IN THIS ISSUE
- Right whale winter
- More time for plan feedback
- Familiar indigo and egg-citing find
- Food can be scarce for early hummers
 Drone video of DNR monitoring two adult right whales Jan. 2 See DNR's blog for a calving season Q&A.
“Each day actually starts with logistics phone calls about 7 the night before. We are on the water every day the weather and conditions are good December through February, up to seven days a week. We meet at headquarters between 6 and 7:30 a.m. and head offshore. …”
Join us on our blog for a look back at the North Atlantic right whale calving season. In "A Winter Working with Whales," DNR Marine Mammal Program Coordinator Jessica Thompson explains the daily fieldwork, the highs and lows, and the outlook after a lackluster winter on the endangered whales' only known calving grounds.
 Monarchs are one of over 1,000 species of greatest conservation need listed in the draft plan (Linda May/DNR)
Take a deep breath: You have more time to comment on Georgia’s draft 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan.
DNR just added another three weeks for feedback, bumping the deadline from March 21 to April 11. Plan coordinator Dr. Brett Albanese, an assistant chief with the agency's Wildlife Conservation Section, said the extension will allow people to dig deeper into the details of the revised statewide strategy that guides conservation of everything from monarchs to manatees.
Since the comment period opened Feb. 19, many Georgians have provided their thoughts through the survey at georgiawildlife.com/WildGeorgiaSWAP. Albanese is hoping many more will by April 11.
Created by scores of stakeholders, the Wildlife Action Plan is considered vital to restoring, managing and protecting Georgia wildlife, including more than 1,000 species “of greatest conservation need.”
REVIEW AND COMMENT
 DNR's Tim Keyes shows the 6-foot-plus indigo caught during a federally permitted survey. (Matt Elliott/DNR)
Eastern indigos grow up to 8 feet long and rank as North America’s longest snake.
Which means the 6-foot, 10-inch indigo that DNR Wildlife Conservation Section Chief Matt Elliott caught during a survey in Candler County last month didn’t set any records. But it did add to the known history of this snake – it was the third time it had been caught – and to efforts to conserve the federally threatened species.
DNR has been doing mark-recapture surveys for indigos for seven years. The work, which complements occupancy surveys led by the nonprofit Orianne Society, involves tagging the big nonvenomous snakes with PIT tags, taking measurements and recording if any were caught before. The data both marks individual snakes and helps assess population estimates.
Elliott said the goal is to “figure out what the actual population levels are – how many snakes are out there.” Occupancy surveys, in comparison, gauge the presence of indigos and population trends.
The recent indigo was actually the first one caught and tagged on the Candler tract, roughly 1,000 acres of private, non-commercial forestland. That initial capture was on March 6, 2019. The male snake was 5-feet, 7-inches long then.
He was caught again Feb. 18, 2022, and then last month, when he weighed in at slightly more than 5 pounds. The snake is probably about 10 years old. (Indigos’ lifespan in the wild is estimated at 8-12 years.) The farthest distance between capture sites was slightly more than a half-mile. That’s not surprising, Elliott said, considering that male indigos range widely.
And although this one did try to escape, it didn't seem alarmed about being caught.
“It didn’t try to bite or musk,” Elliott said. “It only hissed.”
Maybe being caught and released twice before helped.
 Eastern indigo eggshells found at an old gopher tortoise burrow on the Candler County tract (Matt Moore/DNR)
SHELL SHOCKED
DNR wildlife technician Matt Moore made a rare find during that February survey in Candler County: the shell of a hatched indigo egg. A few weeks later, he and fellow technician Andy Day discovered two more at the same spot.
The eggshells were not only a first for Moore, they would have been for almost anyone. That’s because only the basic nesting habits of indigo snakes are known.
Females lay about four to 12 eggs in the spring. The eggs hatch mid-summer through September. Indigos sometimes nest in and around gopher tortoise burrows, which the snakes use regularly as refuge.
There is a theory, however, that indigos favor abandoned burrows, where tortoises aren’t crawling in and out and possibly disturbing the eggs. (The Orianne Society’s Ben Stegenga explains that idea and more in this video.)
