Day 49: February 18 - Blue Heron Preserve - Titusville

Partly sunny, 76 degrees, calm

       Many of the finest nature preserves in Florida are the by-product of water treatment facilities.  Blue Heron Preserve on Route 50 in Titusville is such a preserve.  We drove down to the site this morning hoping to find a bird or two we have only seen a few times this year, but we really did not count on seeing any new year birds.  We’ve been here on many occasions in the past and know that while it is a well designed and well maintained habitat for wading birds and ducks, it oftens has little new to offer.  Or so we thought……

         All to often, we find that we (or admittedly “I”) go into places like this with not the best attitude regarding prospects of spectacular and exciting new species.  We did in fact come across several really fine views of birds we have not seen all that often this year, and even better, we had two new first-of-the-year birds. 

Marsh wren

       Our first noteworthy find was a Marsh wren.  We came up to an area of the fen where we noticed quite a few American robins flying back and forth from the trees on the right to shrubs on the marsh-side of the dike.  Berries in the trees were the attraction and they were like a magnet as the robins zipped back and forth in a feeding frenzy.  As I watched the thrushes, my eye was caught by something far less active and much smaller.   I began to scan the sedges and reeds of the marsh wherever I saw movement.  Finally, my binoculars field of view fell upon a tiny wren, one of the finest views of a marsh wren I have had in some time.  The bird was working the edge of the vegetation and I was lucky enough to get off several open shots before the wren disappeared back under cover.  I’ve only had a few times in the past few years where I was lucky enough to get such a clear photo.  So, my premonitions of a normal day I the field were dispelled. 

Great blue heron - our personal escort

       As we continued around the sanctuary, we were escorted by the preserves namesake, the Great blue heron.  It was amusing to watch this heron lead us around each and every turn of the looping drive on the dikes.  We would approach, the bird would actually wait and pose once we arrived at his post, and then he would take flight and move down the road to our next destination.  We followed throughout the rest of our morning as if having our own personal guide.

Swamp sparrow

      

       Towards the end of the loop, Sharon noticed a small brown bird crossing back and forth across the dirt road from the marsh to the opposite wooded fringes.  They never called, but were inquisitive regarding our vehicle and gave us open views.  We captured our first images of the Swamp sparrow we’ve had this year and the bird was certainly dressed for the occasion.

       As we drove down the final stretch, we tallied the final count and found that we had seen almost 30 species and more than a half dozen gators on our relatively short excursion around the preserve.  Guess I should learn not to assume that we won’t have that much luck before we actually get on a site.  Never again! (right?)