Great White Egret

We researched the Space Coast before we left on our trip and discovered it is a prime bird wathcing destination. We packed our bird identification books,two pair of binoculars and Jim's new 70-200mm Nikon lens. In fact, Nikon hosts a birding festival in January at nearby Titusville. There were many species we wanted to see and some we didn't.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 140,000 acre buffer zone around Kennedy Space Center and closed during a launch. Otherwise, the refuge is open to the public and many species of plants and animals. There is a Visitor Information Center with boardwalk around a pond where we found many forms of plants that were strange to us yankees..

Migrating Pintails

We didn't see as many migrating waterfowl as we had expected. However as can be seen in the above image, there was a large gathering of pintail ducks in this marsh.

Nesting Ospreys

On our first trip to Merritt Island, we saw this pair of ospreys. The male is in flight and just flew from the nest. The pair is building a nest on a platform placed there for the osprey's use. Large marshlands surrounding their nest provide a food supply of small mammals and fish for their offspring. At times like this, Jim wishes he had a bit more telephoto lens as he didn't wish to get any closer to the pair.

Great White Egret

We took several self-guided driving tours around the refuge. Theree were a number of wading shorebirds but not the flocks we had expected to find during January.

American Alligator

Looking like a log this American Alligator keeps its nose and eyes above the water surface. It moved slowly along the surface not even making a wave as it searched for food--or just loafed.