Eastern Fox Squirrels (Sciurus niger) are the largest species of tree squirrel in North America and occur throughout much of the Eastern United States. By sight, they look about two to three times the size of the much more abundant Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). I know some places where they’re almost sure to be seen from time to time, but overall, their habitat seems to be decreasing. In my experience, they’re most abundant in piney woods and sand ridges. Fox squirrels have numerous color variations, some of which have been grouped into subspecies. The nearly solid black ones are some of my favorites but I rarely see those.
I believe this one is known as a Sherman’s Fox Squirrel(Sciurus niger shermani). They’re quite energetic so I was lucky to get this shot. It was photographed in the vicinity of Big Creek Church Road. Endemic to northern Florida and southern Georgia, Sherman’s Fox Squirrels can weigh up to three pounds and are characterized by a black head and a white nose and ears, with other variations in coat and tail colors, including black, silver, and tan. The Florida State Parks department notes: “…much of the squirrel’s habitat has been lost to development and deforestation. Because of this, the squirrels are protected throughout Florida with law prohibiting the hunting and capturing of these creatures.” I’m not sure if this is the case in Georgia and found no prohibition on hunting them here.
Brood XIX Cicada nymph emerging from shell, Elberton
Chances are, if you’re anywhere on Earth right now, you’ve heard something about the concurrent emergence of two broods (XIII and XIX) of periodical cicadas. Entomologists suggest their numbers will be in the trillions but not to worry, it’s not like a biblical plague of locusts. Cicadas are essentially harmless.
Brood XIX Cicada, Elberton
This year’s emergence is a rare event, on a scale that hasn’t happened since 1803, and it has inspired a lot of citizen science and non-stop media coverage. There’s an update about new sightings every day. I wasn’t thinking of the bugs when I planned a trip to northeast Georgia last weekend but there was no avoiding them. They were on the ground, on historic markers and graves, and on trees and telephone poles.
Brood XIX Cicada, Nancy Hart Memorial Park
The Elbert County cicadas are part of the Great Southern Brood, which according to the National Museum of Natural History has a 13-year life cycle, though the adults only live a few weeks. Most of their lives are spent underground feeding on tree roots and sap. The great thing to me about this phenomenon was being able to see the nymphs emerging while also seeing adults. Fascinating.
Those of you who know me personally know that I’m a bird nerd of sorts, and have been since childhood. When my father called me on 8 April 2018 and reported an unusual blue bird hanging around his backyard, I made a trip over to Fitzgerald to investigate it myself. From his description, we both thought it might be a Lazuli Bunting but that was easy to dismiss since it’s a western species, never before recorded in Georgia. Sure enough, it was a beautiful Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena). The bird likely followed a storm system that moved across the middle of the country and wound up in South Georgia. It only hung around a couple of days, but it was a gift to see it.
Last week, I finally got confirmation from Jim Flynn of the Checklist and Records Committee of the Georgia Ornithological Society that the sighting was officially confirmed. He wrote: I wanted to let you know that we finally completed a round of bird records that included your Lazuli Bunting report. I am happy to say that it was unanimously accepted. This is the first fully documented record for Georgia. After all of these years of record keeping, going back to colonial times, it’s tough to get a new state record!
Folklore suggests that a snipe hunt is a fool’s errand. But snipe are real birds, if rarely encountered. The term sniper comes from the difficulty hunters of this bird face. It’s well-camouflaged and flies in such an irregular pattern that a clean shot is nearly impossible. I was very lucky to see this Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata) on Thanksgiving morning. And in a flash, he was gone.
Green Herons (Butorides virescens) are among the most common residents in the shallows along the Flint River. This one was photographed at Sprewell Bluff.
