Field Trip to Princess Place Preserve

WHERE: Princess Place Preserve

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 24 (NOTE NEW DATE)

TIME: 2pm-5pm
MEET: At the old lodge on the waterfront

Have you ever visited Princess Place Preserve? It's a wonderful park just south of our St. Johns County, at the north end of Flagler County. Yesterday was my first visit there, and now that I've discovered this marvelous place I'll be sure to visit it again!. St. Johns Audubon is sponsoring a field trip on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 24. Princess Place Preserve is a very special place for nature enthusiasts. You'll see birds galore, a wide diversity of native plants, marshes, trails through both hardwood and pine forests. The property also has quite an interesting history. Bald Eagles are nesting, and the short trails always produce surprises. Bring your friends and a picnic.

I visited yesterday with two friends so I could check this place out to post about it for our blog here, and it could not have been a more perfect day. The property faces Pellicer Creek  and gives great opportunities to see water birds of all sorts. The Creekview Trail parallels the creek and gives even more views, but there are forests as well and changes to see forest birds. I added the brown-headed nuthatch to my life list yesterday at Princess Place!

So we sure hope you will join us on the 24th. To give you a taste of what you might expect to see here is the list of bird species my two friends and I saw yesterday:


Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Willet
Ring-billed Gull
Royal Tern
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird