Pagan Point Nature Preserve in St. Andrews

After a lot of driving on Friday, Saturday was pretty casual for me. I think I even took a nap in the afternoon. Otherwise, I spent the day back in St. Andrews, taking several outings for photographs. The first place I went was the Pagan Point Nature Preserve, a salt marsh, beach, and maritime forest area that has been preserved. I saw a variety of birds there, including a common yellowthroat, but those little warblers go out of focus too fast to get a good shot. I did find a batch of what I first thought was sanderlings, but now I believe are semipalmated sandpipers. Semipalmated refers to the partial webbing between the toes. I also got photos of some least sandpipers, both new species in my life list of birds. I watched what I think was a red-throated loon for while, too. Several sea-kayakers and canoeists passed. The turret structure in the background is on Minister's Island, near St. Andrews.

I had the preserve to myself except for a few exersizers passing through. My constant company was FIRE ANTS! My research indicates they may have been European fire ants, as the true imported red and black fire ants are found only in the southern half of the U.S. I don't believe they were as aggressive as the fire ants down south, but they sure do sting. I got at least half a dozen stings and they burned for 20-30 minutes each. I don't think I've ever been stung by a fire ant before and "fire" is an apt description of the pain. Sorry, no pics of the ants...they were reddish, just over 1/4 inch long.

One of the most interesting aspects of the nature preserve is that you walk directly from the beach into a spruce-fir forest very similar to those found above 6000' in the Southern Appalachians. I felt like I was back home on Richland Balsam for a minute, except it was flat! I enjoyed my visit to this natural area, ant stings and all.