Amazing Feeding Frenzy

 

Today we witnessed an amazing feeding frenzy off of East Gator road, Merritt Island NWR

I wish I knew what the birds were eating.

There was constant movement up and down the edges of the water…

Its time like this I wish I had a better point and shoot camera.

 

With a 60 zoom rather than my 20…

 

 

 

 

Check out the video…

it best captures how amazing this truly was.

 

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

Warmth for the cold

We arrived here yesterday from our overnight at Camp Walmart in Savannah.

We found out upon opening the RV door that our cords and long sleeve shirts were not going to cut it.

It was in the low seventies and campers were walking around in shorts and tee shirts.

After a quick change of clothes and a half hour to set up Homey..I went for a stroll.

Seasons in the Sun RV park, Mims, Florida.

We've stayed here several times when visiting this part of Florida.

This time our site is under some big live oak trees draped with Spanish moss.

It’s a fairly private space that overlooks RV and picnic table storage..   

I walked around looking for birds.

There are several ponds and I found an Anhinga, Snowy and Great Egret.

Ibis crossing..

I heard the mewing of a Sapsucker, flocks of Cedar Waxwings and Robins flew overhead.

A pair of Red-shoulder hawk hunted the campground.

Besides the birds..

the campground was hopping.. people were out grilling dinners, out for their evening strolls, walking dogs, and sitting around in groups for Happy Hour.

A popular Rvers pastime.

Today Jeff and I took an early morning walk around the campground..Jeff found a group playing Pickle and he joined them…

We decided that we really needed to have some Rock Shrimp and went to Dixie Crossroads for our special treat.

OH>>YUMM

Since we are both getting over a cold we stayed in our warm car and spent the afternoon doing some drive by birding….

Black Point Wildlife Drive.

 

A pair of Black Vultures…

Oh goodness gracious, our appetite has already been filled..

All the whites present and a few others to boot!

It was a lovely drive…one that can cure any cold.

Rafts of coot and Pintails…

Hooded Mergansers..

Canvasback

and many more…

Lots of flyover Roseate Spoonbills…

we had about 34 species for the ride…

  I think we have found a great cure for the common cold.

Disclaimer~this cure may not work if you are pregnant or nursing , if you don’t like birds, if you are just reading this blog...or you don’t have a license to drive to see the birds. …this will not be effective if you don’t have a cold to begin with. In some cases a cold can get worse if you roll your windows down and it is cold outside. Do not do this if you are drinking alcohol, unless it is a hot toddy.