Jan. 24, 2021 - St. Marks NWR

This is the 22nd year that Diana and I have spent part of the winter in Florida. One of my favorite birding locations while we are here is St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Great Blue Herons are common at St. Marks and this one was resting in one of the many pools on the refuge.

By the way, those of you who have sharp editing eyes, might have noticed that “St. Marks” looks like it should have an apostrophe in it. Their official website, however, does not use one and I have been unable to find out why. If anyone knows why, please let me know.

UPDATE: My friend Shawn Conrad sent me this explanation.

"I did some poking around online. St. Marks isn't named due to a historical "Saint Mark". It's an American English corruption of "San Marcos". It doesn't appear that there was a person Saint Mark or San Marcos, just the fort "San Marcos de Apalache". Quite a bit of history about that online."

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I saw three active Bald Eagle nests during my visit to the refuge. This one was unobstructed, so it was the easiest to photograph. It was in a tree far from the walking path, making it less likely that the birds would be bothered by people. In this photo, with my lens zoomed out as far as it can go, the tree still looks far away.

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As I watched, one of the adult Eagles came back with a food item. I took many pictures while the baby was being fed. This is a heavily cropped photo, but you can see the adult giving food to one chick. Bald Eagles reuse their nests and add sticks each year, so the nests tend to become huge after many years. Most people have an idea of how large an eagle is. Compare the size of the bird to the size of the nest and you can see what I mean.

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Another common bird seen at the refuge is the Tri-colored Heron. It stands about 26 inches tall and is often seen running after fish in shallow pools.

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This beautiful butterfly is a Common Buckeye. It can be found year-round in Florida. It has a wingspan of 1¾ to 2¾ inches (45 to 70 mm). During summer, some of them migrate north and can be found as far north as southern Canada. I have seen and photographed one in far northeastern Minnesota.

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The star of the show this year at St. Marks is this Iceland Gull. It’s very rare to see one as far south as Florida, and I read that it is the first one ever recorded at St. Marks. It’s a first-year bird so its white feathers still have tan edges.

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