The Eagle’s Eye, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge August - October 2018

THE

EAGLE’S

EYE The Newsletter for St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

August to October 2018

It’s Baby Bird

Season!

—Gail Fishman, Refuge Ranger

High summer is upon us. With

the booming population of

insects comes the frantic

search for food for new

hatchlings. Did you know that

one pair of chickadees need

approximately 5,000 insects to

raise just one clutch of babies?

The scientists who did that

study needed a lot of patience

to watch the parents fly back

and forth!

Depending on the species,

birds are catching whatever

food they can find - beetles,

flies, caterpillars, worms,

crabs, small fish, big fish,

lizards, snakes - protein is

protein and growing babies

demand protein.

This is a good time to remind

you that if you find a baby bird

that has fallen from the nest,

try to get it back into the nest.

The parents will feed it. If you

cannot get it back to the nest,

take it to your local wildlife

rehabilitator. They are also

overwhelmed with caring for

baby birds and animals -

maybe you could volunteer!

Volunteer Karen Willes, who

has a knack for finding birds

and a flair for photography,

submitted the pictures.

Purple gallinule with chick.

Clapper rail serving a crab for lunch.

Young common gallinules Juvenile yellow-crowned night-heron

A bald eagle delicately feeds its

chick last winter.

We’ve Grown!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just

received 6,200 acres from Sam Shine. The

ecologically critical pine lands and headwaters

adjoining St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge,

brings the total protected area to

approximately 80,000 acres.

“It rarely happens that we get large tracts of

land, especially land that’s already started to be

restored,” said Dan Frisk, project leader for St.

Marks and other North Florida refuges.

Refuge manager Terry Peacock said, “Shine’s

property, though, is also a critically important

watershed. All the water in the refuge comes

down through his property. So our vision is to

restore the hydrology and restore a lot of the

longleaf pine.”

* Visitors

Center

U.S. 98

2 The Eagle’s Eye, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge August - October 2018

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

PO Box 68

St. Marks, FL 32355

850-925-6121

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/st_marks/

The Eagle’s Eye shares news about St. Marks and

encourages people to participate in recreational activities,

programs, and events.

Eagle photo by Nick Baldwin

Baby bird photos by Karen Willes

www.facebook.com/SMSVNWRS

www.facebook.com/gotoSt.Marks

Send comments to gail_fishman@fws.gov

Printing paid by the Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge

http://www.stmarksrefuge.org

Printed by MPC, Woodville, FL

A Very Special Volunteer

Opportunity

—Constance Clineman

The first phase of the restoration of the Lighthouse is

complete. And now, the Grand Lady known as the St. Marks

Lighthouse sits at water’s edge, all bedecked in her finest.

She is waiting to welcome both “old” friends and “new.” In

October, we plan to begin opening her doors to the general

public two days every month. And, how will we accomplish

this ambitious dream? Why, with your help, of course!

“Together” we dared to dream “big” when we set out on

the restoration project. We never stopped believing that,

“together,” we could make it happen. Now, we have a

unique opportunity to help share the story of this

remarkable cultural resource with the world. But, that will

take the effort of many of us working together. Won’t you

please consider joining us as a St. Marks Lighthouse

Volunteer?

For more information about how you can share your time

and talents as part of the Lighthouse Volunteers, please call

the Visitors Center at 850-925-6121 to leave your name and

telephone number.

These signs indicate a critical nesting

site. Give our nesting birds and other

animals plenty of room so they can

safely raise their young.

Biological Intern Update

We have been busy working as interns on SMNWR

this summer! When we arrived on the refuge, we

immediately jumped in to the frosted flatwoods

salamander work, assisting Jonathan and Marysa with

tagging and releasing captive reared individuals. Once

that project was wrapped up, we started focusing more

on the Refuge’s red-cockaded woodpeckers. We’ve

helped Jonathan with RCW nest monitoring, chick

banding, and more recently, re-sighting the young birds

as they start to fly. Working with the RCWs is

rewarding, because we get to watch as they hatch,

grow, and finally fledge their cavities to eventually

relocate to new areas! In between salamanders and

woodpeckers, we’ve gotten to do some other cool

activities, like wading bird surveys on the islands

around St. Marks and turtle nesting surveys on St.

Vincent Island NWR. We’ve attended wildland

firefighting training so we can help with prescribed

burns on the refuge. The summer has been an exciting

learning experience so far, and we are eager to see

what the rest of it has in store for us! Thank you to the

Friends of St. Marks for making this internship possible.

This has already been

an unforgettable

summer working for

the refuge system.

(L to R) Rachel Schutes,

Kelly Crispin, Anna

Strickland

Lig

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ou

se p

ho

to b

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ick

Bal

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3 The Eagle’s Eye, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge August - October 2018

August to October 2018 Calendar Call the refuge at 850-925-6121 to register. Registrations cannot be taken more than 30 days before

an event AND no more than 5 names can be accepted at one time.

