I was planning to post more photos from our recent cruise this weekend. But after visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Friday with Kevin K. and Tom M. from the Photography Interest Group, I changed my mind. There’s a great deal of activity there and it’s well worth a blog post (and a visit!).
Many photographers would agree that daylight savings time and “fall back” make it harder to get up for sunrise. We met at 6am last Friday for a photo expedition over to Merritt Island.
I haven’t been to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in a while (the last time was back in May!) and I miss the place. So I left around 6pm yesterday and headed over.
The first part of my visit to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Tuesday (2/2/16) was about as foggy as I’ve ever seen.
This is a five frame composite B&W image of a single Redish Egret patrolling a small pool of water at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. There was some interest in how I did this and it’s relatively simple, so I thought I’d show you the steps.
Reddish Egrets aren’t as common in Florida as some of our other wading birds. I seem to see them fairly reliably over on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
I spent last Wednesday morning at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I hadn’t been in a while and I enjoyed seeing what’s going on over there.
I drove over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Friday to scout for new places to launch my kayak. I’d never been to the Beacon 42, boat ramp before, so I stopped there first.
Kevin M. has been using the Audubon Birds of North America app, which has links to bird sightings on eBird. With this, you can search for nearby birds, activity at birding hotspots, and even see reports of recent notable and rare bird sightings. Using the app, he discovered that Wilson’s Pharalopes were on Bio-lab road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last week, so we decided to try to spot them.
The spring migration has made the last few weeks an intense time for birding in Central Florida. There was a fall out in Fort Desoto in late April where my friend Kevin M. sighted 110 different bird species in one day! As those migrants moved on, other locations have also seen quite a few visitors, especially smaller birds.
The activity at Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Orlando Wetlands Park, and Viera Wetlands is slowing down from the peak nesting and breeding season. Most of the young ones are hatched, grown, and fledged, although you can still find some amazing sights such as a White Eyed Vireo nest next to the boardwalk at the MINWR visitors center.