First, we went to the north end of Jekyll Island to see if any ducks had arrived. There were no ducks, but we were entertained by three Parasitic Jaegers harassing the gulls behind the shrimp boats.

From there, we headed to South Beach to scan through the gulls. As we were driving down the road north of Blackbeard's Restaurant, Bill asked if I ever stop to bird that area of the beach. I told him that I usually do not, since I have never found anything interesting there. I then told Bill that having said that, we would probably see something interesting and prove me wrong.

Only a moment later something caught my eye flying down the beach. I looked out the window and exclaimed that there was a Brant flying down the beach! Bill looked at the bird and seeing how excited I was said it's just a Brant. I explained to him that it was not just a Brant, but this Brant was in Georgia! Bill kept his eye on the Brant as we kept pace with it flying down the beach. Thinking that the Brant was going to land, I sped up, passed the bird and pulled into the beach parking lot just past Blackbeard's Restaurant. We jumped out of the car and ran to the beach. We could see the Brant down the beach standing near a tidal pool. I ran back to get my camera and we headed down the beach. As we ran down the beach I could see several people heading right to the Brant. I was afraid they were going to scare the bird off before I could get a picture. As I approached closer I was able to get the lady's attention and motioned for her to stop so I could get a picture. The people stood still, as the Brant started to get nervous and started walking away. I was able to snap a few pictures before the Brant took off and headed south down the beach. While I was taking the pictures, Bill was looking the bird over and noted the bird was not banded. We also noted it had a short black bill, black head, black neck and black feet. We both noted that we could not see any white on the neck. The back was a dark grayish brown and the flanks were lighter than the back and grayer. The upper tail coverts and the under tail coverts were white. Unfortunately, we did not have very long to study the bird in detail before it flew away. Bill and I searched south down the beach, but were not able to relocate the bird. I've never been so glad to be proven wrong, but then again it was just a Brant!

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