Merritt Island here we come!

This is the first of 2 Merritt Island posts because I loved it so much I've been there twice! I had been told that I was very likely to see roseate spoonbills here in the winter along with glossy ibises and reddish egrets... more of the birds on my list of "birds to see."

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is situated on Florida's Atlantic Coast near the NASA launch site. In fact, the whole refuge is closed on the day of a shuttle launch. It's a 140,000 acre wetlands preserve that serves as a very important breeding ground for many wintering birds and as a home for various other reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Ron and I decided to go in January as part of "operation enjoy our remaining weekends together."

The visitor center did not disappoint, just like all the Florida visitor centers we're seen so far. There was a boardwalk with a few trails behind it where we could see an active Osprey nesting platform up close. The ospreys didn't seem to care that we were gawking at them. The main attraction was Blackpoint Wildlife Drive - a meandering 6 miles of scenic beauty.

At the beginning of the drive we saw the teeny pied-billed grebes. They aren't flashy, but SO cute! Each pull off point was labeled with a number that corresponded to our little guide map. One of the points indicated that it was popular spot for bald eagles. Ron had never seen them, so we stopped to try to find the nesting tree that the guide indicated. We never needed to though, because directly above us, 3 of them were wheeling. Even from the ground, they are so impressive. We've since seen more near our home, but we were excited for Ron's first sighting!

Farther on in the drive, the land really opened up into sweeping areas of grassy wetlands and ponds. Here is where we started seeing 100's of ducks and coots! No, there were probably thousands! They were mostly far off, so we couldn't identify all of them with the binoculars, but we definitely saw blue winged teals, northern pintails and northern shovelers. (more ducks for you Heather!)

I was really enjoying the ducks, but was wondering if I'd get to see any of the birds I had been told were here in abundance when we almost passed a reddish egret! it just looked "funny" in shape compared to the other herons and egrets I'd seen, and I happened to catch it out of the corner of my eye in time to yell, "Ron. Stop!" This was less dramatic than you'd expect since we were only going about 5mph. It was sitting quietly in a clump of grass. They hang out mainly near the shores, so I've still only seen this one.

I was beginning to despair of ever seeing my roseate spoonbills, when we turned the corner and bam!

I again yelled to Ron to stop the car. That vivid pink, so beautiful during breeding/nesting season, caught my eye yet again. We watched them for about 15 minutes. It was hard to get a good shot of them because they barely lifted their heads from the water. They were sweeping their bills back and forth through the water, searching for food, moving and stirring up the sediment with their feet as they went. You can see a few of the ducks in front of them in the above shot as well. It was funny because we watched the first set for so long because I was afraid I wouldn't see them again, but then we came up on probably 50 more as we wound through the park.

I even got to see the glossy ibis! They are another bird seen more at the shorelines. So while I've seen so many of the white ibises that they seem like pigeons, I've never seen their darker cousin. There were quite a few of them feeding as well.

We also saw raptors all through the area. I'm sure ducks were a big draw for them. A
red shouldered hawk can easily catch a small teal. There were also red tailed hawks and northern harriers! I saw one in the sky with its characteristic slim, bent-tipped wings and white striped rump and just knew it was a male harrier. We saw the female a few minutes later.
(Yes, I know I look silly in the photo, but that wind was cooold!)


After the drive, we couldn't go to the National Seashore because a Saturn 5 rocket was set to launch, and it was closed. So, we gawked at a few juvenile alligators and left with the refreshing sight of a non-roadkill 9 banded armadillo.