The Next Chapter: St. Vincent Island

We are excited to announce that this spring field season we will also be working on St. Vincent Island, Florida. St. Vincent Island is the western end of the barrier island chain that protects Apalachicola Bay and is uninhabited by humans. The island is currently managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and falls within the boundaries of our long-time collaborator, the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Our research on St. Vincent will be an extension of our work with trans-Gulf Nearctic-Neotropical songbird migrants on St. George Island (which will be ongoing as well). Our focus continues to be on the impacts of climate change on songbird migration and wetland habitats on Gulf Coast barrier islands. One particular aspect we will focus on is how St. Vincent's size and diversity affect its function as a stopover site when compared to other more typical barrier islands.

St. Vincent Island is 12,300 acres, and 9 miles long and 4 miles wide. The triangular shape of the island is unique and it is larger than most of the northern Gulf coast barrier islands. The striations on this satellite image are relic dune ridges. Freshwater lakes and sloughs dominate the east of the island, while the west end features dry upland pine forest.

Throughout history, St. Vincent has passed through many different hands. In the 1700s, Creek and Seminole Indians inhabited the island. By the 1900s, the island was in the private hands of the Pierce family and Old World game animals were imported, including zebra, eland, blackbuck, sitka deer, sambar deer. In 1968 the island was purchased by the Nature Conservancy and eventually came into the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a national wildlife refuge.

Most of the exotic animals have been removed from St. Vincent but there is still a feral population of wild hogs and sambar deer. There is an active campaign to remove the hogs from the island but the sambar deer are kept at a sustainable population for seasonal recreational hunting.

In its current wild state, St. Vincent is best known as a breeding location for Red Wolves. The young that are raised on the island will later be released into the wild population in eastern North Carolina. The island is also home to native wildlife such as alligator, white-tailed deer, otter, gopher tortoise, breeding sea-turtles, and a long list of reptiles and amphibians.

Delaware State University researchers Dr. Lori Lester and Alan Kneidel traveled down to St. Vincent Island in early February to visit the island and meet our local contacts with the Supporters of St. Vincent Island and refuge staff.  Here are some photos from our visit:

The sun rises as we cross Indian Pass to St. Vincent Island. The island is only accessible by boat.

Extensive wetlands are found in the depressions between the relic dune ridges. Only a few centimeters change in elevation creates a vastly different habitat.

The ocean front

Cabbage Palm savanna

A lush palm-live oak forest

Live Oaks and a composting toilet near the old homestead site on St. Vincent

Unlike typical barrier islands, St. Vincent has extensive freshwater sloughs and lakes.

Despite their cuteness, wild hogs have a terrible impact on the native ecosystem. They cause a great deal of soil disturbance and slurp down snakes like spaghetti.