Gray Catbird on an island in the St. Lucie River.

I visited River Park Marina in Port St. Lucie a few days ago. It’s a county park with a boat ramp, picnic pavilion, playground and fishing boardwalks on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Location.

It also has a short trail through the woods with live oaks, cabbage palms, and a thick and varied understory.

It’s an eBird HotSpot with a decent number of bird sightings, though not for me that day – but I will be back now that I know about this place.

The trail winds along near the water and you can see across the river in many spots.

The area is part of the North Fork, St. Lucie River Aquatic Preserve.

Nestled into the urban sprawl of Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie and Stuart is a quiet and scenic retreat – perfect for viewing manatees, birds, turtles and alligators from a canoe or kayak.

Blue-headed Vireo with a backdrop of Spanish moss. These migratory songbirds heading north soon for breeding season.

Vireo is a genus of small passerinebirds restricted to the New World. Vireos typically have dull greenish plumage (hence the name, from Latin virere, “to be green”), but some are brown or gray on the back and some have bright yellow underparts.

Virere, “to be green.” Nice.

Wildflowers along the trail. This is a Climbing Aster. It lives in woods and wetlands in the coastal plain from Florida to North Carolina.

The trail had a magical, peaceful, old Florida feeling about it. Good for the soul!

River view.

The cabbage palms get really tall near this river, I’ve noticed.

Is it because they are well watered? Or competing for sunlight?

The trail is there-and-back, not looping, and on the way back I saw my little catbird friend again.

Back at the parking area, I noticed a pair of nesting Ospreys on a platform.