If you’re a bird lover, you’ve found paradise here. Literally hundreds of species of birds make their home in the Golden Isles. From shorebirds and gulls to wading birds and waterfowl to woodpeckers, owls, and birds of prey, you can see a wide variety of our islands’ feathered inhabitants virtually any time of year. Herons, wood storks, egrets, roseate spoonbills, painted buntings and bald eagles are some of the popular species commonly seen. Because of the area’s large and diverse bird population, five of Georgia’s Colonial Coast Birding Trail sites are located in the Golden Isles. The Birding Trail extends from Savannah and Tybee Island and continues south to St. Marys and Cumberland Island National Seashore with a western leg reaching Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. More than 300 species of birds (75% of the total species of birds seen in Georgia) have been spotted at the 18 sites along the trail. The birds you see will depend greatly on when and where you visit, with some birds here year-round and others being migratory travelers stopping here to winter or on their travels further south.
Julie Andrew
Great Egret at Village Creek Landing
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation on Hwy 17 just north of Brunswick is the northernmost site on the Birding Trail. The nature trail that runs from the visitors center to the edge of the marsh is a great place for birding. Look for bald eagles, colorful painted buntings and, yellow-throated warblers here. The site on St. Simons Island is on East Beach at Gould’s Inlet, where the best birding can be done around the afternoon high tide. Oystercatchers and black skimmers are fun to watch darting in and out along the shoreline. While not among the Birding Trail sites, the St. Simons Land Trust’s Guale Preserve and Cannon’s Point are also excellent for birding. Remaining Golden Isles sites are along the Jekyll Island Causeway, overlooking the vast expanse of marsh, and on Jekyll at Driftwood Beach and South End beach. A tip from the locals: make sure to make a trek over to Horton’s Pond too.
Beyond the Colonial Coast Birding Trail, Little St. Simons Island is renowned for its birding. Recommended by the staff of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as one of the best places for bird littlestsimonsisland.com.
