March 13, 2022 - St. Marks NWR

During our stay on St. George Island, Florida, I made two trips to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). It’s about 80 miles away but well worth the trip. I always get my longest bird list for the winter at St. Marks.

This Great Blue Heron is one of several that I saw at St. Marks.

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Great Blue Herons like to stand perfectly still at the edge of a pond waiting for a fish, frog, snake, or some other edible critter to swim by. The bird can strike with lightning speed to grab its prey.

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Sometimes bird names make a lot of sense and sometimes they don’t. In this case, Little Blue Heron fits perfectly. It is smaller than a Great Blue Heron, and in this photo, you can see it has all-blue plumage. Here’s one landing in a pool at St. Marks.

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Now I’m going to contradict myself and tell you this is also a Little Blue Heron. During their first year, they have all-white plumage. They gradually molt those feathers and grow their blue adult feathers.

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Here’s another immature Little Blue Heron in flight. It’s interesting to see these birds during their molt, because they have a mixture of white and blue feathers. I have one photo of a Little Blue with this molting plumage. Here’s a link to it. https://www.earlorfphotos.com/Birds/Birds-HM/Herons/i-swM86Rh/A

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This Tri-colored Heron is stalking around one of the pools at St. Marks looking for something to eat.

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There are often flocks of White Ibis at St. Marks. They search for food by probing around in the mud with their long, curved beaks. This one has a “string of pearls” dripping from its beak.

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I managed to snap a photo just as this White Ibis was flipping a food item into its mouth.

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