Every day at St. Marks NWR is different. I was there on Friday for a shorebird survey and on Saturday to lead field trips. On Friday morning a misshapen moon set as I was driving in to the refuge leaving the stars to fend for themselves. A squall line had passed through late on Thursday and a following cold North wind was blowing hard causing the bare tree branches to clatter and sending dried leaves skittering down the road. The nightbirds were silent, hunkered down against the chill and as the day dawned, I could see that the storm had filled the refuge’s ponds, covering most of the mudflats where I had hoped to see shorebirds.
My survey was set for midday in order to take advantage of an early afternoon high tide. I spent the morning birding around the refuge. Offshore in Apalachee Bay there were rafts of Redheads and scaup. Scattered among them were smaller flocks of Bufflehead, some Horned Grebes and a few Common Loons. I moved down to the end of the Lighthouse Pool Trail to check the mouth of the St. Marks River for scoters, but found only Common Goldeneyes. A small flock of nine American Oystercatchers flew by.
The shorebird survey was a stolid affair. I logged Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs and Wilson’s Snipe in ones and twos as I made my rounds. Finally, things started picking up on Mounds Pool III. I found Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitcher and American Avocet, but still in low numbers.
I hit the jackpot on the North end of the pool. Good numbers of all the shorebirds that I had been seeing plus a thousand Dunlin. (Counting by tens I ended with 990 and decided to round up.) There were also good numbers of Blue-winged and Green-wing Teal, Mallards & American Black Duck, Redhead and a few Northern Shovelers.
Even with the birds on the North end of Mounds Pool III, it was the lowest February survey that I’ve done. I’m sure that the birds are still there, only scattered to inaccessible spots. Despite the wind, I ended the day with 84 species.
On Saturday morning I was out early to check for the American Flamingo on Stony Bayou II. The flamingo had spent the week there, but disappeared with the storm’s passage. The sky was still completely clear with only a light wind. The setting moon was still up and with only a day to go until full moon was nearly perfectly round. The brightening Eastern horizon was limned with color and the setting moon shifted from cold white to pale yellow and into gold as it set. Rails; King, Virginia & Sora, were calling in the marshes and a pair of Barred Owls were talking from within a bordering cypress dome.
I swung around the route that I planned to use for the field trips. The flamingo was still missing, a disappointment. I’m sure that it’s still somewhere in the area. I noted where birds were, including a flock of White-faced Ibis in a pond at the South end of Mounds Pool I. Stopping briefly at the Double Bridges, I found a Yellow-throated Warbler and Three Rusty Blackbirds.
Both the morning and afternoon field trips were full. On both trips we stopped to view the nests of Great Horned Owl & Bald Eagle and for Vermilion Flycatcher and White-faced Ibis. In the morning out on Stony Bayou II, while watching shorebirds on the far end of the pool, I turned around and noticed an adult Bald Eagle in a pine tree about seventy feet away. The eagle, then flew over our heads, circling against the blue morning sky. The afternoon trip had a cooperative and inquisitive otter in the Double Dikes canal. Both field trips had ducks, shorebirds and Northern Harriers.
Two consecutive days at St. Marks NWR. Very different, but both good.
Don Morrow, Tallahassee, FL