Viera Wetlands walk..

Its been a few years since we have been to Viera. We were not even supposed to be in this area of Florida yet…but last minute we decided to change plans and head here instead of Silver springs area.

Luckily we are here when the Spacecoast Birding and Wildlife festival is being held so we signed up and are having fun meeting many people we haven't seen in a while.

We also have a few local friends here…and will spend time with them. We went birding with a non birder friend of ours yesterday.

It was a beautiful warm day, low seventies.

Jeff and our friend drove the wetlands..

 

I walked and met up with them from time to time.

I was on a mission to see Bitterns.

For my non birding friends.the photo below is not a Bittern.

Snowy Egret

Cattle Egret chatting by the roadside

I love walking the road on a nice day…besides getting a little exercise I feel as though I see more.

Little Blue Heron

Anhinga

I also felt my chances of seeing a Bittern would be much better.

Jeff and our friend was up in the bird tower in the distance.

Jeff hurried me to the tower waving because he wanted to show me something.

He said there was a Loggerhead Shrike..

I could only hear it as I walked up the stairs..but there it was when I got to the top.

You really should watch the video….

You can see how close we were.

The shrike did not seem to be concerned about us and continued to sing for ten minutes.

A beautiful bird.

I continued my walk and found a

Green Heron..

Some interesting seed pods..

This is the flower that belongs to the seed pods above..

Still no Bittern…

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

I continued on and found this Florida Smooth Turtle on the bank.

Perhaps laying eggs?

Look at those flippers and the tiny snout.

Not unusual to see alligator here..

This one didn’t pay any attention to me and continued napping.

Glossy Ibis doesn’t seem to mind the alligator either.

I continue my exercise bird walk…

Tri-colored Heron

White Ibis

A raft of Coot

Finally I found my bittern..

American Bittern

Do you see it?

Only one I saw on the walk.

There were Great Blue Herons using the tops of these Palm trees to nest.

Great Egret showing how long its neck can get…

A fishing Tri-colored Heron..

Great fishing perch!

 

And last but not least…

I found this cute little Armadillo foraging on the side of the road.

A Great Day!

 

Birds of the Day

Jan 22, 2015
Viera Wetlands
 
 
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Anhinga
American Bittern
  Great Blue Heron
  Great Egret
  Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
  White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
  Turkey Vulture
  Osprey
  Bald Eagle
  Northern Harrier
  American Coot
  Limpkin
  Wilson's Snipe
  Forster's Tern
  Mourning Dove
  Belted Kingfisher
  Eastern Phoebe
  Loggerhead Shrike
  Tree Swallow
  Palm Warbler
  Red-winged Blackbird
  Common Grackle
  Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Gallinule