A Good Morning

I am often the first person entering St. Marks NWR in the morning. On Thursday morning I was already heading out on the Double Dikes just after 6:00 am with my scope slung over my shoulder. It’s early May and the Eastern horizon was noticeably light. It was also a full moon morning and a bright moon was hanging low in the West. There was a stiff breeze coming out of the North. It was in the mid-fifties and frigid by Wakulla County standards for a Spring morning.

I kept stopping and turning completely around as I walked out. Chuck-wills-widows were calling from all directions. Red-winged Blackbirds were already up and talking. Pig Frogs were grunting. To my North, the mixed sawgrass and cattail marsh was bordered by a tree line on the horizon that was limned with color. To my South, the full moon’s reflection turned the muddy surface of Stony Bayou into silver. Closer in, it lit up the wind-rippled surface of the canal that runs between the Double Dikes. Only the brightest stars and planets were visible. As I scanned the sky, a short stark meteor made a brief appearance.

As first light neared, King Rails and Least Bitterns began calling; the first lower and slower, the second faster and higher pitched. Marsh Wrens and Common Yellowthroats began to sing.

Turning to look at the moon, I saw a wavering white line below it. Binoculars revealed a large flock of American White Pelicans. I unlimbered my scope and estimated 170 birds. They are not usually early flyers. Most of them settled down on Stony Bayou I.

My morning plan had been to walk out the Northern Dike and back on the Southern Dike. Just before sunrise as I made my turn to head back I noticed the silhouette of a Bald Eagle in a pine. Most of the refuge’s winter-nesting eagles have already fledged their young and left. The rest will likely be gone in the next few weeks.

Fish Crows were cawing as they flew out to begin a day of nest raiding. Barn Swallows were flying; some high up and others skimming the surface of Stony Bayou and rising up to cross the raised dike at shoulder level. All of the swallows were headed North. The edges of the dike were covered with wildflowers; purple verbena, evening primrose, peppergrass and shepherd’s needle. 

As I walked back, I stopped a few times to scan Stony Bayou. There were several Black-bellied and Wilson’s Plovers, but scads of Semipalmated Plovers. Least Sandpipers outnumbered Semipalmated Sandpipers. A couple of Tricolored herons were hunting at the edge of the water. Along the canal a Spotted Sandpiper flew in.

Getting back to Lighthouse Road, I walked over to the East River fishing pier. The American Flamingo was holding court at the far end of the pool. Closer in there were Lesser Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilts and a group of Pectoral Sandpipers. The Wilson’s Phalaropes that have been here recently are gone. I estimated about a thousand shorebirds at the far end of the pool, too distant to identify, even with a scope.

It was a good morning at St. Marks. Spring songbird migration is pretty much over, but shorebirds will continue to move through into mid-June. At that point Fall migrants will start coming back. Come down to the refuge and watch the great wheel of the seasons as it makes its turn.