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Natural History of St. Vincent Island, Florida

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Natural History of St. Vincent Island, Florida PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER 1 COVERING THE PERIOD JANUARY 1983 - DECEMBER 1983 Title: NATURAL HISTORY OF ST. VINCENT ISLAND, FLORIDA Number: 41650-11-82 (St. Vincent NWR Special Use Permit Number) 86852-1290-948 (Denver Wildlife Research Center, Ecology Section) Refuge: St. Vincent NWR, P.O. Box 447, Apalachicola, FL 32320 Investigator: Dr. Steven P. Christman, Wildlife Biologist (Research), Denver Wildlife Research Center, 412 NE 16th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32601 Date Submitted: January 1984 ABSTRACT: During 1983 I surveyed St. Vincent Island in an effort to learn which species of fresh water fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and trees and shrubs occur on the island. Based on ray observations and those of previous observers, I have compiled preliminary lists of the vertebrate animals and woody plants known from St. Vincent Island. These lists are included in this x'eport. Submitted by: INTRODUCTION: St. Vincent Island is a 5000 ha barrier island in the northern Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Apalachicola River. Formerly a private hunting and fishing preserve, St. Vincent Island was acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and incorporated into the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1968. No systematic faunal arid floral surveys have ever been conducted, and FWS managers do not know what species of plants and animals occur on the island. This study was designed to fill that information gap. METHODS: Fishes: During 1983 I surveyed much of the fresh waters of St. Vincent Island by seining, dip-netting, trapping, and angling. In addition, I was permitted to examine some of the electro-shocking catch made by FWS fisheries biologists on the island. Whenever possible, I also examined the catches made by sport fishermen. Voucher specimens of fresh water fishes were deposited in the Florida State Museum where their identities were confirmed by Dr. Carter Gilbert, Curator of Fishes. Amphibians: Frogs are easy to survey because they sing distinctive songs during their breeding congregations. I listened and searched for frogs at night during all seasons in 1983. Frogs wore also trapped in pit-fall and funnel traps, described below. Although salamanders are usually absent from islands, I searched for these by seining, dip- netting, trapping in water and on land, and by looking under logs in moist places. In addition, I used set lines in an attempt to catch larger salamanders such as sirens or amphiumas. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Florida State Museum. Reptiles: Early in the study, I constructed several drift fence traps for small reptiles and amphibians. Each trap consisted of a 25 foot long length of galvanized valley tin, 18 inches high, and buried 4- 6 inches in the sand. Near the middle, and on each side of the drift fence, I placed an aluminum screen funnel trap against the ground and the side of the fence. At sites where the water table was sufficiently below ground level, I buried a five gallon plastic bucket, flush with ground level at each end of the drift fence. Animals moving along the fence were thus funneled into the screen traps or they fell into the pit-fall buckets. Two drift fence traps were installed at each of five sites (Fig. 1). The traps were checked weekly during mild weather, more often during hot weather, arid closed so that they would not catch animals when I was away from the island for more than a week at a time. Reptiles were also hand collected when found beneath cover, on the roads, or in the woods. I set basking traps and baited traps in water to survey for aquatic turtles. I monitored the small gopher tortoise colony on the. east end of the island, and noted box turtles wherever they occurred. I conducted one preliminary alligator survey by canoe at night. I made no special effort, towards marine turtles, but did report stranded (dead) individuals to the refuge manager. Voucher specimens of species not previously known from the island have been deposited in the Florida State Museum. Breeding birds: Most species of nesting birds can be identified by their distinctive songs. I conducted a Breeding Bird Census (BBC) on a 51 ha tract on the east end of the island. Within this plot, 1 mapped all nesting birds of all species by repeatedly traversing the plot during the early morning hours. 7I also censused the plot at night for owls, nighthawks and Chuck-Will's-widowa. By plotting the locations of singing birds detected on over 20 visits, I was able to map the territories of all birds present. The location of the BBC plot is shown on the accompanying map (Fig,. 