First Day of December

I went down to St. Marks NWR early on Tuesday morning and walked out under the cold light of an almost-full moon, propelled by a strong West wind at my back. The sky had already begun its shift towards morning when I started. First, a slight edging of red visible under the darkness on the eastern horizon, which morphed into a wider band of light orange as the sky took on a pale blue radiance.  It finally turned into a washed-out white sky grading into light ochre with a thin hot pink band on the horizon. Every morning is different, but eventually this always turns into sunrise. Despite the certainty of its outcome, it’s fascinating to watch.

There hadn’t been much on the way out, a pair of barking Black-crowned Night Herons, the recognizable silhouettes of a trio of Hooded Mergansers and the sound of the wind in the Cabbage Palms along the outer levee. My morning plan was to count birds coming off of a wading bird roost somewhere east of Stony Bayou. I’ve seen it during my morning surveys, but only from a good distance. Some wading bird roosts are perennial. The East River roost has been there as long as I can remember. This roost has only been here a few years.

I stopped on the outer levee just short of the corner at a spot that offered a clear view. I didn’t have long to wait before the morning flight began. Seven Great Egrets flew out of Stony Bayou headed out into the salt marshes. Five mergansers flew in and a Northern Harrier floated quietly by. 

Then, over the course of about fifteen minutes ending just after sunrise, 230 waders came in to Stony Bayou II from their Eastern roost. They were in flocks of varying sizes and compositions. Forty dark Plegadis ibis in a compact flock. Probably a mix of Glossy and White-faced, dark and distance prevented accurate identification. A small mixed group of Little Blue and Tricolored Herons. A big flock of Seventy Snowy Egrets and a few scattered Little Blues. A few small groups of White Ibis. Flying into the wind, the waders stayed low and I almost missed a Wood Stork as it glided down from above on outstretched wings joining another Wood Stork that I had missed. There was a second smaller flock of dark ibis, another large flock of Snowies and a few individual Tricolors.

I watched until I was sure that the morning flight was over then took the long way back, scaring up a flock of twelve Snow Geese on the Stony Bayou cross levee.

It’s December at St. Marks. Tonight, we’ll get our first belated frost of the winter, but most of our Fall wildflowers have already gone to seed and the frost will eliminate any remaining biting insects. Almost all of our wintering birds are already down and there may be as many as 190 species on the refuge.

It’s cold outside! Despite that, there are a lot of birds out there. Bundle up and come down to the refuge for some fine winter birding.

You’ll be glad that you did.