Georgia Geography

From home base in Ohio, Kenn writes: It just occurred to us that we should ward off any potential confusion caused by the popularity of the name "Georgia" in geographic terms. We're in the process of posting, gradually, about our recent Antarctic trip, and one huge highlight of that trip was our four-day visit to South Georgia Island. But we're about to have a four-day visit to an island in south Georgia -- or I should say, in southern coastal Georgia. And these are two different places.

South Georgia Island is beautiful, rugged, and remote, isolated in the far South Atlantic at the edge of the Antarctic region. We didn't see anyone there except a couple of British researchers and the other passengers on our ship. The island that we're visiting next week is also beautiful, but not so rugged or remote. It's Jekyll Island, Georgia, and we're going there for the conference of the Bird Education Network. We'll be seeing lots of people there, lots of our friends and colleagues and co-workers, people who are passionately committed to teaching the public about birds and conservation. Kim and I will be giving a keynote talk together at the conference and helping to lead instructional field trips, and each of us will be taking part in panel discussions. We hope to learn new approaches, share ideas, and come back with even more energy for educational work.

With luck we'll have time to post from there (as well as continuing our Antarctic series). But for a preview of what Jekyll Island is like, visit Lydia Thompson's blog. Lydia is an expert birder and a wonderful artist, and she has done more than anyone to raise awareness of the spectacular bird habitat on Jekyll Island and elsewhere along the Georgia coast.