1). I also set up 4500 meters of transects along roads (Fig. I) and traversed these during the early morning hours of the 1983 breeding season. (March-June). These transects were located in a salt marsh and on a road which crosses the entire island, north to south. I plotted the locations of all birds seen or heard on maps of the transects. In addition to the formal transects, I also walked along several other roads in early mornings, recording all birds seen or heard. I listened frequently at night for owls all over the island. I drove and walked along the beaches searching for shore birds, and searched the marshes for birds as well. In June I entered what is apparently the only remaining colonial bird rookery (Fig. 1) and attempted to count all nests present. No birds were collected in 1983. Non-breeding birds: When not defending territories, birds are somewhat more difficult to survey. During the spring migration in March and April, I spent a great deal oi time recording bird species present and observing their behavior and habitat usage as they passed through the islend on their journeys northward. Surveys of the fall migration and of the birds present during the winter months were conducted by walking along roads, fire lanes and beaches at all hours of the day. Mammals: The mammal fauna of St. Vincent Island is better known than the other vertebrate, classes. I used live and snap traps along the beaches and secondary dunes to search for beach mice. Rodents were also trapped in the pit-fall traps. Shrews are readily sampled by pit-fall traps as well. Previous mammal surveys by Wilson Baker of Tall Timbers Research Station form the basis for the present list of mammals of St. Vincent Island. Trees and shrubs: 1 reviewed previous collections and publications concerning the plants of St. Vincent Island, and systematically searched for and collected specimens of woody plants when they were in flower. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of the Florida State Museum where their identities were confirmed by curators there. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Fishes: A list of the 18 species of fish now known to occur in the fresh waters of St. Vincent Island is provided (Table 1). The American eel and the rainwater killifish are suspected to occur on the island but have not yet been confirmed. Additional sampling in 1984 will probably add several species to this list. No previous compilations of the island's fresh water fishes are available. Amphibians: Ten species of frogs are now known from St. Vincent Island (Table 2), Absence of the bullfrog is surprising; perhaps I have just missed it, but its loud, distinctive song cannot be mistaken. No salamanders are known from the island, but the presence of the mud snake, which feeds on s'irens, suggests that these large aquatic salamanders may be present. The amphibian list is probably complete unless the bullfrog and the siren can be shown to be present. Blaney's (1971) list of St. Vincent amphibians included the bullfrog, but failed to include the oak toad, pine woods treefrog and green treefrog, all three of which are common on the island. Reptiles: The reptile list for St. Vincent Island now includes 34 species (Table 3), Not counting the recently introduced indigo snake and the marine turtles which Blaney (1971) did not include, I have added 12 species to the reptile list. Subspecific allocation of several reptile populations has proven to be difficult, if not impossible. The reptile list is probably very nearly complete; I doubt if more than a half dozen species remain to be discovered on St. Vincent Island. The new distribution records obtained for amphibians and reptiles on St. Vincent Island will be submitted to the journal, Herpetological Review in 1984. Birds; I found 24 species and 64 pairs of birds on the Breeding Bird Census plot. These numbers are quite low for forested areas in eastern North America, but probably typical for a barrier island. The results of the Breeding Bird Census have been submitted to American Birds and will appear in the January 1984 issue. A copy of that manuscript is included with this report (Appendix A). The list of birds known to nest on St. Vincent Island now includes 49 species (Table 4). It seems that some species that nested in the past (e.g., great horned. owl and the night herons) did not nest on St. Vincent in 3983, No doubt, further censusing will add several species to this list. A total of 238 species of birds is known or suspected to occur on the island. The previous refuge bird list included only 182 species. In the list provided here, the birds are categorized as summer residents (sr), winter residents (wr), permanent residents (pr), transients (t), visitors (v) , and accidentals (a). Only two species of woodpeckers nest on St. Vincent, and except for the bald eagle and the osprey (and possibly the screech-owl), no raptors nest on the island.
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