Donna Thalacker led a small group - just Kit Lane and Debbie Dye - on her last Refuge walk before she heads north. We walked the new "Tram" trail, about 2 1/2 miles, and saw many birds, plants, flowers, butterflies and two small snakes. We got a good look at a Northern Parula and some blooming orchids that Donna had spotted last time she was here. The bugs weren't a problem until we were discovered by some really huge, biting bug. If they were deer flies, they were deer flies on steroids!
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Donna Thalacker here: John and I will be heading north soon, but I look forward to one more nature walk in the refuge! We will walk on the new trail, one that was once a tram trail for logging in what is now the Refuge. It is a beautiful trail that is about 2 1/2 miles in length along a rough track, not a logging road. About a third of the walk is amongst scrub oaks and a wonderful place to see birds. I was on the trail last week and the pawpaws and sparkleberries are blooming and I saw an area with some pink orchids in bloom.
The forecast for Thursday is "ok". There is a chance for rain. If it is raining, we will not go on the walk. I would like to make a change in the time. Meet me at the town park parking lot at 8am or at the parking lot at the River Trail near refuge headquarters at 8:30. It is warmer now and i think we will be more comfortable if the walk is before the heat of the day. Thank you, Frank Morgan, for the fabulous White-eyed Vireo picture! See you! The Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, consisting of barrier islands and coastal zones around Cedar Key, Florida, is a beautiful place. In just a short distance, you enter a world that seems to be isolated and reminds one of "Old Florida" the way it was back in the old days. The bird rookeries are busy now, and there are certain island that you must maintain a distance so as not to disturb nesting birds between now and June. I was privileged to go fishing here last Friday. We had a great day, and saw some awesome territory. Some photos are below.
This photo was taken recently by a visitor to the Lower Suwannee NWR. He thinks it is a Cecropia moth - Hyalophora Cecropia Linnaeus. What wonders our refuges present to us!
I had a chance to visit the Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near Folkston and Waycross, GA, last Saturday. The Okeefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee River, and, as a member of the Lower Suwannee Friends group I was interested in seeing our "birthplace." I had not been in the Okeefenokee since I was a boy and my uncle used to take me fishing there. It is a wondrous place of almost 500,000 acres. A concessionaire provides canoe and boat rentals, guided tours, etc. Okeefenokee is an indian word meaning "Land of the Trembling Earth" for its floating islands of matted vegetation. It is made up of a series of swamps and underwater prairies. The prairies are about 3'-4' deep most of the time, but do go dry during droughts. The photos here are of Chesser's Prairie and the canal leading out to it.
There are now three slightly used, but newly placed benches at the very end of the River Trail board walk to enjoy. Contributions of pressure treated wood came from former Board member Jay Bushnell who retrieved them from the river as they came past his home in Fowlers Bluff. That wood is probably from Noah’s Ark,….or so Jay reports. The Two Guys, Jay and Board member John Thalacker spend about 8 hours preparing the wood and constructed the benches on site. “They may not be pretty, but at least they’re unique” John announced. “It is a perfect place to see the migrating and leaping Gulf Sturgeon.” Friends paid for the $4 for the decking screws.
Friends and staff efforts this year have included two other benches on the trail as well as seven truck loads of limestone to strengthen the surface and cover emerging roots and cypress knees. For anyone with limited mobility, these were MAJOR improvements. But the River Trail is not finished. Ahead are preliminary plans for a kiosk at the end of the earthen trail that will provide shelter and tell, with a pictograph, the former days when that space was a logging deck for logs flowed down the Suwannee River. More signs to identify plants and trees and perhaps a trail to an old giant cypress that escaped the loggers saw are also under consideration. Friends Board and Refuge staff hope you enjoy the additions. On Saturday, April 4, Barbara Woodmansee, from the North American Butterfly Association, led her 4th annual field trip for butterfly enthusiasts through the Refuge. At least one of the visitors came as far away as Tallahassee to join in the butterfly viewing and count. It was a perfect day for spotting butterflies, and about 24 people joined in the hunt to increase the number of butterflies found in the Refuge. Barbara has been searching the Refuge woods, roads and trails for many years searching for butterflies. She has compiled a list of butterflies seen in the refuge that numbers close to 90! If you would like to see color pictures of butterflies found in the Refuge, please visit www.ceraunus.zenfolio.com and choose the LSNWR gallery.
Though Saturday's total count was less than last year, and no new species were seen that day, the group counted fourteen Appalachian Brown Satyr butterflies! Normally during April they hope to see one, two would be fortunate, but to see fourteen in one day, Barbara considers "amazing"! It seems even the Appalachian Browns think our refuge is a special place to be! Thanks to Barbara Woodmansee for her terrific butterfly pictures! My Alaska fishing buddy loved visiting Seahorse Key and learning about the history of the island, the 1800's era light station, and, the supportive relationship between the bird rookeries and the Cottonmouth Water Moccasins who live there.
