Feb 21, 2016 - St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

My favorite place to go birding when we are in Florida is St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. During my first visit to the refuge this winter, I spotted this Great Blue Heron. It looked less colorful than I expected and I soon realized it must be a first-year juvenile. They apparently don’t get their full adult plumage until their second year.

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This Tri-colored Heron landed in a dead tree and gave me a nice clear look at it. I’m more accustomed to seeing herons wading in shallow water trying to capture a fish. It still catches me off guard to see them perching up high.

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Some American White Pelicans were feeding in a pool right next to the road. They fish as a group, swimming together and dipping their bills into the water to capture prey in their large pouch. Sometimes they form a circle and drive the fish into the center.

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Here’s a closer view of the bird on the right in the previous photo. Notice the fish in its bill. A White Pelican is a huge bird, 5 feet tall with a 9-foot wingspan, so that must have been a pretty big fish.

PelicanWhitegroupfeedingMark'sNWR20160131

The mudflats at St. Marks are often crawling with several species of small shorebirds. One of those “peeps” is the Least Sandpiper. The yellow legs distinguish it from the similar-sized Western Sandpiper which has black legs.

SandpiperLeastMark'sNWR20160131

A colorful visitor to St. Marks this year is this male Vermilion Flycatcher. It’s a Mexican resident and, in the United States, is usually seen only in the southern parts of Texas and Arizona. When it has fully molted into breeding plumage, the top of its head, its throat, chest, and belly will all be flaming red. At only 6 inches long, it’s a pretty small bird.

FlycatcherVermilionfirstyearmaleMark'sNWR20160131