Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Merritt Island


I had never had much interest in visiting what I call “touristy” or crowded big city places. Though if “touristy” included National Parks and wildlife refuges I was ok with it…   Thus I’d never been to Florida until a few years ago when our friends Gary and Rosie suggested an early spring visit to Fort Myers, Florida to see the Minnesota Twins in spring baseball training.

I was good with that being a huge baseball fan and what a revelation it was. Florida has tons of wildlife refuges and State and National Parks. We’ve been going back for longer and longer visits ever since, the main object being birding.  Three of the very best are Ding Darling National Wildlife refuge on Sanibel Island on the Gulf Coast near Fort Myer, The Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swamp Refuge near Naples Florida, and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Atlantic Coast near Titusville, Florida. 


 

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 as an overlay of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. 

 
 Consisting of 140,000 acres, the Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats:  coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals                           The coastal location of MINWR, with its seven distinct habitat types and position between the subtropical and temperate zones contribute to the Refuge's importance as a major wintering area for migratory birds. Over 500 species of wildlife inhabit the Refuge with 16 currently listed as federally threatened or endangered. Several wading bird rookeries, approximately 10 active bald eagle nests, numerous osprey nests, up to 400 manatees and an estimated rare 2,500 Florida scrub jays can be found on the Refuge.        We spent a day in the refuge stopping along the way as we went from Cedar Key on the Gulf to visit Mrs. T.'s cousin in Sebastian on the Atlantic Coast.  
Anhinga's
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron

White Ibis, Tri-Colored Heron, Snowy Egret
Roseatte Spoonbill
Glossy Ibis
Red Shouldered Hawk
Black Vultures
 
 
Reddish Egret (He staggers around in the water stirring up his lunch and basically looks drunk)
Yellow Crowned Nite Heron

Most of the photos by Mrs. T.  Guesses at the names of the birds by T. himself....
                       

19 comments:

  1. i think florida has the most birding opportunities - even more than the gulf of texas. :)

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  2. How exciting! Bet you were in birder heaven!

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  3. You saw a lot of really neat birds! Loving it.

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  4. All those birds..wow!! Mrs T took some great photos! :)

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  5. Most of your guesses were correct. ;)

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  6. Such interesting birds...great photos.

    Thanks!

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  7. Oh, I think I'm jealous. Mrs. T did a great job of recording your bird sightings. The Great Blue Heron is always a favorite.

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  8. Ah, you make me miss Florida. It really is a birder's paradise. You really got to see a great variety.

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  9. You've found a gold mine as far as birds are concerned. We need people to be interested and advocate for more habitat preservation

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  10. Some beautiful birds there. I have always wanted to see a Roseatte Spoonbill and now I have, even if it was a photograph and not a real life experience. Still, to my mind photographs are better than nothing.

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  11. I am kind of with you on the typical touristy places, but of course, this looks just hunky dory.

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  12. What fabulous pictures! I especially love the first one, and the last. Strange looking bird, that last one. :-)

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  13. I think you are becoming fans of Florida's winters. Also fans of all the opportunities in Fl to visit natural places. Mrs T did a nice job on the photos. And I's say you did a nice job on the bird names. -- barbara

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  14. You two make an excellent team! Bird photographer and bird name guesser. ;)
    xo Catherine

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  15. I went to your other blog and it told me to come here?? Or is it the other one that you are continuing? Either way, I enjoyed both. Came over from Cranky's place. I'm not a huge Florida fan but you just made me want to go there. :)

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  16. Swamps are terrific for birds. Great pictures, and you be careful of those Burmese Pythons now!

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  17. I've been past Merritt on the way to Cape Kennedy/Canaveral (which is also well worth a visit as I'm sure you found out) but it looks like it merits (no pun intended of course) more than a drive-by - you sure saw a lot of those nice big Florida critters!

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  18. wonderful photos! really beautiful and a particularly nice shot of the Great Blue Heron. It is almost cliche to admire them here in the swamps, everybody does, but they are gorgeous.

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