Day 26: January 26th - Port Canaveral, Banana River

Mostly sunny, 78 degrees, breezy

     We're out on the water today...the Banana River, to be exact.  Or, to be more precise, it's the Banana Lagoon since it flows neither north nor south.  We are departing on a pontoon boat out of Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island, FL.  

Harbortown Marina

         The winds have picked up as a cold front is moving into the area, so the water has become a bit choppy and will prevent us from getting in close to the shore or the jetties.  Still, we hope for the possibility that the east wind that has picked up will blow a couple of pelagics like Gannets or Shearwaters into the inlet.  We are also hoping to get our first White pelicans of the year.  Well, one of the three targets showed up anyway.  A group of 47 White pelicans has massed on a sandbar just outside the lock which will take us from the lagoon to the inlet heading out to sea.   One or two have separated from the group and are close enough to give me a decent shot.

White pelican with DC Cormorants

The pelicans are in close to proximity to their Brown cousins and the comparison of the size of one with the other is striking.  The Whites are the largest birds in North America, having a wingspan of from 9 to 10 feet!  They can weigh as much as 16 pounds and are therefore not good at plunge diving to get their food as the Brown pelicans are.  These guys cruise along the surface and "seine" their food from the water.  

      The other main players on, in, and above the water today are the Ospreys.  The opening and closing of the locks stirs up the water and gets the bait fish close to the surface, a perfect scenario for "going out to dinner" if you are an osprey.  Several ospreys sat on the dikes rather the perching on the pilings or on the surrounding towers.  They would fly up, hovers, and look for potential food before descending back to terra firma and resting before taking to the air once again.

Hovering ospreys

     Tomorrow, we will head to the center of the state in the hopes of finding such Florida specialties as Snail kites, Bachman sparrows, Red-cockaded woodpeckers, and Crested caracara.  The forecast is for some pretty heavy rain, but we will wait to see what tomorrow will bring.