Date: 8/28/26 4:58 am From: Don Morrow <donaldcmorrow...> Subject: [NFLbirds] Late Summer at SMNWR
On my way into the St. Marks NWR the other morning, I made a few stops
along Lighthouse Road to listen for night birds. There was no moon. The
only light was from starshine, the flashes of fireflies in the woods and
the occasional brighter flashing of lightning from a distant thunderhead.
It was hot, already in the low eighties, but that’s just part of late
August along the Gulf.
Summer is ending. There are signs if you look; school busses and the first
weekend of college football. Out at the refuge there are more primal signs.
Horsemint is blooming and the first red fruiting cones of sweetbay magnolia
are now ripe. The tempo of Fall migration is increasing. Two million birds
have already crossed through St. Marks, most just flying over the refuge in
the dark. Eastern Kingbirds, diurnal migrants, overnight at the refuge
during Fall migration. In the morning you can watch them rise out of the
marshes. On some mornings in late summer, they may number into the hundreds
or low thousands.
There are Northern Yellow Warblers headed to Bolivia. Seven other migrant
warbler species have also been recorded at the refuge this August: Hooded,
Prairie, Palm & Northern Parula Warbler, American Redstart, and both
Louisiana & Northern Waterthrush. A general movement of birds is taking
place, following a millennia-old pattern. I had my first returning Bald
Eagle as the last of the Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites moved out.
This is the peak of Fall migration for both Royal Terns and Black Skimmers.
Large flocks have been lounging on Lighthouse Pool. On one day I counted
164 skimmers. Duck migration is also beginning to pick up. I had 23
Blue-winged Teal last week. They are always the first ducks to come through.
Species richness and overall numbers of shorebirds are unusually high this
year. During the refuge shorebird surveys this month I have recorded
twenty-five species. In late summer, our breeding shorebirds leave, a few
wintering shorebirds arrive, but mostly the refuge sees streams of migrant
shorebirds on their way to wintering grounds in the Caribbean and South
America. Shorebird numbers rise modestly through September, but this masks
the constant turnover of transiting shorebirds passing through the refuge.
Shorebird numbers at the refuge have increased faster than in a normal year
and when numbers increase in late summer, what we’re seeing is an increase
in the pace of migration. There are also more shorebird species that
usually take a more westerly route, like American Golden Plover and
Wilson’s Phalarope. An eBird record of fourteen phalaropes was set at the
refuge this month.
The peak of Fall migration at the refuge happens over the next two months.
While you should certainly vote in the upcoming elections and follow the
progress of your favorite college football team, it will be better for your
mental health if you also remember to schedule time to come down to the
refuge to monitor the changing of the seasons and the migration of birds.
Someone has to do it.
Don Morrow
<donaldcmorrow...> <donaldcmorow...>
Tallahassee, FL
It was dark when I stepped out my front door. There was a thin crescent
moon and just the first blush of light on the eastern horizon. It was only
a ten-minute walk down suburban streets and a paved pathway that connects
my neighborhood to the Centre Pointe area. I could hear the low grunts of
wading birds in the cypress trees as I neared the pond.
It’s a small depression, less than three acres and lies about twenty feet
below the surrounding land. It shows up on 1955 topo map and a historic
aerial from that time shows it as cleared land, possibly pasture. When the
surrounding areas was developed in the 1990’s it was converted into a
holding pond and has spreading cypress trees that provide a convenient
roosting area for migrant and wintering waders. It’s listed as Centre
Pointe Pond on eBird.
Six cypress trees out in the pond were covered with waders. I walked along
the pond’s edge as the light gathered, scanning each tree and trying to get
an initial estimate of birds. My first take was about a thousand based on
whitish shapes. I picked a good vantage point and waited for the morning
flight.
At 6:33 am, a single White Ibis took off headed east, silhouetted against
the brightening sky. It was framed between two cell towers on the horizon.
This is urban birding. Through the trees on the far side of the pond I
could see drive-through traffic at the McDonalds on Capital Circle. A few
minutes later, five Snowy Egrets flew off. It was first light, now, and I
could see more detail. The birds were more active, vocalizing and
stretching their wings. I heard a Limpkin’s plaintive call and a Belted
Kingfisher flew low across the pond.
Most of the birds took off in the fifteen minutes before sunrise. It was
hard keeping track of the numbers, but I estimated 700 Western Cattle
Egrets, 400 Snowy Egrets, 300 White Ibises, 50 Little Blue Herons, 25 Great
Egrets and a lone Great Blue Heron.
The Snowies and ibises were in the vanguard. The cattle egrets were slow
in leaving. White feathers were floating on the water around the cypress
trees when I left to head home for breakfast.