Few creatures engender more fear and misunderstanding than the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamenteus). I personally think they’re beautiful, but they should always be respected at a distance. I don’t encourage anyone to get as close as I did when making this photograph. But let them live. They’re one of our best allies in regards to reducing rodent populations and they’re an important indicator of the health of our broader ecosystem. The Georgia-based Orianne Society, which is focused primarily on the preservation of the Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi), also works to preserve this species.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that this species is threatened because I see them quite often in my rambles on dirt roads throughout South Georgia, but it faces numerous challenges. Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) are emblematic of the upland pine habitat that once blanketed the Southeast but are now greatly reduced due to changes in land usage and myriad environmental factors. The Gopher Tortoise Council is a wonderful place to find information of these beloved symbols of our Southern forests.
This post replaces and expands a post originally made on 10 June 2008
Some would say the Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) isn’t the most attractive creature, but it’s a symbol of the swamps and wetlands of South Georgia. The species actually ranges from Canada to Florida. There’s all sorts of folklore regarding these creatures; my great-grandmother always said that if a snapping turtle got you in its grips, it wouldn’t let go until it heard thunder. That may or may not be the case, but I won’t get close enough to find out. I’ll admire from a distance.
The first owner of Oatland Island, after the Guale people, was John McQueen (1756-1807) and his wife, Anne Smith McQueen (1756-1809). John was fictionalized by Eugenia Price as Don Juan McQueen, in her best-selling 1974 novel of that title. McQueen was a land speculator and well-connected Revolutionary War patriot, who, after the war, fled to Spanish Florida to escape his debtors. Anne McQueen retained Oatland until her death. Their daughter, Eliza Anne McQueen Mackay (1778-1862) and husband Robert Gordon Mackay (1772-1816) maintained crops and enslaved laborers on the island for years thereafter.
The “main building” on Oatland Island (pictured above), was built as a retirement home in 1927 for the Order of Railroad Conductors and served that purpose until 1940. It is quite typical of institutional architecture of its era. It was subsequently purchased by the United States Public Health Service and served as a hospital in World War II, specializing in the treatment of venereal diseases, until the widespread application of penicillin for this purpose rendered a hospital unnecessary. Circa 1944, it was transferred to the Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA) division of the Public Health Service. The MCWA evolved into the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and until being surplussed in 1973, it was used as a development laboratory by the CDC. Martha Barnes adds this interesting bit of Savannah trivia: “People who read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will remember the main building as where Luther Driggers worked and actually developed the chemical used in today’s flea collars, but in the book he was always about to poison Savannah’s water supply.“
The Chatham County Board of Education has owned it since then and it now serves over 20,000 students and visitors each year as an educational center for the surrounding Oatland Island Wildlife Center. It served as a set location for The General’s Daughter.
Carol Suttle, a Savannah native and Oatland’s most enthusiastic ambassador, contacted me several months ago about photographing the old water tower at the entrance to the center; it’s scheduled to be demolished and it’s one of her favorite structures on the island. Touring the island and its natural features with Carol and photographer Mike McCall was a real treat, and I hope to revisit in the future. Located just past downtown Savannah on the Islands Expressway (US 80), it’s often overlooked by tourists heading to Tybee Island but is well worth a visit. The site includes historic structures from the distant past as well as structures related to the government research that went on during the mid-1900s.
David Hamilton Delk, Jr. (1812-1880), built this cabin in 1837 in the Taylor’s Creek community near Gum Branch in Liberty County. It was moved and reconstructed here by the Youth Conservation Corps in 1979. The layout is of the Scots/Irish or “shotgun” design (not to be confused with the more common and more recent shotgun “house”), a vernacular form common in early Georgia.
Martha Phillips Youngblood writes that the corn crib pictured above was originally owned by her grandfather, Thomas Hilton Phillips, and was moved here from Treutlen County.
Several abandoned structures from the CDC era remain on the island.
This concrete structure indicates the danger of the work that was done here.
A hand-crafted boat from the 1970s can also be seen on the property.
Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus), as well as wolves and bison can be easily seen on the property.
Beautiful Richardson Creek runs adjacent to the island.
