Friends' President Message - Tom Baird

Mark Your Calendars...So Much To Do This Fall

While we enjoy summer days on the refuge, it’s not too early to start thinking about some refuge events planned for this fall. We will once again have a Walk for the Wild event from October 7 through 14. This national event, sponsored by the Public Land Alliance, encourages everyone to get outdoors and move. Participants can complete 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) courses on designated routes on the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge or wherever they choose. You can walk, run, bike, kayak or dance the distance as long as you move in some way on your own with no motor (except ADA) for the 5K. See below for further details.

And we are excited to announce our first ever Plein Air event on the refuge, scheduled for October 14. More details, including Artist Rules will be on our website soon.

And most important of all, mark your calendars for Saturday, October 28 for this year’s Monarch Festival, when we observe and celebrate one of nature’s most remarkable events – the North American Monarch Butterfly Migration. Enjoy food, music, activities and displays. Drop by the Friends table to meet the board members and get something neat to celebrate Monarchs. And no visit to the Monarch Festival would be complete without a trip to the Nature Store. There’s always new merchandise that ties in with the October events. And it’s not too early to shop for holiday gifts for that hard to buy for person in your life.

October will also be a great time to visit the St. Marks Lighthouse. Check open dates on the Events page of the Friends website. This fall season is shaping up to be fun and exciting on the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Join us for all these events.

Text courtesy Tom Baird, President, Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, Photo courtesy Katasha Cornwell

Walk For the Wild 5K

Join the Friends of St Marks Wildlife Refuge to promote awareness of our world famous refuge and help raise funds for important environmental education efforts that will support our site well into the future. 

When you donate and participate in this self-paced 5K event, 100% of your support will provide additional opportunities for youth in the local community to learn about and experience our unique environment.

The Friends fund many environmental education and outreach opportunities for children and students. This year, we are expanding our pre-school program to three schools and we expect to reach upwards of 450 students each month. Tots on Trails, summer camps, youth hunts, and more provide the chance for young people to learn about the natural world. Our almost 10 year old internship program has provided over 50 college age students with valuable skills and knowledge to help further their career opportunities. 

Together, the Refuge and the Friends provide free environmental education programs to over 10,000 participants annually. Won't you help us continue these valuable programs? We can't wait to see your selfies during your Walk for the Wild. Registration opens September 1st. Look for details on our webpage and an email with more details coming the first of next month.

Vegetation Spotlight - Needle Rush

Whether driving, walking, or biking Lighthouse Road, one cannot escape the broad vistas of salt marsh. The plant that makes up most of the vast salt marshes on the Refuge is needle rush or black rush (Juncus roemerianus). It typically grows on slightly higher ground, usually behind the smooth cordgrass at the water’s edge, and often looks dead and brown. Looking over a north Florida salt marsh one mostly sees the dead brown tips of the needle rush. Yet looking closely at a single plant, the observer sees the leaves are dark green and very much alive. This plant adapts to its salty habitat by transporting salt to the cells on the tips of the leaves which become hard and brown. The plant has a leaf that is round in cross-section and very sharp on the tip. Both of these adaptations serve to reduce water loss by the plant during dry periods in the marsh and protect against grazing plant eaters. The long, round leaf also absorbs wave shock better in storms.

For whatever adaptations this plant has to survive in its salty world, it is a powerhouse at producing food for near-shore marine life. The salt marshes of Florida’s western and upper Gulf coast are giant solar collectors, absorbing the sun’s radiant energy and converting it into food. It has been estimated that marshes produce about ten tons of organic material per acre per year, a rate of productivity as great as that resulting from our best methods of modern agriculture - and all without the addition of one ounce of fertilizer.

Consider this, marshes are among the most productive habitats in the world, are important nurseries, and feed both terrestrial and marine life. They provide sediment stabilization, storm and flood protection, wildlife habitat, and filter pollutants from the land before they reach the sea. One could also add that they provide beauty and enjoyment. Few other habitats on the planet have such incredible value. The marshes of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge are truly treasures deserving of protection.

Text and photos courtesy Tom Baird, President, Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge

Identifying Shore Birds: The Challenges and the Joys

By Beth C. Schwartz

Photos courtesy Matt Johnstone

Until recently, I considered myself something of a dabbler when it comes to birding. Most of my education has been pretty humble: our backyard hosts a pole system from which dangle a variety of bird feeders, and I’ve learned much of what I know from watching the capers of our avian visitors, both regular and seasonal. I’ve also had the benefit of some excellent “formal training,” courtesy of several Refuge Birding Tours with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone, longtime birders who volunteer with Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge. Nonetheless, I hadn’t progressed to seeing myself as anything other than a birding dilettante.

