all the lads. This does not necessarily have anything to do with being in the south, but we'll gladly deviate from our experience of all things southern to experience something different.