The Candler tract eggs were at an "inactive" burrow. The first eggshell found was outside of it. The other two were inside. Moore said it looked like an armadillo had used the burrow and may have kicked the one egg out while digging.
As for that first shell – a leathery, granular pouch that felt like it had been dusted with salt – “You could see where the snake had split (the shell) open with its egg tooth,” Moore said.
 The likes of this female ruby-throated hummingbird are en route (Jenny Burdette/GNPA)
By TERRY W. JOHNSON
If you are a ruby-throated hummingbird fan, unless one of these tiny birds overwintered in your yard, you probably haven’t seen one since late last summer. But now that March is here, you will not have to wait much longer: Ruby-throats are winging it our way.
When those first migrants arrive, they will be tired and hungry. They will also have depleted much if not all of the fat that fueled their flight from winter homes ranging from Panama to southern Mexico.
However, most years they will return to a late-winter landscape in Georgia where nectar is difficult to find. That’s the case this year. …
Read Terry’s column about food sources for early hummers and how you can help.
Terry W. Johnson is a retired DNR program manager and executive director of TERN, friends group of the Wildlife Conservation Section. Check out past columns and his blog. Permission is required to reprint a column.
 A saltmarsh sparrow and survey crew on Torras Causeway near St. Simons (Rachel Brodman, Fletcher Smith/DNR)
Saltmarsh sparrow surveys continuing through the end of this month are providing habitat data to help shape management for this secretive bird whose numbers have declined about 9 percent a year since the 1990s. Saltmarsh and fellow species such as seaside and Nelson’s sparrows winter in Georgia marshes and face threats vary from rising sea levels to storm-spawned tidal flooding.
Landowners and managers can gain prescribed fire experience, skills and knowledge in a Learn and Burn workshop April 9 at Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley. Space is limited, so don’t wait until the April 2 deadline to sign up ($15 per person).
 Up in the tree, it's a clump! It's a nest! It's ... witches' broom. (Special to DNR)
A question occasionally posed to Dr. Bob Sargent, coordinator of DNR’s bald eagle surveys, involves whether large, dark masses of vegetation seen high in trees are eagle nests. Often, Sargent writes, what may look like a nest from the ground is actually witches’ broom, an abnormal growth on tree branches that produces a wad of leaves and twigs and is caused by factors including viruses and fungi.
The warming weather is a reminder that diseases affecting wild birds can flourish when birds flock to neglected feeders. The key, DNR wildlife biologist Todd Schneider says, is regularly cleaning feeders: “A hygienic bird feeder can reduce the risk tremendously.” Cleaning tips.
 Two tegus killed in Toombs and Tattnall counties last summer (Special to DNR)
Argentine black and white tegus in Toombs and Tattnall counties will be more active as temperatures rise and the invasive lizards leave brumation. The southeast Georgia counties are home to the state’s only known wild population of tegus, and the public is asked to report all sightings of tegus dead or alive (as a non-native species, they can be trapped or killed year-round on private land).
Not looking forward to mowing? No Mow March, an initiative rooted in Great Britain but promoted earlier in the U.S., encourages postponing mowing until April to allow spring-flowering plants like violets and dandelions to provide early forage for native bees (including mining bees) and other pollinators.
 "How to Spot a Trispot" coloring book explores the life of this federally threatened fish.
Quick hits:
- The new coloring book “How to Spot a Trispot,” illustrated by Nature Conservancy Operations Manager Kristin Roberts, follows a pair of the threatened darters through spawning to show how connected waterways are essential to their survival. Download a copy.
- A subadult Coosa moccasinshell found in the Conasauga River during a recent search for broodstock is a welcomed sign that natural recruitment is still occurring in the river, Georgia’s only known site for the endangered mussels.
- The midwinter shorebird count – an annual census of high-priority species’ populations, trends and wintering sites – had about 65 people scouring every Georgia beach and offshore bar last month, including Ossabaw Island’s 10-plus miles of beach where the latest shorebird total topped 3,640.
