Pat’s Wildways: Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

Often Bucko and I like to escape the hubbub of busy times in Fernandina Beach by driving a bit less than two hours up to Darien, Georgia. Over the years, we have seen this town transform from a sleepy main street with crumbling tabby buildings to what it is now: a place with reclaimed historic buildings, plenty of restaurant choices, a few hotels, and yes, free parking! Great! Lately, we have been staying at the Oaks on the River, a luxury choice, if a bit pricey, but worth it for the good restaurant on site, the view and the ambiance.

And for us no trip to Darien is complete without driving our favorite loop, up U.S. Route 17 to the Georgia Peach World to browse their ever-growing inventory of all things peachy, then on to Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, south again to Darien with a stop for clams at the Fish Dock at Pelican Point and back to Darien for the evening. It’s a full day that we can always count on to be interesting in one way or another.

The Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) has a scenic loop drive that passes ponds, an abandoned airfield, and, right now, lots of dry areas due to an outstanding drought in the region. Sometimes, a few days in the fall, it is closed for deer hunting. Other times the loop drive around the park yields nothing much to see and it’s often hot and buggy and uncomfortable to walk around. But this time we were lucky. The weather was fine, a breeze, and no biting bugs. As usual we parked near Woody Pond and walked on the road overlooking it. Although there was a drought, Woody Pond was full of water that is diverted here to maintain the breeding colonies of wood storks and other wading birds. Off in the distance a group of white birds were clumped on the trees — wood storks most probably, although I didn’t have binoculars.

So, when a fellow walked towards us with a camera and a long telephoto lens, I asked him about the birds just to be sure. “What birds?” he said. “I’m here for the alligators!” And soon we found out why. Right next to us, a midsized gator, maybe six feet long, was lurking among the bankside plants. Nothing so special about that — it’s a usual sighting. But further along the trail it got more interesting. There was an evident gator crossing area, from Woody Pond, across the walking path, and over to another pond on the other side. It was hard to mistake this sign. There was a large pile of gator poop and a trail of white excrement leading from it. Two vivid paths were evident on either side of the road. Two went into Woody Pond, and two others went down a steep bank to the other pond where a large gator was hanging out. The poop was fresh, the gator was big, and we were cautious. Next to the gator, an egret was foraging, without a concern about its neighbor in the water just feet away from it. The bird must have sensed that the gator was not in an eating mood, or it was just oblivious. We watched this scene for a while and, when another couple walked towards us down the path I pointed out the gator and the signs. But these people knew all about it, more than we did. “Be careful, you folks,” they cautioned us, I guess thinking we were planning to go down to see the gator closer. No way!

The Harris Neck NWF has a sorry backstory, as far as the local Gullah Geechee population is concerned. This community of descendants of freed slaves once had 75 households, a school, firehouse, general store and seafood processing facilities. But during World War II, this land was taken from these local residents and turned into an airstrip with promises that the land would be returned to them after the war. The airstrip was only used for about a year, then McIntosh County planned to turn it into a public airstrip but this never happened. After decades of neglect, this land became a National Wildlife Refuge in 1966. The descendants of the original residents are still doing their best to get their land back and the fight continues to this day.

And even if Bucko and I will miss the refuge, we hope that they will finally succeed.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com