That all changed last January, when I met up in South Florida with four friends I hadn’t seen in a few years. Wanting to avoid the crowds while doing something unusual, we spent the better part of a day at the Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands in Palm Beach County. Overlooking 100 acres of constructed wetlands, Green Cay boasts a one-and-a-half-mile elevated boardwalk that invites visitors to saunter through a typical South Florida wetland that’s vibrant with birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects. While my friends struggled to name the birds we were seeing, I—much to my surprise—found myself rattling off their names as if I were a pro!

On that excursion, I had two important realizations. First, unbeknownst to me, Matt and Cyndi had done an awesome job of teaching me how to identify Florida shore birds. And, second, thanks to their training, I developed a portable skill that now enables me to identify shore birds even beyond St Marks.

According to Matt, “Identifying shore birds is challenging, but it’s not impossible”—as long as novice birders are not under the delusion that they can identify all shore birds at once. As a starting point for my formal birding education, Matt offered me four overarching suggestions—the very suggestions that led to my having bragging rights with my friends—and he encouraged me to share them with readers of the Reflections Newsletter.

As hobbies go, Matt emphasizes that identifying shore birds is not for the impatient at heart. Worldwide, approximately 200 species of shore birds grace our planet, he stresses, and rookie birders will benefit from having a good strategy for identifying the ones they encounter. His first recommendation: be content to limit yourself to “getting to know the easy stuff first.” He proposes concentrating on one or two of the more common birds in the beginning, and as those become comfortably familiar, gradually branch out. If you visit Tower Pond in the fall, for instance, begin with peeps (common, small sandpipers), perhaps, or plovers, as both are plentiful, and there’s a high probability that many of the birds you’re seeing are one of those two types. As your knowledge and confidence grow, you can move on to more—and more-difficult-to-identify—species.

Second, find out where to go and when to go there: it’s all about “right time, right place,” Matt notes. If you are keen to learn about shore birds at the refuge, your best bet might be to venture out between September and March, when the shore birds are particularly abundant. For the “best pickings,” he recommends going where the mud flats are, in the interior pools, when the tides are high in the bay.

Third, Matt suggests learning how to “put birds in bins” (metaphorically, of course!). By this, he means practice the art of “stratifying” birds. Because “You need to know what to look for before you look,” stratifying requires some homework. In most quality field guides, you’ll find a quick page or two preface of thumbnails before the detailed accounts for each species of bird, and this quick visual will help you categorize what you’re seeing. If you’re familiar with the loose categories of shore birds before you leave your house, you’ll know what sorts of details to focus on when you’re in the field.

According to Matt, here are some helpful “stratification” questions to ask yourself when you’re trying to ID a shore bird: How large is it? What color are the bird’s legs? What color is its bill, and what is the bill’s shape, its length? What pattern or color is notable in the bird’s plumage? While examining the field marks for identification, take note of the bird’s behavior. Is it feeding on the mud, in short vegetation, or in the water? Shallow water or deeper? Is the bird a picker or a prober? Behavioral traits cannot cement an identification, but they will help in the sorting process later. Stratifying helps you engage in a useful process of elimination, Matt advises. 

And Matt’s last words of wisdom; in the beginning, go birding with an experienced birder; buy, or borrow, a pair of decent binoculars or, if possible, a scope so that you can really focus on the finer points of the birds; and befriend a good smart phone app or field guide (carry it with you on your birding adventures—but only if you “don’t get your nose so stuck in the book that you miss the bird you’re trying to identify,” Matt warns).

Guided by these four suggestions, you too may find yourself impressing folks (and yourself!) with your ability to identify shore birds, whether you’re exploring the jewels of the refuge or visiting mud flats and wetlands in far-flung worlds.

Summer Wildlife Refuges Road Trip Tour

Text and Photos Courtesy Katasha Cornwell

We love road trips and were looking for an excuse to go back to Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Inspired by the Friends workshop earlier this year and having learned more about some other refuges in the southeast and midwest, we didn’t have to look much further than a mini wildlife refuge tour for our summer vacation. Late in June we loaded up the truck with our gear, cooler, and one of our dogs and headed west.

