Jeffrey J Davis Photography

04/20/2026

Did you know some birds have a "home away from home" they visit every single year? 🌍🐦 This time of year, Seabrook Island is surrounded by whimbrels with their distinctive downward curving curlewed beak, but we rarely see them because they travel at dusk and pre-dawn.

Maina Handbrake's recent study on Whimbrels reveals they are incredibly loyal to their vacation dining spots. While migrating, these birds don't just land anywhere—they return to the exact same foraging patches year after year! 📍

Key takeaways:
✨ Extreme Loyalty: When they return to a stopover site, their "home range" overlaps by a massive 70% with where they stayed the previous year.
✨ Personal Space: During the day, they stick to their own private feeding territories, barely overlapping with others. Some of returning birds commute on a daily basis as far as Switzerland (SC), nearly 50 miles away.
✨ The Nightly Hub: Even though they feed alone, 10 to 20 thousand whimbrels gather at a single, massive roosting spot at night: Deveaux Bank, South Carolina. This tiny island is home to nearly half the entire Atlantic population during migration! 🏝️
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By returning to familiar ground, these birds save precious energy instead of hunting for new food sources. High-tech GPS tracking is showing us just how precise these incredible navigators really are!!

04/17/2026

Horse Island Oystercatcher Convention

A group of over 75 American Oystercatchers congregating on the Horse Island dock along Bohicket Creek. This cluster included a number of family groups, each with 2-3 juvenile birds. Additionally, banded birds included over 4 North Carolina and 2 Virginia birds. What a striking creature!!

A group of over 75 American Oystercatchers congregating on the boat dock behind Horse Island, Seabrook Island, SC.

04/09/2026

Over the last week , I've had 3 separate people ask me about the new lateral ridges formed on North Beach after our recent persistent NE longshore winds.

These unique formations are more than just a pattern in the sand—they are a sign of a dynamic, healthy beach system!

These are Transverse Dunes (or sand streamers), and they play a vital role in our island's coastal protection. Here is how they work:

(1) The Delivery Truck: These ridges act like conveyor belts, moving dry sand from the open beach up toward the dunes.

(2) Dune Builders: When these ridges reach the sea oats and beach grass, the vegetation slows the wind, causing the sand to drop. This builds "pioneer dunes," which eventually allow the primary dune line to grow seaward.

(3) Wind Power: They are sculpted by "roll vortices"—spiraling tubes of wind created by sustained NE gusts that organize the sand into these rhythmic, linear bands.

Seeing these ridges is a great sign of positive sand accretion. They are the first step in the natural process of beach growth and storm protection! We should avoid walking on them and allow the vegetation's rhizomes to snake out there and reinforce the expanding dune line.

These transverse streamers dunes are being formed by strong NE winds along North Beach, Seabrook Island

04/08/2026

Stereofaunik

Two black skimmers synchronously work the golden hour surface of Captain Sams Inlet, Seabrook Island, SC

2 Black Skimmers gliding the surface of Captain Sams Inlet, Seabrook Island SC

04/03/2026

A dense flock of 600-700 Red Knots casts a shadow on the lagoon inside Deveaux Bank a few days ago. We've been seeing 1000 - 2000 REKN on our beaches most days, please give them space and try not to make them fly. This is their last rest stop before the final non-stop leg of their trip back to their Arctic breeding grounds. They still need to double their body weight to have energy for the trip.

A dense flock of 600 - 700 Red Knots casts a shadow on the lagoon inside Deveaux Bank

03/25/2026

I found this guy on my porch a week or so ago. From a tiny egg to a winged emerald jewel, the life of a Luna Moth (Actias luna) is a masterclass in beautiful natural desgn and a singularly focused existence.

🌿 The Life Cycle
Transformation: After weeks of feasting on hickory , walnut or pecan leaves, these caterpillars spin a silk cocoon to begin their final change.

Coming Out: They surface with iconic lime-green wings and long, tapering tails—cleverly evolved to confuse the sonar of hungry bats.

"Starving Artist" Mode: Adult Lunas have no mouths. They don't eat; they live entirely off energy stored from their caterpillar days.

✨ Finding "The One": Because they cannot feed, the adult moth lives for only 7 to 10 days. Their entire adult existence is dedicated to one mission: finding a mate under the cover of darkness.

Be Beautiful, Kids! Life Fast and Stay Focused.

(The smaller shots are just tight crops of the original focus stacked macro image) ZOOM IN

Available at SeabrookIslandPhotography.com

03/23/2026

Was lucky enough to see some nice shorebirds on Seabrook Island's North Beach on the first day of Spring.

I was able to see Piping Plovers , Sandpipers, Black Skimmers and Red Knots. It's always good to see one of returning local Great Lakes Piping Plovers , LLOGAN. She spends her summers up at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI. There are fewer than 100 nesting pairs of Great Lakes Piping Plovers.

As I was making my way back home on my bike, I found approx 1000 Red Knots foraging aggressively on donax on the incoming tide. The sky was getting orange but I could see that some birds are already molting into their breeding plumage. They will double their body mass during their final stop here on Seabrook Island, prior to the final non-stop leg of their 19,000 mile round trip back to their Artctic breeding grounds. These REKN were having a good old time, right in the middle of our dog beach, despite having the entire North End of our island protected for them, ha ha.

I hope you can enjoy this video and that you will give these shorebirds space when you are walking our beaches. They've got a long flight ahead of them and need to conserve energy and not be disturbed while they are bulking up.

All of this footage was taken at a non-intrusive distance using a 400mm lens.

An afternoon beach walk on Seabrook Island's North Beach , March 21, 2026.I was able to see Piping Plovers , Sandpipers, Black Skimmers and Red Knots. It's...

03/21/2026

Pretty nice skies over the marsh tonight, Seabrook Island, SC

03/19/2026

Every 12 hours , the Moon's gravity pulls our ocean's and rivers' waters way out of place. 6 hours later, the Earth's gravity puts it back where it belongs. What happens between is where the magic happens. New art, every 12 hours. Captain Sams Inlet, Seabrook Island, SC.

03/17/2026

The Seabrook Island Birders had a great walk on Seabrook Island North Beach last Friday with Cami Duquet from SCDNR dropping knowledge. We got to see quite a few birds, including over 1000 Red Knots. Always amazing to watch the Red Knots and Black Skimmers murmurating together in a random synchronous layered display. Please give these birds space to forage and rest!!

soundtrack: COCAINEJESUS - It's Not Better Without Her

03/13/2026

Please enjoy this 4K video of some our lovely year round visitors which hang out in the pristine salt marshes around Seabrook Island, SC. Play in full 4K on a large monitor or TV if possible!!

Egrets, Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, Red Tailed Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers make appearances. (Even a white morph juvie Little Blue Heron that I didn't notice till I had already uploaded the video haha)

A sampler of some of the beautiful birds that frequent the Lowcountry Salt Marshes around Seabrook Island SC. Watching these creatures forage for food and ...

03/10/2026

One of the younger calves in our pod of Locals is Kai, he must be 6 or 7 by now. Although long weaned from KoKo, he doesn't really strand feed and tends to be a bit of a loner. Throughout his life, he has had a special relationship with Seagulls, they love him, ride on his back, he feeds them scraps from his mouth. Here's Kai yesterday, waving goodbye to his little buddies before swimming back up the Kiawah River.

Seabrook Island Local Dolphin Kai has always had a special relationship with the local seagulls