I got out to St. Marks NWR early on Tuesday. It was very dark. The crescent moon had long since set and clouds were intercepting the starlight. I tried for Eastern Screech Owl near the Helispot, but they’re nesting and quiet right now. On my way out to my listening spot I was surrounded by the calls of Chuck-wills-widows. I had to wait briefly for a seven-foot gator to move off the road and stopped again for a sitting Bobcat. He got up, raised his tail and sprayed before walking away. He would let me use the road, but wanted me to know that it was his territory.
Soras, King Rail, Common Gallinule and Least Bittern were calling from the marshes along the Stony Bayou II North levee as I waited for first light. Blue-winged Teal were quacking in the darkness and Marsh Wrens began their liquid gurgling trill. With the cloudy sky, dawn didn’t break, it simply occurred.
As I moved down to the East end of the pool to begin a shorebird survey, Tricolored Herons and Snowy Egrets were leaving their roost to begin a day of hunting. I could see Common Loons, high up headed North, most of them ended up turning around and headed back.
It was a windy day with gusts strong enough to knock over my scope. I ended up with 2,446 shorebirds, numbers are finally dropping. This isn’t a zero-sum game. As shorebirds leave, they are replaced by shorebirds moving up from further South and by migrants that just pass through. I had two Stilt Sandpipers. They winter mainly in the interior of South America and are headed for their high arctic breeding grounds.
While this is happening, we have breeding shorebirds moving in for the Summer. Wilson’s Plovers and Black-necked Stilts have already returned.
There was a smattering of ducks, mostly Blue-winged Teal, but also a handful of Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup and Redhead. A small flock of American Wigeon were moving through and I counted 29 Northern Shovelers. They winter at the refuge in small numbers, but we often have a pulse of them come through in early April. I’ve had as many as 138 shovelers on an April morning. I suspect that these are birds that wintered in Cuba or Hispaniola and are headed back to their Western Canadian breeding grounds.
Spring migration is definitely underway with Hooded and Prothonotary Warblers at the Double Bridges. The flamingo is still at the refuge. I had it on Stony Bayou I. The refuge is open, free and a good place to get outside and escape the coronavirus blues.
Don Morrow, Tallahassee, FL