Bird Watching at Bomb Island

Saturday night we were finally able to do an evening raft up to see the birds with our cruising fleet.  I have mentioned before our attempts to do this event that were thwarted by evening thunderstorms.  Last Saturday the rains held off and the birds had not yet flown the coop.  It was a successful adventure all around for everyone.

Here we are upon our arrival outside the islands all rafted up together.  This is our friend Tom on his boat!  He also had two additional passengers.  We rafted our boat up next to his on the end.

Looking further in there were 5 boats total that rafted together.

Here is a great shot of the sun as it was going down.

To recap, every year we have thousands of Purple Martins that come for the summer to an island on our lake called Bomb Island. They scour the surrounding areas by day, but at night they all come back to roost for the evening on one island. It is centrally located in the lake and has since been named a bird sanctuary due to this spectacular event. It is quite a sight attracting many boaters to park around the island in the evenings to watch the birds come in for the night.

Looking off our stern you can see several boaters parking for the show.

A nearby boater decides to do a little fishing while waiting for the birds.  In the background you will see one of larger tourist boats on Lake Murray.

This boat is called the Southern Patriot.

It is one of two boats that offer cruises to the public for a fee. 

The Southern Patriot is open to

 large and small parties for evening tours and rentals.  There is another boat on our lake that offers dinner cruises as well.

This is the first boat to offer tours and is always quite exciting to see when it comes by.  It's a good sign to see it here for the evening too!   It encourages us that perhaps we are going to see the birds.

  We had been worried we would not get the chance again since they leave our state this time of year rather abruptly.   They are only here for a few months.  Luckily that was not the case and we were able to watch them and enjoy great company with each other as well.

This is a photo from our bow looking towards the

 island!

Another photo of a point off the island..we were still waiting to see if the birds were going to come.

This is one of our members who rode with us.  Both he and his wife were with us, they are photographers that met in a photography club.  I had hoped to get their photos to share with you but they have not forwarded them to me yet.  Stay tuned for that as I am sure they will be wonderful!

Here are the birds as they begin to arrive over the island!

I apologize I could not get any close up shots but hopefully you will still get the impact.

Slowly they start to fill up the sky above.

It's getting late and my photography skills are so bad.  I was too busy socializing and only kept remembering to pick up the camera every so often.

But as you can see all those specks are flocks of birds.  It is truly a sight to behold.

As the evening sets in and the majority of the birds have landed, it is time to go home.  It's a long trip back for a sailboat.  We decided to motor back for the evening.

We pass the Southern Patriot again later in the night, all lit up it's a beautiful sight as well!

We had a wonderful evening with a great group of people.  If you ever get to come to Lake Murray in the summer, be sure and plan an evening of bird watching off of Bomb Island.  You will not be disappointed, even better if you get to share it with a few friends.

I am linking up with http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

for Outdoor Wednesday.

Be sure and visit the link above for more wonderful outdoor adventures.

Thanks for coming by today,I hope you enjoyed the show!

Mary