- DNR and partner agencies in North and South Carolina are mapping out a joint study to research the status of many native crayfish rated species of greatest conservation need, including their distribution and genetic diversity.
- Bald eagles did not nest at the live-streamed Berry College site this winter, leaving fans of the popular wildlife cameras disappointed but still checking for glimpses of adult and juvenile eagles that visit the empty nest.
- At Smithgall Woods State Park near Helen, a group including Save Georgia’s Hemlocks volunteers, Boy Scouts Troop 553 and parks staff treated almost 500 eastern hemlocks for wooly adelgid, an invasive insect that kills the trees.
 It's official: The scientific name of the sicklefin redhorse is Moxostoma ugidatli (Peter Dimmick/DNR)
Names in the news: The sicklefin redhorse, a large sucker found only in southwestern North Carolina and the Hiawassee River in north Georgia, officially has a name. The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists published a description of Moxostoma ugidatli authored by the late Dr. Robert Jenkins, Jonathan Armbruster, Dr. Bud Freeman, Scott Favrot and DNR’s Dr. Brett Albanese. An article in News-O-Matic, a children’s online education outlet, highlighted the origin of the name. Moxostoma is Greek for “mouth to suck;” ugidatli is Cherokee for “wearing a feather” – referring to the long, pointed dorsal fin – and is what the Cherokees called the fish. DNR senior wildlife biologist Tim Keyes has been promoted from overseer of the Wildlife Conservation Section’s coastal bird program to overseer of the section’s entire coastal program. As program director, the 25-year employee fills the opening left when Jason Lee became deputy executive director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia.
WHAT YOU MISSED ...
In the previous Georgia Wild:
- Wayward seal
- Wildlife and you
- Cold-hardy kinglets
- White red-tailed hawk
"Georgia flora, fauna get new look in 10-year wildlife plan update," Georgia Record (also at WABE-FM/Atlanta and Georgia Public Broadcasting). Other coverage includes: The Augusta Chronicle, Grice Connect, Madison Journal.
"DNR says save the birds, clean your feeders," WSB-TV (ch. 2, Atlanta). Also: WGAU-FM/Athens, All on Georgia.
(+video) "Donate to DNR through your tax return," WRDW-TV (ch. 12, Augusta)
"T-Shirt Art Contest winners announced in Youth Birding Competition," ValdostaToday.com. Also: Grice Connect and others.
"New study advances acoustic monitoring of endangered whale," Cornell Chronicle (Ithaca, N.Y.). Study in Endangered Species Research.
"Lawmakers float bipartisan bill to protect Okefenokee from new mining efforts," Georgia Recorder
"Wildlife habitat, or too lazy to mow?" The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Wildlife experiences can ease PTSD symptoms," The Wildlife Society. Study in Human-Animal Interactions.
"Cavity-nesting birds decorate with snake skin to deter predators," Cornell Chronicle (Ithaca, N.Y.)
"Whale waste helps ocean health by funneling nutrients to tropics," UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif.
 A subadult Kemp's ridley warms up on the surface (Mark Dodd/DNR)
Kemp's ridley sea turtles thermoregulating off Georgia coast, Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative
(audio) "COVID pushed kids outdoors; some teens have taken to birding," WUSF-FM (89.7, Tampa)
"Drone captures narwhals using their tusks to explore, forage, play," Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fla. (news release)
(audio) "Scientists using AI technology to speak whale," WNPR-FM/Connecticut Public Radio (90.5, Hartford, Conn.)
 Top entry: Red-breasted mergansers by Erin Moore of Walton High School in Marietta
A Cobb County teen’s richly colored drawing of red-breasted mergansers landed two blue ribbons in the T-shirt art contest at this year’s Youth Birding Competition. The entry by Erin Moore, 14, a student at Walton High in Marietta, led the 163 submissions from schools, after-school programs and nature centers statewide, winning grand prize and the high school division. Seven other budding – should we say fledgling? – bird artists were named division winners and runners-up (watch a slideshow of the winning art). Interested in the Youth Birding Competition set for April 4-12? Learn more and register by March 15.
CREDIT
Masthead: eastern indigo snake (Matt Moore)
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