Day 62: March 2nd – Merritt Island

Sunny and warm with temps in the 80s

  

        An abbreviated entry this evening as we have had a busy day and tomorrow promises to be full of options.  We ventured down to Merritt Island once again to see how things have changed and more so to introduce visiting New York friends to this marvelous venue.  The day proved to be quite productive with 47 species in spite of missing some species we had counted on as “givens”……White pelican, Loggerhead shrike, Wood stork, and a few others. 

       

Wilson's snipe

        What we didn’t necessarily count on was the Wilson’s snipe which gave us such good looks.  These birds are often so elusive as to go undetected in spite of our knowing that they simply “had” to be there.  Well, today they were there and we got some decent looks and decent shots. 

American bittern

       The American bittern was exactly where we expected him to be.  When you tell your guests that we “always” get this bird in this part of the park, you know you’ve just given yourself the “kiss of death”.  But, this time the “always” proved true and here he was, ready to provide us with some excellent photo-ops.

        There were some other great views provided by Roseate spoonbills, Tricolor herons, scaups, mergs, and others. 

Greater scaup

        But at day’s end, the most rewarding shots were probably those of the gentle giants….the Indian manatees which had congregated at the Haulover Canal area.  It’s been an especially warm winter and this is pretty early to find so many of these mammals here in the waters outside the “springs” areas where the water is always relatively warm.  Temperature of the water in the Haulover Canal area today was 76 degrees, plenty warm enough to encourage the manatee to stay in the canal.  More warm temperatures are forecast for the next several days, so for now the manatees are probably going to be easy to find.

Indian manatee