Ding Darling NWR 12/8--Mottled Duck, Wood Stork, Anhinga, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbills
Photos: Shari Zirlin

The main attraction of Sanibel Island for us is the J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR which is encompasses about 30% of the island along it's northern shore. Named for the man who designed the first duck stamp and the blue goose logo of the NWR system, it is one of the jewels of the nation's wildlife refuges. A 4 mile drive along and through tidal impoundments and mangrove swamps, it is shorebird and wader heaven.  All those wonderful shorebirds we had at Brig this summer were down at "Ding," and along with most of the waders were the added attractions of Wood Stork (one of which we found toward the end of the drive), Reddish Egret, White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill. All four rank very high on the goofy bird list, the stork, ibis and spoonbill for looks, the Reddish Egret for its crazy feeding behavior as it runs around in the water flapping its wings like a drunk with a hotfoot.

There is not a lot of variety of ducks on the refuge, but we did get Mottled Duck, which some ornithologists consider a subspecies of Mallard (which you will not find down there). They are, when you study them up close, a very pretty duck, not the bland brown you see from a distance, but actually mottled in delicate shades of tan and brown.  We also saw a couple of Hooded Mergansers, which are relatively rare on the refuge. 

Another attraction is a relative of the cormorant, the Anhinga , also know locally as the "snake bird" because when it swims its entire body is submerged, with only the long sinuous neck gliding above the surface. We found a few of them along the drive, many drying their wings in the sun, because, like the cormorant, nature has played a cruel trick on this water bird by not providing it with waterproof feathers. 

We did two trips along the drive.  Not many passerines. No alligators were seen. We were okay with that. 

37 species
Mottled Duck  5
Hooded Merganser  2
Pied-billed Grebe  10
Wood Stork  1
Double-crested Cormorant  5
Anhinga  5
American White Pelican  200
Brown Pelican  5
Great Blue Heron  5
Great Egret  100
Snowy Egret  10
Little Blue Heron  10
Tricolored Heron  5
Reddish Egret  5
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2
White Ibis  500
Roseate Spoonbill  20
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  25
Bald Eagle  1
Black-bellied Plover  10
Semipalmated Plover  3
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  4
Willet  40
Red Knot  3
Dunlin  40
Least Sandpiper  30
Short-billed Dowitcher  4
Laughing Gull  10
Ring-billed Gull  5
Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
Belted Kingfisher  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Gray Catbird  3
Yellow-throated Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1

American White Pelicans, spoonbills and Reddish Egret.