Recent blog posts have featured three more video episodes produced by Georgia Outdoors, and hosted by Sharon Collins. All are well worth watching.
Image above is of an ocean beach on St Catherines Island, with ghostly roots and branches of island trees that have succumbed to seashore erosion. Wikipedia, by William D Bone - Own work, CC BY-SA
Jan 18 2016 About Vultures
Vultures, which make their living dining on the dead and decomposing, usually engender revulsion rather than admiration. But, vultures are in fact quite interesting, as this cool Georgia Outdoors episode on these birds demonstrates.
Jan 29 2016 Pelican Survivors
http://www.gpb.org/georgia-outdoors/season-20/episode/pelican-survivorsPelicans are wonderful birds, as shown in the video episode 'Pelican Survivors.' The episode features the pelican breeding colony on Egg Island, a protected habitat just north of St. Simons Island on the Georgia Coast. During the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, brown pelicans drenched in tarry hydrocarbons were captured in Louisiana, cleaned, tagged with identifying markers, and then sent to Georgia to be released so they wouldn't get re-oiled. Biologists assumed that these birds would eventually fly home to the Gulf, but surprisingly some of the relocated pelicans stayed to establish nests in the colony on Egg Island. These pelicans also defied expectations by successfully producing healthy chicks.
Jan 31 2016 St. Catherines Island
The Georgia coast has sites of historical, as well as natural, interest. St. Catherines Island, just north of Sapelo Island, and about 50 miles south of Savannah, has both, with exotic wildlife to boot. The Georgia Outdoors episode on St Catherines covers all these fascinating themes of the sea island. Cue the cute ringtailed lemurs! The final part of the episode considers the on-going erosion of the Island's beachfront, causing forests of oaks, pines, and palmettos to succumb to the sea. Shoreline erosion is outpacing island accretion, and is due in part to sea level rise caused by polar ice melt and ocean heating due to global warming.