Knowing we couldn’t stop at all the refuges along our route, we picked out a few new ones ahead of time but were also flexible enough to stop at some additional sites we learned about during our trip. The first refuge we drove through was Yazoo NWR, not far from Jackson, Mississippi and part of the Theodore Roosevelt complex made up of nine different refuges. Unfortunately, the visitor center was closed, which would be the case for many of the locations we stopped at, but we had a map and were able to drive through several of the roads. It was interesting to see the crops growing within the limits of Yazoo, which was another thing multiple sites had in common. Knowing this wasn’t the birdiest time of year, we did still manage to see a small group of young green herons and a few indigo buntings. The deer were much spookier here as they headed for the woods while we were still several hundred yards away. Felsenthal NWR, located in Arkansas along the Ouachita and Saline Rivers, provided a really nice little lunch break later in the day. Certainly a favorite spot for locals to fish.

Heading on, our third stop was Tishomingo NWR in Oklahoma, one of the refuges highlighted at the Friends workshop, and located in the Central Flyway. Here they have a brand-new visitor center, completed one month before the pandemic shut them down. But it was encouraging to see such a nice facility back open, and the ranger staffing it was very helpful. He had even been down to refuges in our complex, including Lower Suwannee. Small world. We enjoyed several short hikes here, including an overlook at the end of their boardwalk and along the shore of the Cumberland Pool of Lake Texoma. This location was birdier, and we saw several Mississippi kites, lots of egrets and herons, and more indigo buntings. Little did we know, Oklahoma seems to be a hot spot for these brilliant blue signers along with the even showier painted bunting cousins. The wildflowers were still fairly impressive with many pollinators taking advantage of the flowing nectar.

The highlight of our trip was certainly Wichita Mountains NWR just west of Medicine Park, Oklahoma. The refuge website describes the 60,000-acre haven as landscapes consisting of “mixed grass prairie, ancient granite mountains, and fresh water lakes and streams”. We always enjoy trekking up Mt. Scott, seeing the long horn cattle, bison and elk roaming the open ranges, and the fun antics of the prairie dogs. But the main highlights this year were the abundant antelope horn milkweed, the painted buntings, collard lizards, and the road runner sighting. Even though the locals told us we missed the height of wildflower season, we were blown away by how beautiful even the tail end of this showy time of year can be. Buntings were abundant. So much so, it was almost like seeing a cardinal after a while. During our hike up Elk Mountain, we spied two road runners in the distance. They must have great eyesight because before we could even get our binos on them, they darted behind some rocks and even after a 20-minute wait, we weren’t able to see them again. 

Other birds of interest were the black-capped vireos, an endangered species success story, seeing six Mississippi kites hanging out at one pond, scissor-tailed flycatchers, and the amazingly maneuverable common night hawks feeding over the orange glow of the sunset sky. Temperatures were high, reaching 109 degrees one day, but we beat the heat by eating cold watermelon and getting indoors during mid-day to enjoy the beautiful visitor center and nature store.

As we headed north out of Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas, we enjoyed a quick stop at Salt Plains NWR getting a chance to see salt flats from the roadside overlooks. Here they have a unique past time of allowing visitors to dig for selenite crystals. The black-necked stilts liked the flats, and we drove by many more stems of milkweed, along with a doe and a yearling.

Our last two stops as we made our way back to Florida were worth additional exploration in the future. Flint Hills NWR in the region of Kansas with the same name and famous for tall grass prairie and the rolling Osage Hills, had a massive stand of sunflowers. And in the fall, would be an excellent spot to look for migrants. The muddy waters of Deep Fork NWR offered a couple of short hikes through what their website calls the “remaining remnants of bottomland hardwood forests in Oklahoma."

This refuge tour was a good reminder of just how many important areas on the landscape the national wildlife refuge system protects. These refuges were fairly accessible, even if many of them did not have staffed visitor centers. It makes me feel fortunate and proud of the dedication of the St. Marks refuge staff and volunteers that are able to create an even more enjoyable and welcoming experience for our visitors, when so many others struggle. Be sure to tell your elected officials just how important it is to provide adequate funding for refuges and be sure to visit other sites on your next road trip.

Beautiful Lighthouse Print Available at the Nature Store

Thanks to a generous donation from the family of local artist Sue Hicks, these 20 x 28" prints of Mrs. Hicks' original pastel of the St. Marks Lighthouse can be purchased at the Nature Store. Sue was a native of Perry, Florida. She studied art at the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, Watkins Art Institute, and the New York Art Students League. She was active in regional and local art leagues, and won numerous awards for her paintings. She conducted classes in oil, watercolor and pastels, judged area art shows, and she loved the Refuge. Sue Hicks passed in October 2020, leaving behind a legacy of beautiful images. Thank you to Marsha Taylor, Sue’s daughter, for sharing a bit of that legacy.

