Day 43: February 12 - Biolab Road in Merritt Island NWR

Mostly sunny, but chilly and windy

       Well, we’ve been spoiled by the weather we’ve had up until now.  We’ve spent three weeks in Florida already and have not had anything other than warm sunny days.  All good things must come to an end, eh?  Today, we headed out for a morning of birding with our friends Alan and Della with temperatures of 34 degrees (yes, I said 34) and winds of 20 mph to bring the chill factor down to well below freezing.  We are not used to this and are not pleased.  On the other hand, it is pretty sunny out and we can start the day with a nice $2.99 breakfast at the time honored Goodrich’s Restaurant in Oak Hill before actually heading into the field.  So….it’s a go. 

      We are going to make the trip down Biolab Road in Merritt Island, a location we have yet to bird this year.  We are greeted with hundreds of American robins.  On most days, we see few if any robins, but today is definitely NOT one of those days.  Why?  Who knows.  Everyday is different.  Despite the cold and the winds, we managed to rack up 41 species along with some fine gator sightings.

     One of our finest views is the presence of 4 Caspian terns, 1 Royal tern and a Forster’s tern all sitting side-by-side on a small sand bar.  Too far for a photo, but this image is recorded in our mind’s eye at least.  Plenty of egrets and herons of the usual varieties, some decent shorebirds like the Least sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, Dunlin, and Short-billed dowitchers dot the edges of the impoundments.  Several Great blue herons are found including this nice fly-by. 

Great blue heron

     Towards the end of our trip, we revisit the area near the entrance of Canaveral National Seashore where we had such nice sightings of the Florida Scrub jays a few days ago.  Della needs the bird for a “year bird” and we oblige by stopping by this productive site.  I almost left my camera in the car, having captured several nice jay shots last time, but I figure you should always be prepared.  As it turned out, I had two jays interact for the camera in a way I had never seen before.  We know that the jays are extremely social and have tight family groups.  The reason for this bill-to-bill interaction is known only to the jays, but for whatever reason, it made a nice parting shot for the day.

Florida scrub jays