Friday Morning

The North end of the outer levee of Mounds Pool III at St. Marks NWR is closed to public entry after about a half mile. This is a compromise that allows the public access to see the American Flamingo, but also provides a protected area for wintering ducks to rest and feed. I arrived at the “Closed to Public Entry” sign at 6:45 am after walking out in the bright light of a full moon that was hanging high in the Western sky.

I already had three birds on my list. An Eastern Screech Owl had been calling along Lighthouse Road, just inside the break between hearing and imagination. A Barred Owl at the Double Bridges had given a series of lonely “Hoo-ahs” from somewhere out in the East River floodplain and I had heard the chittering whistles of a Bald Eagle coming from a pine island as I walked out in the night.

I extended the legs of my scope and set it up. It was a clear cold night – near freezing– with a steady North wind. The Eastern horizon was already beginning to shift through its palette of colors and moonlight was shimmering off the wind-rippled surface of the water to the West.

The dawn light came on fast and with it the calls of waking birds; coots clucking, towhees whistling, the cooing of Mourning Doves and the quacks of ducks. Scanning with my scope I saw vaguely silhouetted ducks and then a burst of pink, the American Flamingo. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the Eastern horizon was a gaudy splash of purple and orange. There’s just too much going on in too short a time.

With the morning light I could identify ducks out on Mounds Pool III; Pintails, Mallard, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup and Hooded Merganser. Across the pool I could see black clouds rising and twisting; murmurations of Tree Swallows erupting out of the salt marshes where they had spent the night. I estimated 3,000 birds in ropey clouds that rose higher and then disappeared in the distance.

The sun rose and I began walking back to the T-dike where I had left my car. I found Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal. There were White, White-faced and Glossy Ibis. Greater Yellowlegs and Wilson’s Snipe were working the shallows along the pool. Yellow-rumped Warblers popped up in the bushes along the levee’s edge. In the distance I could hear the exuberant call of a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

I birded St. Marks for the rest of the morning. On the Gulf at the Lighthouse I found Horned Grebe, Common Goldeneye, Common Loon and a Red-throated Loon. Lighthouse Pond has more ducks than usual, mostly Redheads and American Wigeon, but I also found Gadwall, Canvasback, both scaup and Ruddy Ducks there. I checked Lighthouse Road and the Double Bridges on my way out and added more birds.

The seasons are shifting. In February duck populations will begin to drop and the first Spring migrants will appear. Come down and enjoy the refuge on these last clear cold days of winter.