St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park – October 30, 2022

On a warm Autumn day 24 nature enthusiasts headed out to explore St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park. We welcomed several first-timer attendees and enjoyed seeing familiar faces as well, including some of our human snowbirds. As the host, one big highlight for me was having so many photographers on the trip. Thanks to Joel, Chris, Deanna, and Leonora for capturing and sharing photos from our adventure.

Birding around the visitor center produced some early highlights including a Downy Woodpecker and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. Next we ventured into the woods on a trail near the horse camp. Trip leader David Simpson provided a wealth of information about the habitat, conservation and a bit of the history about the lands. One of the headliners for the day, and a life bird for some participants, was a gorgeous American Kestrel. When the birds weren’t showing themselves, the group was busy studying frogs, fungi and all sorts of flora and fauna. We hiked up the hill along the canal hoping to get a view of bald eagles on the nest. While no eagles were present the hike provided interesting looks at dragonflies, butterflies and a few insects. On the walk back to the visitor center we had a striking sunlit view of a loggerhead shrike and added a few more rather unique frog and toad species to our lists. Truly a wonderful wildlife naturalist day.

But the day didn’t end in the parking lot, as many people in the group joined in the Halloween theme by participating in Spider Trivia, created by Dee Fairbanks-Simpson, over lunch at Marsh Landing. Congratulations to Chelsea for earning the grand prize by solving the highest number of spider trivia questions. All participants were winners as we certainly learned many fun spider facts.

See you on the trail.

Rochelle Hood (Field Trip Host)