16 January Nature Walk on the River Trail

The Refuge’s River Trail is a great place to take a nature walk.  The walk started at headquarters, where the ten of us took a few minutes to look at the dormant butterfly garden.  From there John and Donna Thalacker led Sally Beveridge, Charley and Patty from New Hampshire, Nancy Salamon, Siri from Maine, Peg and Russ Hall and Bev Ringgenberg to see Gopher Tortoise burrows, the newly remodeled bat house, where we stopped to listen to the bats, and then on to the River Trail.  In a little over a mile, nature walkers can see Gopher Tortoise dry sandy habitat and live oaks for excellent bird watching, walk across a freshwater swamp that has many of the trees and plants identified and labeled, stand out over the Suwannee River for a chance to see Gulf Sturgeons jump, and then along a sandy trail with well marked upland plants and trees already identified.  The River Trail really is a premium trail to walk!  Soon the River Trail will begin to show lots of color as the Red Maple trees bloom and the Butterweeds border the trail with their bright yellow flowers.  
Many thanks to Peg Hall and Barbara Woodmansee for their picture contributions.  We were able to get some really good close-up looks at Black-and-White Warblers and Pine Warblers, but not good enough to capture a picture from my click-and-shot camera.  Thanks, Barbara Woodmansee, for the excellent warbler picture!

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