More Merritt Island photos!

On my second trip, I went with friends later in the winter. We saw a much greater variety, but fewer numbers of ducks. The only raptor we saw was an osprey. (I've seen these guys catching fish. They're amazing!) However, we saw much greater numbers of wading birds and rails. Many of these were well hidden, and seen only due to the great spotting techniques of my co-worker. I think the delicately sculpted black necked stilt was my favorite discovery. My second favorite was probably all the tricolored herons in breeding plumage. Note the little white shock of feathers coming from its head. They are just lovely.

We also saw a sora, tons of greater yellowlegs and killdeer, lots of different types of plovers and sandpipers and all the ducks I'd seen before along with green winged teals and possibly redheads and ruddys (cute little things). We saw a few lesser scaups on the drive home. Roseates were flying overhead quite often, so they must have been ready to be on the move. We saw none on the ground, but they are beautiful in flight.


The Osprey we saw.


A little snapping turtle, just a little larger than my hand, was in the roadway. We very carefully moved him to the side so he wouldn't get squished. How cute huh? We saw a lot more large 'gators this time too... along with a lot more silly people trying to feed them marshmallows and poke them with sticks. sigh.