Ding Darling NWR

"J. N. "Ding" Darling was a renowned editorial cartoonist who advocated conservation of our nation's natural resources. Father of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, founder of the National Wildlife Federation, creator of the Cooperative Fish Stamp; Wildlife Research Unit Program, "Ding" Darling laid the groundwork for the system of today's National Wildlife Refuges.

One of "Ding" Darling's cartoons—"How Rich Will We Be When We Have Converted All Our Forests, All Our Soil, All Our Water Resources and Our Minerals Into Cash?"—best illustrates both his conservation ethic and his remarkable ability to convey complex thoughts with a few stokes of pen and ink. Darling drew this cartoon in 1938."

Maria and I headed out about 8:15 and got to Sanibel Island in 30 minutes. It is 15 miles northwest of Ft. Myers Beach. The smaller island of Captiva is beyond Sanibel. These are lovely seductive places with shell beaches, flowering hedges and bushes, hundred of new tree species including several palms (Maria and I at least identified the sea grape, but birds were our priority), bicycle paths and birds, all under sunny blue skies and all cooled by balmy breezes off the Gulf. Or so it was today.

We stopped briefly to check a beach as a possible shelling venue for Richard and then took an auto route through Ding Darling. It was sublime! We were barely into the refuge when, alerted by a few stopped vehicles on the side of the road and a gentleman with a spotting scope aimed into the dense foliage, we saw a Yellow-crowned night-heron, sitting perfectly motionless in full view just across the small ditch. It was not bothered in the least by the half dozen or so people watching and photographing it. The "yellow crown" which we saw even better on another heron a bit later is a pale yellow forehead patch. This bird is chunkier in appearance than birds like the blue herons and is often seen sitting on a branch over or near water just as we saw it. And then we spotted the smaller Green heron sitting a few branches over, also motionless, slightly more muted in coloration. We spoke with the digiscoper gentleman, who lived in Michigan and who told us about Burrowing owls which story comes later.

We drove the rest of the auto route, stopping frequently and seeing amazing birds, both in variety and in number: Little blue herons, Greater yellowlegs, White ibises, Great egrets, a single Wood stork spotted in the distance by Maria, White pelicans, Pied-billed grebes, Red-breasted mergansers acting very different from the hundreds I saw on Black Lake all winter (like they would totally disappear under water for up to 10 seconds), Semipalmated plover, Spotted sandpiper, Least sandpiper...and the majorly beautiful Roseate spoonbills!

The road margins were generous enough to easily park, and there were often helpful women volunteers with good spotting scopes allowing folks to get better looks. Maria and I viewed birds at several spots with my new scope and also got clear and lovely looks at slightly distant birds. Again, the sun was out; a nice breeze cooled things; the sky was blue, all making the birding experience excellent, even apart from all the sightings. It is obvious that birds on some of these refuges are relatively tame, which makes for easier identification as they don't flush quickly.

We stopped briefly at the Visitor Center and bought postcards. We did try one more inland venue with freshwater ponds, but it was too warm and totally bird-silent in the middle of the day. We headed home and got caught in a major "crawl" on the highway heading south to Ft. Myers beach. After 30 minutes we found a seafood restaurant that Maria knew about and had a time-out from traffic. Wine, wonderful corn and crab chowder for me and stone crabs for Maria, sitting by a window watching White and Brown pelicans...music like the Marshall Tucker Band playing on the sound system.

An hour later, the crawl was still happening, but we had to get home, so entered the stop-and-go line of cars. I have never been to Key West, but Maria did allow that Ft. Myers Beach has some similarities. Island time is in effect; babes in bikinis (and some Speedo guys) saunter the beaches and streets; a number of slightly tacky food and drink and gift-store establishments line the main road in between a significant variety of tourist accommodations from nice high-rises to small single cottages, but not many conventional motels. There is white sand residue all over and every obvious living thing just moves more slowly. There are a disproportionate number of older men and women, many riding fat-wheeled bicycles and most deeply tanned...many couples walking the beaches, a few so tan they truly are nearly black.

The beach is a fine-grained white sand that is almost blinding in the bright sun. It is hard-packed enough near the shoreline to use bicycles.

We finally made it back. Richard's report was that he had been on the beach and had also actually seen a woodpecker on one of the palm trees out front. There are always people on the beach, but it is not crowded at all. I worked a couple of hours and then we went to a nearby restaurant, with a table by an open slider overlooking the beach. The sun had just set behind the palm trees and nightfall settled over the island. But it doesn't get cold and is mellowwwwww.......

I kept thinking of this as Jimmy Buffet Time...in this bar/restaurant with music and laughter and conversations and an almost palpable sense of relaxation in the air....