Lovely day for a walk in the Refuge Following the Friends Board meeting I walked the River Trail again. It is a beautiful walk - .96 mile from the parking all the way around. Even though I didn't see much in the way of wildlife, it is a gift to feel a part of it all while in the beauty and quiet of the Refuge. John Thalacker and his crew have done a wonderful job designing and maintaining this trail and it is very accessible for most people.
Barbara Woodmansee will lead her 4th annual butterfly count in the Lower Suwannee NWR on Saturday, April 4 (weather permitting). Barbara has spent many hours in the refuge observing butterflies and is developing a butterfly map to show where specific butterflies have been seen in the Refuge. She has also compiled an ongoing list of butterflies (last count 85 species!) that have been spotted along the Nature Drive over the past 5 or 6 years. I am not exaggerating when I say she is an expert on butterflies in the Refuge! If you are interested in attending the day long count, meet her at the Southern entrance of the Nature Drive at 9:30 am for a full day of exciting spring butterfly fun in the refuge.
Directions from Gainesville: Take SR 24, or Archer Road, to CR 347 (just before you reach Cedar Key) - it's exactly 50 miles west from the Target store in G'ville. Turn right on CR 347, and go 10 miles until you see the large brown sign at the south entrance to the LSNWR Nature Drive. Directions from Chiefland: Stay on Hwy 19/98 south until you reach the tiny town of Otter Creek. Turn right on SR 24, and follow it for 18 miles until you reach CR 347. Turn right on CR 347, and go 10 miles until you see the large brown sign at the south entrance to the LSNWR Nature Drive. Directions from Cedar Key: After leaving the island, turn left onto CR 347 toward the refuge. Travel about 10 miles until you see the sign for the Nature Drive on the right. Entrance to the drive is on the left, just after a sharp corner. Meet Barbara at the south entrance at 9:30. From there, they will work their way driving and brief walking through the Nature Drive, spending a lot of time on two of the side roads (Cabin Road & Barnett Creek Road) to look for butterflies along the roadside. This is not a difficult walking trip unless you choose to go hiking on your own Sandfleas (no-see-ems) can be bad JUST at the entrance, but they mostly go away as we progress further into the refuge. Ticks and chiggers are also likely, so DEET or other bug spray of your choice is a good idea, with long pants tucked into socks if you walk off-road. There are no bathrooms or drinking water in the refuge, so bring plenty to drink with a lunch/snacks, sunscreen, a hat and binoculars and/or cameras if you choose. If you have a butterfly ID book, bring it too. Barbara will bring her refuge butterfly checklists for anyone who wants to keep track of what butterflies are seen. This is an all day walk/ride but feel free to leave whenever you wish. ![]() Jason, our stalwart air-boat captain and guide, provided a memorable sendoff for Charlie and Carolyn yesterday. Charlie and Carolyn are extraordinary litter gatherers, having accumulated 185 bags from the woods and waters on the Dixie side of the refuge in the few months they have been here so it seemed fitting to do one last cleanup. Five of us headed off in perfect weather, there was just enough breeze to keep the sand gnats away- most of the time. The target islands were Big Pine and Little Pine near Shired Island. These two sandy islands get lots of stopovers and camping so I expected more trash than we found. In about 3 hours we gathered 90 lbs. The picture of the trash pile in the parking lot is only from Little Pine where we found 2 mattresses in addition to many rolls of plastic air cells. Maybe next time the campers will pack it out? Jay Bushnell's Presentation Last evening, Dr. Jay Bushnell gave a standing-room only audience a very interesting overview of the plantation/sugar mill life in early NE Florida. First, he dared the audience to guess how many original British colonies there were at the time. One or more of the people did know that the number was actually 15, not the 13 that many of us thought. He went on to talk about the grant that was obtained by the local community college, faculty and students to preserve the remaining structures and artifacts after many had been lost to less than careful development. One photo demonstrated this clearly as Dr. Bushnell again challenged the audience. He showed a picture of a wall of a very old sugar mill that had a big hole in it. What caused it? Well, turns out it was created by a transect line being shot through the wall!!
![]() Anne Miller, Sally Beveridge, Joyce DeHaan, Maggi Funchion and Nita Cox joined me, Donna Thalacker, for a spring nature walk in the refuge. It is so beautiful in the refuge now that it was difficult to decide on which trail to walk, but we decided on the 3 mile long Turkey Foot Trail, just off Pond 4 Road. It was a good decision! Within minutes of getting out of the car, we were faced with the tough decision of looking up at the birds or down at the butterflies! We saw hundreds of butterflies, including the large and colorful Palamedes Swallowtails, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails, plenty of crescents and satyrs and the odd Common Buckeye. All of us saw lots but Sally would win the prize for spotting (and thankfully not stepping on) a 4 foot long cottonmouth snake and three Swallowtail Kites. In addition to the Kites, we saw or heard White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Ruby-crowned kinglet, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Northern Parula, a Coot, a Blue-winged Teal and a Red-bellied Woodpecker going in and out of it’s nest hole in a snag. What a lovely day for a walk in the woods! The next walk in the Refuge will be next week and I will be blogging on when and where in the next day or two. Hope you can join us! |
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![]() Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
P. O. Box 532 Cedar Key, FL 32625 [email protected] We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. |
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