Category: Saint Marks

Saint Marks Wildlife Refuge

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The Boat-tailed Grackle at St. Marks NWR

Visitors to the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge often ask “What is that black bird?” when they see a Boat-tailed Grackle. Most people think it is a crow. They are also surprised to learn that the female grackle is a small brown bird that doesn’t look much like the male.

Many people are not impressed by the grackles and think that they are not very attractive. The Boat-tailed Grackle is actually a beautiful bird but it must be seen under the right conditions. Continue reading “The Boat-tailed Grackle at St. Marks NWR”

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2016 Monarch Butterfly Festival at St. Marks NWR

The Monarch Butterfly Festival is held every year on the 4th Saturday of October. The festival is always enjoyable with many exhibits, vendors, and educational activities for the whole family.

The mission of the St. Marks NWR Monarch butterfly festival is “Create awareness and action to conserve habitat for pollinators, especially the Monarch Butterfly”

One of the great joys of attending the festival is to see the excitement of children as they visit the Monarch tagging table.  At the tagging station  visitors of all ages can watch a  biologist demonstrate the tagging procedure. Visitors have the opportunity to touch a Monarch under the supervision of the biologist.

Continue reading “2016 Monarch Butterfly Festival at St. Marks NWR”

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Beautiful palm tree succumbs to hurricane Hermine

I lost a friend this year.  A friend that I visited often.  That friend was a palm tree located behind the St. Marks NWR lighthouse. As a young tree it had been pushed over to its side, possibly by a tropical storm.  The tree not only survived but bent back upright over the years. Palm trees that survive such events are often beautiful and I, like many other photographers, wanted to record this wonderful tree next to the salt marsh.

Continue reading “Beautiful palm tree succumbs to hurricane Hermine”

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St. Marks NWR before the arrival of hurricane Hermine

I love clouds, storms, hurricanes and Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge so of course I headed to the refuge the day hurricane Hermine was expected to make landfall. My plan was to enjoy the clouds and wind then take a few “before” images to compare with the aftermath of the storm. These photographs are pretty self explanatory so I’ll let them do the talking.

Continue reading “St. Marks NWR before the arrival of hurricane Hermine”

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Ranger John’s bench damaged by hurricane Hermine

In a post of September 8, 2016 I discussed Ranger John’s memorial bench and how much it is appreciated by visitors and staff of the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Visitor watches sunset from Ranger John McKenzie's bench. (9/16/2015) - St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

On my first visit to the Refuge after hurricane Hermine made landfall, I was saddened to see John’s bench had been ripped from its concrete base and had sustained serious damage including losing one of the legs. Continue reading “Ranger John’s bench damaged by hurricane Hermine”

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Clouds and patchy sunlight over a salt marsh at St. Marks NWR

A few days ago Chantal and I were at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge as some dark storm clouds passed to our west.  The dark clouds formed a beautiful backdrop to the Cedar Point Trail salt marsh. The sun was low in the sky and illuminated parts of the marsh creating a great photo opportunity.

We were also treated to the sight of several sea squirts shooting impressive streams water into the air.  Perhaps they were warming up for the 4th of July celebration the next day.

The image of the sea squirts was extracted from a video I shot so it is not the same quality as the images from my Pentax DSLR.

I hope you enjoy these images!

Jim

(Click to enlarge)

 

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Stoney Bayou on a cool overcast winter afternoon

As my wife and I were heading out for some birding and photography on a cool overcast afternoon at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge we were greeted by a gentleman who commented that “There is nothing to see here today”.     We knew better.   There is always something to see if you know where (and how) to look.

We saw an alligator eat a huge blue crab in Mounds Pool 1 and a Great Blue heron swallow a flounder in Stoney Bayou.   The sound of birds was everywhere and large numbers of migratory birds were settling down for the night on the sand islands.

My favorite image of the day was this late afternoon shot of Stoney Bayou  pool #1 with an old tree stump in the foreground , a small rocky sand island in the background, and blocks of “sea” foam floating on the water.

It is very easy to overlook a photo subject like this, particularly if you are focused only on a single subject like wildlife.  Keep an open mind and learn to “see” and don’t let a few clouds discourage you from going out in nature.

Stoney Bayou shoreline on a cool overcast winter day with an old tree stump in foreground. (1-8-2016) - St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Thanks for visiting,

Jim

 

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Beautiful Winter sunsets 2015-2016

In a previous post I wrote of the beauty of Winter sunsets at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It is now a year later and I want to share with you some of this season’s beautiful sunsets.

The images were taken mostly at St. Marks NWR and a few other Florida panhandle locations. I’ll update this post as I get more images.

The best time to go hunting for Winter sunsets is right after a weather front has passed and the air is still activated.

I hope you like them!

More sunset images can be seen on our sunset gallery

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