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St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge

I have to admit – the few times I’ve been in wildlife refuges, I haven’t really seen much, if any, wildlife!  I guess I just didn’t know what I was looking for or they were all hiding out, but the wildlife was definitely out when we visited St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge!

Taking Wing

I’m not certain what type of bird/duck these are, but I loved to watch them just casually fly in a bit of formation…..and to see their reflection on the water below.

Little Blue Heron

It took me quite a while to figure out what this bird is.  I am not a birder, and have a book of Florida birds I bought for reference on this trip, and I spend quite a bit of time paging thru it before I figured out this is a Little Blue Heron.  This is an adult, not in the breeding season.  In my defense, the photo of the bird in this “state” was a small one, which is why I think I kept overlooking it.  At least, that’s my story!

Seating Grackle

As I was taking photos of other birds, I kept hearing this sound from above.  Having learned from first-hand experience, it’s never wise to stand under a tree that a bird is sitting in, I kept moving around until I could see this guy and position myself to be out of his line of fire and to get a pretty good shot of him!  He’s a very noise bird, and his call sounds very much like his name!

Flying Low

It was very calm and peaceful at the Refuge, even tho there were a fair number of other people driving thru and stopping periodically.  The birds pretty much seemed to ignore everyone, and went about their bird business.  This image really seems to capture that peaceful feeling that prevailed throughout the Refuge.

Walking on Waterlily Pads

Both Jeff and I were intrigued by this little guy.  I’m not sure what type of bird he was, but he casually kept hopping from one waterlily pad to another, and at one point, seemed to check underneath one, presumably for bugs!

Heron and the Tire

This little scenario makes me chuckle to remember it.  As I lined up this shot of a Great Blue Heron, I was irritated by what I thought was a piece of tire just dumped in the wetland.  Then, I stopped to think about it – this is a wildlife refuge - who would dump a tire there?

Heron and Alligator

Then, I took a closer look at the “tire” and realized it was an alligator!  Silly me!  They both just sort of peacefully co-existed in this lovely place.

Soaking up the Sun

Here’s a bit more of a close-up of the alligator.  I guess that just shows what an alligator skin in the wild looks like!

Little Blue Heron

Just slightly down the way from the heron and alligator was this lovely Little Blue Heron.  At first, I thought he was a cormorant, but then I checked my trusty little bird book and realized he really doesn’t look much like a cormorant!

Almost Touching Water

No, it’s not an optical illusion!  This pelican is flying so close to the water, when he flaps his wings, the tips almost touch the water.  And, he didn’t mistakenly get too close to the water.  This is the normal height for him to fly.  I watched him as he flew off into the horizon.

Enjoy!