We enjoy visiting the National
Wildlife Refuges and St. Marks is one of our favorites.
St. Marks NWR is quite large with
several parcels located in the area but the main unit is located about 20 miles
from our Sopchoppy campsite. This spot
starts with a very nice visitor center followed by 7 miles of road winding past
ponds and forest and ending at a lighthouse on Apalachee
Bay
This place never disappoints and
this trip was no exception. We spent 2
full days out here in cloudy, chilly (for Florida )
temps making our way up and down the road and saw lots of good stuff.
We saw about every kind of heron
and egret possible for the area.
Great Blue Heron and White Ibis
The ponds near the lighthouse are
a great spot for ducks and there was quite a variety to be seen.
Ring-Necked Duck
Redhead
Northern Shoveler
We saw plenty of raptors like Bald
Eagles, Ospreys, Northern Harriers and Red Shouldered Hawks. We even saw a pair
of Bald Eagles with one sitting on a nest. Look hard - she's in there!
Bald Eagle on Nest
There were a few gators out too,
including one ‘whopper’.
Big Daddy
Smiling Joe
We didn’t see anything new to add
to our lifelist, though we had heard that a Vermillion Flycatcher had been
spotted on the refuge recently. This
bird is more commonly seen in southern Arizona
and in Mexico . We inquired about it at the visitor center
and was given the location it was seen a few times, but we weren’t able to get
a glimpse of it.
Later on at one of the other St.
Marks NWR units closer to Sopchoppy, we were able to get a good but brief look at a bobcat!
St. Marks Bobcat
Yep, we love the National Wildlife
Refuges!
I didn't realize that you've been posting -- so I'm way behind in reading your blog. I'm loving what I'm reading, and your photos are fantastic. That redhead photo is absolutely gorgeous! We have wonderful memories of birding at St. Mark's with you guys last winter. Lucky you to see a bobcat, and you even got a good photo!
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in, Laurel. Sorry about my delayed answer...
ReplyDeleteWe were so fortunate to be at the bird banding at Ft. Morgan last year. We just found out that it will not longer continue since Bob Sargeant passed. So glad to have been there with you and Eric, Ken and Trisha, and Donna and Marshall.
Could not believe our luck with the Bobcat!