Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge is located just north of DeLand, FL. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 2,200-acre Lake Woodruff is located at the center of the Refuge. More than 11,000 acres of marshland (primarily cordgrass and sawgrass) surrounds the perimeter of the lake. More than 5,000 acres of hardwood swamps form the transition between marsh and upland. There are 1,200 acres of upland at Lake Woodruff Refuge, primarily pine flatwoods. At the public use area, there are several large, shallow ponds with dikes and levees to walk on. The water level varies with the weather and the season. Besides birds, one may see alligators, snakes, turtles, otters, armadillos, raccoons, rabbits, hikers, and fishermen.
Directions: DeLeon Springs is located on US Highway 17, about half way between DeLand (US Highway 92) and Barberville (State Road 40). Take US17 to DeLeon Springs. Turn west on Retta Street and proceed one block, turning left (south) on Grand Avenue. The Refuge headquarters is approximately one mile on the right. The Public Use Area is reached by traveling a little further and turning right (west) on Mud Lake Road. This road becomes dirt after a short distance; take it all the way to the end where the Public Use Area parking lot is located.
There is no fee for the public use area. Parts of Lake Woodruff are accessible by canoe from DeLeon Springs State Park, for which there is a per vehicle entrance fee.
The species information on this page is taken from my own observations and supplemented by the classic field guide Eastern Birds (© 1980 Houghton Mifflin) by Roger Tory Peterson. The common names have been updated whenever I am aware of changes. The lovely photographs are from several web sites, most notably The University of Georgia Museum of Natural History and The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Most are copyrighted and cannot be used for commercial purposes. See also Professor Peter May's Lake Woodruff web page, containing more information and beautiful photographs.
Birds are grouped by typical behavior, with photographs to help with identification. Similar looking birds are shown together. Size of bird and season are given with the photos. As with all graphics, they may take some time to load.
| Waders
Great Blue Heron Tri-colored Heron Little Blue Heron Snowy Egret Great Egret White Ibis Limpkin Glossy Ibis Green Heron |
Aerialists
Bald Eagle Osprey Turkey Vulture Black Vulture Tree Swallow Swallow-tailed Kite Swimmers Common Moorhen American Coot Blue-winged Teal Pied-billed Grebe |
Large Perchers
American Anhinga Double-crested Cormorant Red-winged Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle Northern Mockingbird Loggerhead Shrike Vocalists American Crow Fish Crow Red-shouldered Hawk Barred Owl Belted Kingfisher |
Small Perchers
Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Carolina Wren Marsh Wren Common Yellowthroat Eastern Phoebe Climbers Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker |
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