These days, dawn comes to St. Marks NWR early. The sky is brightening and only the brightest stars are still visible when the gate opens at 6:00 am. Chuck-wills-widows are still calling and the dawn chorus is just about to begin.
This morning I stopped to walk along Lighthouse Road at the Double Bridges. I could hear the long hooting of a Barred Owl from somewhere upstream on the East River. A late-night storm had just passed through and the sound of dripping water was loud in the half darkness. Cardinals and Carolina Wrens began to call and were quickly joined by Tufted Titmice, Northern Parulas and Yellow-throated Warblers. As I walked along the roadside, I could hear gnatcatchers and Red-eyed Vireos. On some mornings you can hear Great Crested and Acadian Flycatchers, Red-shouldered Hawks and three woodpeckers; Pileated, Red-bellied and Downy.
At first light, I moved a mile down the road and parked again. Here, there was the sonorous cooing of Mourning Doves and the songs of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds. Low bands of clouds were turning pink as the light of the rising sun reached them. I waited until the sun had risen and added Pine Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Blue Grosbeak and Bobwhite to my heard-bird list.
Last month the refuge was full of birders hunting migrants. April is the best month of Spring migration, but the flow of birds on any particular night during migration is subject to the vagaries of wind and weather. This year the best night in Wakulla County was April 24th when almost a half million birds migrated across the county. A number of those birds stayed over and the refuge was full of Blackpoll and Cape May Warblers the next morning. By the middle of May, though, songbird migration is essentially over. It’s time for some calmer birding.
May mornings are good for sound birding as breeding birds set up or defend territories. Some species like Yellow-breasted Chat call only at dawn and dusk and even the others are more active at dawn. You can often hear species that you won’t see. I never did see a Bobwhite or Barred Owl.
Migration is still happening. Shorebird migration runs later and some species will still be moving in early June. The shorebird numbers at St. Marks are dropping as wintering species like Dunlin leave, but migrants from South America are stopping in to rest and feed on their way North. White-rumped and Spotted Sandpipers are moving through and during this past week Red Knot, American Golden Plover and Upland Sandpiper have been sighted at the refuge.
The excitement of songbird migration along the Gulf is over for another Spring, but the refuge is full of birdsong on early May mornings. Magnolias and Wild Rose are blooming and it is possible to see some truly amazing sights. Last week I saw a mother otter being followed by two half-sized kits.
Come down to St. Marks for the dawn chorus and some amazing sights of your own.
Don Morrow - Tallahasee, FL