First light came early at St. Marks NWR on Tuesday. The pig frog chorus in the marshes along the levee where we stood waiting for sunrise was loud and almost drowned out the distant hooting of a pair of Barred Owls. It was the morning of the Summer Solstice the longest day of the year. It is considered the first day of summer in our culture, but little attention is paid to it. In Northern Europe the solstice is celebrated as Midsommar with bonfires and feasting. Down here along the Gulf coast, it’s too hot for a bonfire, but a snack would have been nice.
A morning high tide made it a perfect day to do a shorebird survey and we recorded 124 shorebirds of 12 species, half the number that were on the refuge two weeks ago. Late June is always the annual low point for shorebirds. About half of the birds that we saw were local nesting species; Willets, Wilson’s Plovers and American Oystercatchers. Most of the rest were non-breeding species that oversummer here, like Black-bellied & Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Low shorebird numbers are simply a reflection of where we are in the annual cycle. Avian diversity at St. Marks is at its lowest point with only about 130 species expected on the refuge. Northbound migrants are gone and it will be a few weeks before the first Southbound migrants -- early nesters and failed breeders -- will start coming back through the refuge. In late June, St. Marks has its year-round residents, summer breeders, some yearlings of a few species that don’t migrate in their first year and a few odd birds that weren’t healthy enough to migrate.
And yet, life continues to unfold at the refuge. Cabbage palms have begun to bloom along Lighthouse Road. Their yard-long sprays of small white flowers attract insect pollinators while the bright red flowers of the trumpet creepers at the Double Bridges attract hummingbirds.
Swamp Dogwood fruit is providing food for grackles and thrashers and if you look closely, you can see the green fruits of grape and Virginia creeper blending in among their leaves. They’ll suddenly become visible as they ripen and darken later in the summer.
Female gators are building their mound-shaped nests and laying large clutches of eggs that will hatch in late summer. Few of the young gatorlings will survive to adulthood.
Birds are progressing through their breeding cycle and with mate selection completed there is now less morning bird song. Young Orchard Orioles have already fledged and will flock and feed with their parents until they all leave in August. Other summer breeders, like Wood Pewees, Prothonotary Warblers and Blue Grosbeaks, are also fledging and will be fattening up for Fall migration. Life is in constant motion at St. Marks.
With the passing of the Summer Solstice the days will now be getting shorter, but the hottest days of summer are still ahead of us
It’s Summer on the Gulf coast. Go outside and play.
Don Morrow - Tallahassee, FL