New for Fall - Two levels of the popular Tots on Trails (ToTs). Registration is required and registration opens one month prior to each activity.

Level 1 is for children 18 to 35 months old; Level 2 is for children 3 to 4 years old.

Beginning January 2019 First Sunday at the Refuge will move to the Second Sunday to avoid conflicts with holiday weekends.

AUGUST 5—Cool off with an Ice Cream Social before First Sunday at the Refuge—2:00 p.m. Education

Building, Music from the Elements of Nature featuring Sammy Tedder’s work with nature sounds combined with handmade flutes, drums

and rattles made from native materials. 18—St. Marks Photo Club—9:00 a.m. in Nature’s Classroom. 20—Bird and Nature Tour with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet in the Visitors Center parking lot. Call 850-925-6121 to reserve a spot. Limit 25.

SEPTEMBER 2—Bird and Nature Tour with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet in the Visitors Center parking lot. Call 850-925-6121 to reserve a spot. Limit 25. 2—First Sunday at the Refuge—2:00 p.m. Education

Building, iNaturalist with Peter Kleinhenz of FWC. iNaturalist, a website and a free app, allows anyone to be a scientist each time they explore the outdoors. Learn more at this presentation and

then explore the refuge with Peter afterwards to practice! 12—ToTs Level 1 (18 to 35 months ) 13—ToTs Level 2 (3-4 years old ) 15—St. Marks Photo Club—9:00 a.m. in Nature’s Classroom. 17—Bird and Nature Tour with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet in the Visitors Center parking lot. Call 850-925-6121 to reserve a spot. Limit 25. 22—FEE FREE for National Public Lands Day

29—GRAND REVEAL! - The historic St. Marks Lighthouse will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $2 per person and are available in the Visitors Center beginning at 9:00 a.m. Thirty-minute tours are limited to no more than 15 people at a time.

OCTOBER 3—Bird and Nature Tour with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet in the Visitors Center parking lot. Call 850-925-6121 to reserve a spot. Limit 25.

6— St. Marks Shutterbugs—Karen Willes shows how to take stunning photographs with a Smartphone!

7—First Sunday at the Refuge—2:00 p.m. Education Building, The Florida Black Bear with Sarah Barrett. Get the latest information on black bears in the panhandle and across the state.

10—ToTs Level 1 (18 to 35 months ) 11—ToTs Level 2 (3-4 years old ) 14—FEE FREE First Sunday of National Wildlife Refuge Week 20—St. Marks Photo Club—9:00 a.m. in Nature’s Classroom. 21—Bird and Nature Tour with Matt and Cyndi Johnstone. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet in the Visitors Center parking lot. Call 850-925-6121 to reserve a spot. Limit 25.

26, 27, 28—MONARCH FESTIVAL! Plant sale on Friday, Exhibitors on Saturday, tours behind the gates on Sunday!

More details on the 27th

annual Monarch

Festival coming soon.

Check our Facebook

page and our website.

4 The Eagle’s Eye, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge August - October 2018

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge PO Box 68 St. Marks, FL 32355 850-925-6121 www.fws.gov/refuge/st_marks/ www.stmarksrefuge.org www.facebook.com/SMSVNWRS

From the Friends of St. Marks

Wildlife Refuge —By Susan Cason

June begins the new fiscal year for the Friends of

St. Marks Wildlife Refuge. This brings new officers

and our annual budget meeting where we review

funding requests and evaluate our financial status.

We can all be very proud of the funding that we

have provided for the many projects and endeavors

on the Refuge. Fifty percent of the monies come from

the proceeds of the Nature Store, so feel good when

you make your purchases! Memberships and

donations have increased this year which also impacts

how much we can support the refuge. Thank you,

Friends members.

The long –awaited completion of extensive

renovations to the lighthouse and keepers quarters is

here and it is beautiful. We look forward it being open

on a regular basis but this requires construction of a

ramp that is in compliance with the Americans with

Disabilities Act. We still need $40,000 in order to

construct this ramp. To make a donation, please go to

http://www.stmarksrefuge.org, scroll down to the

Donate button where you can make a secure

donation. Please help us open the lighthouse to

everyone!

Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge Membership Form

Name ______________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ___________________________ Zip ___________________________ Telephone ____________________________________________________

E-mail _________________________________________________________

Patron $1000 Eagle Club-Lifetime $500 Habitat Leader $100 Refuge Steward $75 Wildlife Supporter $50 Refuge Family/Couple $35 Refuge Friend $25 Student $10

Make checks payable to Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and mail to Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, PO Box 368, St. Marks, FL 32355 or drop off at the Visitor Center. The Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.