September at SMNWR

I was walking down Tram Road at Saint Marks NWR this morning, just before sunrise, when a flock of Eastern Kingbirds flew over heading East. I counted 27 birds. A few days earlier, I had seen 250 kingbirds rise out of the marshes at dawn. It’s September at St. Marks. The Great Wheel of the Seasons clicks forward a notch and migration is picking up.

September is always a good month for flycatcher movement. I had Eastern Wood Pewee and both Acadian & Great Crested Flycatchers today. Yellow Warblers continue to move through and I see them every time I go to the refuge. In September warbler migration increases in both numbers and diversity as more Northern species finish their breeding cycle and begin to head South. Look for Ovenbird, Blue-winged & Worm-eating Warblers, as well as, continuing movements of Redstarts and Black-and-white Warblers. Vireos. – Red-eyed, White-eyed and Yellow-throated – are moving through this month. The Red-eyes are silent, but the other two vireo species call as they migrate.

Most of the refuge’s long-legged waders are moving this month and you may see big swings in species numbers as our resident herons, egrets and ibis are temporarily joined by birds heading for the Florida peninsula. Wintering American Bitterns join us in September.

Shorebird migration is increasing and this month holds the opportunity for some of St. Marks’ rarer shorebirds, Upland Sandpiper and Long-billed Curlew. Watch for migrating American Oystercatchers resting on the salt flats at the lighthouse during high tides. Remember to look for and report any banded birds. The flats at high tide are also a good place for Royal, Forster’s and Sandwich Terns. I’ve seen large flocks of Black Skimmers there lately.

Blue-winged Teal flocks are moving through. I counted 203 on Stony Bayou earlier in the week. The first big Fall movement of ducks will be in October, but late this month we may get some early Shovelers, Wigeon or Green-winged Teal.

All along Lighthouse Road you can see signs of seasonal change. Butterfly migration is picking up and bright yellow Cloudless Sulphurs are visiting Lantana and Shepherd’s Needle. Watch closely and you may see an early Monarch. The early Fall fruits, Silver Bay Magnolia, American Beautyberry, Peppervine and Virginia Creeper are ripe. They’re good places to watch this month for arriving migrants like Catbird, Swainson’s Thrush and Veery. The most important food plants, Cabbage Palm and oaks, won’t be ready until later in the month, but they will be important food sources through the Fall and Winter as insect populations go through their seasonal decline.

Culturally, we have certain expectations of Fall; Labor Day and the first college football games. At the refuge, Fall means management adjustments that currently are closing the water gates and filling Stony Bayou I. Tower Pond will be allowed to become a tidal basin for the winter and it will be the place to look for shorebirds resting at high tide. On September 22nd comes the Autumnal Equinox and the official first day of Fall, but don’t get your hopes up. It will still be hot.

It’s September at St. Marks. The American Flamingo is still out there and you should be too. Come down to your refuge for some hot Fall birding.