The 20 x 28" prints are $22.95 and come rolled in a 3" mailing tube. They are for sale in the Nature Store as well as the online store.

Text and Photo Courtesy Rita LeBlanc

Lighthouse Open Dates

As summer starts to easy into fall, there are plenty of opportunities to take a tour of the Keeper's Quarters at the St. Marks historic lighthouse. Come out from 10am to 2pm on any of the days below and our friendly, dedicated volunteers will be happy to share their knowledge and love of this local landmark with you. Free tour with your daily entrance fee.

August - 19, 25, 30

September - 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30

October - 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27

Become a member of the Longleaf Society today by clicking this graphic. Your monthly giving provides a tremendous boost to the Friends of St Marks Wildlife Refuge to keep providing the programs and services you have come to expect from this award winning organization.

We Encourage our Friends to SHARE!

As almost all of you know, the Friends give 100% of their support to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. An important way for you increase that support is to share our message. Therefore, when you get this newsletter, we encourage you to send it on to a friend. You can share it via email or through various other social media. Here's the link to the Friends Newsletter page. Scroll to the "current" entry and copy the link.

Text and Photo Courtesy Phillip Pollock

Bird Reports Assist Visitors

Don Morrow and Matt Johnstone, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge volunteers and expert birders, create concise bird-sighting reports on a week-to-week basis. Read their current and past reports here. If you haven't ever read one of these reports, here is a taste below. Don can even make the month of August seem like a wonderful time of year.

August at St. Marks NWR serves to transition the refuge from the lethal heat of July into the sullen heat of September. August needs to be endured if we are ever to reach the faintly-remembered cool weather of Fall.

It was already in the low eighties as I walked out the Double Dikes under a mostly-full moon. I was trying to get to the end of the dike before sunrise. The Eastern sky was painted in swaths of pink and pale smoky blue. Pig Frogs were grunting randomly from the marshes along the dike and the large white blooms of pine hibiscus stood out in the predawn light.

I had scared off a Great Horned Owl as I pulled in to park and added a calling Least Bittern and two fly-by Wood Ducks to my list, while slapping at hordes of mosquitos and biting flies. I walked out on the North dike. It is higher and has better marsh views. It can be good for nightbirds like rails, owls, and nighthawks. My plan was to return on the South dike. It parallels the North dike and would bring me back to my car. Also, it’s lower and would provide a good vantage point for shorebirds on Stony Bayou.

I made it out just before sunrise and set my scope up to scan Stony Bayou. Yellow Warblers were moving through the brush along the edge of the dikes. Yellow Warblers are a common Fall migrant at the refuge. They start coming through in July and won’t finish passing through until early November. Out on the Stony Bayou mudflats there were scattered waders, Great Blue, Little Blue & Tricolored Herons along with Great and Snowy Egrets. A large group of Roseate Spoonbills were gathered around two white pelicans. The spoonbills and pelicans have been hanging out together for a few weeks. There was also a flamingo.

I walked back along the dike scoping for shorebirds. They were widely scattered. I found Black-bellied, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers. Two of the black-bellies were in breeding plumage, indicating early migrants back from the arctic. There were Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets, both Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers. I found a single Stilt Sandpiper, another early migrant passing through from the Arctic on its way to South America for the winter.

If you brave the heat, you will see seasonal change occurring at St. Marks. Partridge Pea is in flower and the first ripening berries of Virginia Creeper are attracting Mockingbirds. Migratory Black Saddlebag dragonflies have shown up. Come early and you may even see a bobkitten following its mother. Life is in full progress at St. Marks, despite the heat.

August at St. Marks is hot and there are biting insects. However, there are also late-summer wildflowers and every day brings new migrant birds. Horsemint will start blooming this month and both Bald Eagles and Blue-winged Teal will return later in the month.

If you must endure August, you might as well come down to the refuge. Don’t worry, August never lasts more than a month.

Text Courtesy Don Morrow. Photo Courtesy Katasha Cornwell -Purple Gallinule with chicks

Have you considered including the Refuge in your will? We would appreciate hearing from you if so. The Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge can provide information and guide you through the process. Just call the Refuge at 850-925-6121, and ask to be contacted by the Friends' Development Committee, or email us.

Reflections newsletter is a benefit of membership for Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.

It also serves as an important supplement to

the Friends' website.

Both the newsletter and the web site provide members and the public information about volunteer activities and events at the Refuge.

Reflections editor: Katasha Cornwell

Reflections Editor, Phillip M. Pollock