Duck numbers are low right now
By DON MORROW
I got out to my listening spot on the Stony Bayou levee at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and waited for the Wood Duck morning flight. A front had passed through overnight leaving clear skies and I was there early enough to watch a bone-white full moon as it settled into the clouds on the western horizon. By then, the eastern horizon was glowing red as the night began to fade away. Robins started calling from the brush along the levee’s edge. I tried to estimate how many there were. I guessed 10, but at first light, as the robins began to fly to the treeline across the marsh, I counted over 100.
The robins all left quickly. Over the next half hour, as I began to survey for ducks, I watched as Yellow-rumped Warblers flew from the levees and marsh islands. They were also heading to the treeline. Both the robins and yellow-rumps were exhibiting a pattern shown by southbound migrant birds that have arrived overnight and either landed on the last land available or may have overshot the coast and turned back. They move to better feeding habitat in the morning, in this case the swamps and woods north of Stony Bayou.
There were only three Wood Ducks in the morning flight, an omen of what was to come. By the time I finished surveying, I had logged only 341 ducks of 13 species. This is the lowest number of ducks that I have ever had on a November survey. Species diversity was at the low end of the range. There should be 16 or 17 species of waterfowl here by mid-November.
The majority of the ducks on the refuge were Green-winged Teal, which were in normal numbers. Several duck species were present in lower numbers than expected in November: Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Gadwall and Ring-necked Duck. A few expected ducks were absent: Mallard, Northern Pintail and Hooded Merganser. I saw three blue morph Snow Geese, two adults and a juvenile. November is often the best month for Snow Goose sightings at St. Marks.
This looks like a repeat of last winter’s duck season when warm weather and ice-free waters up north kept ducks from coming down in their usual numbers. Current water temperatures in the Great Lakes are abnormally high for this time of year. This is not a good sign.
Mid-November is when we see the last of our winter residents arriving. Over the course of the morning, I saw swirling flocks of hundreds of white pelicans heading slowly eastward. There were also flocks of Turkey Vultures floating up in rising air thermals. Vultures ride the thermals up and then glide downwind losing altitude as they look for another thermal. It is a slow but energy efficient way to migrate. These birds were all moving along the coast and will winter down in peninsular Florida.
Perhaps they will stop in at Disney World along the way.
Thanksgiving is coming up fast. Whether you see St. Marks NWR as a place to bird, bike, fish, hike, or hunt, take a moment to give thanks to the federal employees who had the idea of establishing a 53-acre national wildlife refuge on the North Florida coast back in 1931. Give thanks too, to all of the staff who have grown the refuge and kept it going since then. St. Marks is now an 80,000-acre refuge with roads, boat ramps, levees, pools, picnic areas, a visitor’s center, and a lighthouse.
It’s a great national wildlife refuge. Come and see!
Don Morrow can be reached at donaldcmorrow@gmail.com.
