Menunkatuck Members - Florida Bound?
Part 2
Birders heading for Orlando or Daytona Beach,
Florida have two quite interesting habitats
to visit in west Volusia County, Lyonia
Preserve and Lake Woodruff National Wildlife
Refuge. At Lyonia Preserve Florida scrub jays
are an almost guaranteed species. Lake Woodruff
is excellent for raptors, herons, wintering
ducks, limpkin, and nesting bald eagles and
sandhill cranes. Alligators are abundant. 
The Florida Scrub Jay is a 12-inch long crestless blue and gray jay.
Extremely gregarious (they will readily perch on the heads of human visitors),
they are a threatened species because of habitat destruction. Lyonia Preserve
is being restored to scrub habitat for the jays.
The Preserve is in Deltona, about 25 miles west of Daytona Beach and
30 miles east of Orlando. It is a 380-acre parcel that Volusia County
is restoring from overgrown pine and oak habitat, that limited the movement
of most animals, to a valuable scrub plant community similar to that which
existed before human intervention. The restoration project began about
12 years ago with the removal of sand pines and oaks, opening the area
for scrub plants to grow. In a natural scrub ecosystem, fire maintains
the ecosystem and prevents any one plant from dominating. Because the
preserve is surrounded by homes and businesses, fire would be unsafe.
Therefore, a variety of other methods are used to minimize the regrowth
of the sand pines and oaks.
The result is a more diverse area with some pines and scrub oaks and
much open area. This open area has meant that Florida scrub jays now find
Lyonia Preserve a suitable habitat. Twelve years ago there were no scrub
jays in the preserve; now there are around one hundred. The areas that
have been opened up are used by the scrub jays for feeding, nesting, and
refuge. In the summer the jays gather oak acorns, bury them, and retrieve
them during the winter. Other birds that can be seen at the preserve include
red-headed woodpeckers, great-horned owls, barred owls, and wood ducks.
Lake
Woodruff NWR is near DeLeon Springs, about
15 miles from Deltona. The refuge contains more
than 21,500 acres and is comprised of 12,100
acres of freshwater marsh, 5,800 acres of hardwood
swamp, 2,400 acres of upland, and more than
1,000 acres of lakes, streams, and canals. The
St. Johns River forms the western boundary.
Numerous waterways allow you to travel within
all of these water bodies. John James Audubon
visited this area in 1832. The bird count at
the refuge is 215 species.
The Public Use Area of Lake Woodruff includes
three impoundments that that are maintained
for migratory waterfowl and wading birds. The
eight miles of trails along the levees offer
views of water birds such as ducks, moorhens
and coots, wading birds such as egrets and heron,
and shorebirds, including black-necked stilts.
The West
Volusia Audubon Society has constructed
an observation tower that provides an excellent
overview of the refuge. The area around the
tower is frequented by black vultures that are
reluctant to move for people walking by. Limpkin
are almost surely to be seen in the pools beyond
the tower. At the far end of the impoundments
a trail leads through pine woods with pine warblers
and, in winter, American robins.
Other areas of the refuge are accessible only by boat. Canoe rentals
are available from nearby DeLeon Springs State Recreation Area.
Lyonia Preserve is behind the Deltona Public
Library, 2150 Eustace Ave., Deltona. Take exit
53C (Saxon Blvd.) off of I-4 and travel 3.1
miles east to Providence Blvd. (CR 4155). Turn
left and go north 3 miles to Eustace Ave. Turn
left again onto Eustace and pull into the parking
lot of the Deltona Public Library on the left
side of the road. The trailhead is located behind
the Library Great Florida Birding Trail signs
lead the way to the preserve. The best time
to visit Lyonia Preserve is before 10 a.m.
Lake Woodruff is located 25 miles west of Daytona Beach, and 7 miles
north of DeLand on U.S. Highway 17 near DeLeon Springs. From Highway 17
in DeLeon Springs, turn west and go one block to Grand Avenue. Turn south
on Grand and go approximately 3 blocks to Mud Lake Road. The refuge is
sign-posted on both U.S. 17 and Grand Ave. to direct the way to the refuge
and headquarters office. Lake Woodruff is best visited in the early morning
or late afternoon.
Submitted by Dennis Riordan
Photos by Dennis Riordan
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