The Little Nuthatch — canaveral national seashore
A cold and windy morning.
alligator american avocet american white pelican canaveral national seashore gopher tortoise merritt island nwr north carolina raccoon tri-colored heron white ibis
On Wednesday a cold front rolled in, bringing clouds and wind up to 30 mph. I had the day off so I headed out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for the sunrise. With the cloud cover it was no great sunrise, but it was still incredibly beautiful. The wind!! I often see wild boar in the water, but seeing a raccoon was a first for me.
Beach days.
brown pelican canaveral national seashore northern gannet
Sunrise at Playalinda.
On Saturday I was off and away into the darkness, driving to Merritt Island for a day of bird watching. As dawn approached I could see it was going to be a beautiful morning, and the first stop had to be the beach!! I can't resist the beach at sunrise. What followed was a great day of bird watching.
Beach birds.
Weather is in the 80s this week making the beach pretty crowded for January. I can see why, as it feels amaaazing! Of course I was there for the birds. The terns always look like they're angry at each other, I just think these guys had a tiff and are going "hmph!"
A warm and sunny afternoon at MINWR.
canaveral national seashore double-crested cormorant killdeer merritt island nwr northern shoveler pied-billed grebe ruddy turnstone
The birds out at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge seem to have doubled since I was last out there! There are Pintails, Mergansers, Shovelers, and many more. The Horned Grebe is the star, it is so cute!! They were pretty far out so I didn't get a photo, but I enjoyed watching them all with my binoculars. It was about 80 degrees out there yesterday in the late afternoon, warm and sunny. I checked Black Point Drive, Bio-Lab, and Playalinda. Lots of seaweed on the beach. Here are a few photos: