Evening on the Black Pond Wildlife Drive

Florida 2013 continued

We left the Visitor Center and headed back out to the Black Pond Wildlife Drive around 4pm. I could not believe the change in the weather. Cold, 20 mph north winds had calmed to nearly nothing, and the air had warmed and softened. The light was amazing and the park nearly deserted. I think next time around I will either spend two days at the Merritt Island NWR, one at the Visitor Center and one along the drive, or do the center in the morning and the drive in the afternoon, as the light is so much better.

At any rate, we saw all sorts of birds, whose energy seemed a bit lower--the morning scramble for food was over and the birds were a bit more laid back, like these dowitchers.

Dowitchers--short or long billed, I have no idea--relaxing in the evening sun.

There was a large flock of lesser scaups in the pond where we'd seen the reddish egret earlier. I like this image, showing two females and a male.

Lesser scaup

We parked again at the Ducks Unlimited lot, where we had seen the shrike and sora earlier, and strolled down the path towards the far observation tower. There were quite a few birds in the pond along the trail, including a pair of napping blue-winged teal and these pied-billed grebes.

Pied-billed grebes. Such sweet faces!

 I was excited to see the mottled ducks were still there. Earlier they had been hanging out here with the teals but the light was behind them and so the photos were poor. I got lucky and caught this one very close to shore and right in the sun.  It was wary, though, and watched me carefully as it swam away to my left.

Mottled duck. This is a VAST improvement on the images I had of this duck.

I read somewhere recently that mottled ducks were not common so I looked them up on the Cornell site. According to Cornell they are the only duck adapted to breeding in southern marshes, so their range is limited to Florida and the Gulf coast. They are listed as a species of least concern, but they face the usual threats of habitat loss. They also breed with introduced mallards (who apparently are not native to the south?) so they could possibly be faced with being bread out of existence.

American coots are abundant at MINWR, and we saw several flocks that had to contain at least 500 birds each in several locations. This one was alone, though, and very close to the path.

American coot. Love the red knob that matches its eyes.

An anhinga swam by, looking all mysterious and snake-like.

Once at the platform we watched a number of birds, including this preening snowy egret.

Fun pose of a snowy egret.

Later, leaving the observation tower and getting back on the drive, we saw a pair of American wigeons. These are by far the best images I have gotten of these cute little ducks.

Female American wigeon.

Male American wigeon, perhaps my favorite duck.

As we approached the turn out for the bathrooms and the Cruickshank trail head we saw a large flock of Northern pintails.

Northern pintails.

 Most of them were at quite a distance but a small group was napping on a tiny island near shore. Another favorite, such gorgeous, stately birds.

We are not quite done with Florida. There will be at least one more post, perhaps two, where we'll go back in time just a bit and back to the observation tower and trail where we had two close encounters with two more birds.  Then we will be back to real time, as spring has finally sprung here in Southeast Michigan, and we will be looking to do some birding in our own neck of the woods.

American Avocets!

 (Florida 2012 Continued)

After the thrilling sighting of Painted Buntings at the Merritt Island NWR Visitor's Center, we drove out to the Black Point Wildlife Drive.  As I mentioned before, the whole point of going to Florida in February was to be there before the marsh was drained so we could see scads of waterfowl, like I had several years ago when I made a solo trip down south.  Several lakes and ponds along the main road were chock full of ducks, but there is no where to stop, so we continued on to Black Point.

Right inside the gates a gorgeous Tri-colored Heron was fishing in the shallows near the road.  It was still quite windy, and his plumage was blowing in the wind.

Not too far into the drive we came upon ten or so cars pulled off to the side and a large group of folks with glasses and cameras pointed toward a pond on the right side of the road.  We pulled over and joined the group.  I didn't see many birds here, some teals and shovelers and a handful of herons, and this cluster of birds which, at first glance, I honestly thought were seagulls, proof that I am an amateur birder. In my defense I did think it odd that the gulls were there--I'd never seen gulls in the refuge before, but for whatever reason I am not all that interested in gulls and so did not look very closely or for very long.

Notice how the wind, blowing from left to right,
has flattened the backs of their heads.

I took the above picture, then watched some of the other birds for a while.  I was still perplexed, however--what the hell were these people looking at?

Then I saw one of the "gulls" walking near a small group of snoozing sandpipers. I noticed right away its long legs and slender, upturned bill, and realized my error.  

These were American Avocets!

I have always wanted to see an avocet.  The long, up-curved bill, white body and buffy head, powder blue legs....  Just a well-put together bird I guess.  I was so excited to add this bird to my life list.  I won't bore you with a bunch of photos, as they weren't really doing much, but oh what a treat!

The late afternoon light, filtered through the smoke of
wildfires in Brevard County, was perfect.

We eventually began making our way along the drive.  We had a ways to go and it was already getting late.  I caught this American coot walking across the mud in front of an immature Tri-colored Heron--I've never seen a coots legs before! 

I had to include a shot of this Great White Egret.  How absurd they look with their necks extended.

We came across a few more avocets, but the bird in the back with the big white breast and brown head caught my attention--a Northern Pintail tucked amongst the teals.  I have a hard time with Latin names, but I think Anus acuta will stick with me.

We found this pair of Blue-winged Teals off by themselves.  The female snoozed while her mate showed of his name-sake blue wing.

 We saw a lot of wading birds but not much in the way of waterfowl.  I was very disappointed.  I wonder if the mild winter kept them from having to come so far south, or if they had left already.  At any rate I was happy to have seen the avocets, and it was a beautiful evening to be out enjoying the birds, regardless of their heritage.

As you come close to the end of the drive you enter alligator alley.  I think perhaps the water is deeper here in the channels next to the road, and there are always sizable gators.  This day was no exception as I saw one of the biggest gators I've ever seen at the park, a stout ten footer resting in the evening light.

As I shot the alligator I noticed a few coots swimming directly towards it.  I thought we might see some drama but the coots noticed the gator in time to give it a wide berth!

 Next (and last Florida) post:  Roseatte Spoonbill up close!

Concentration

Florida 2010 posts continued....

After my short walk at the nature center (where I missed a painted bunting at their feeder by less than five minutes) I decided to head back out to Black Point Drive and hike the Cruickshank Trail, a five mile loop into the lagoons of the wildlife refuge. By now the light had improved along the drive as the sun moved south, allowing me to get some better photos.

I had mentioned in an earlier post my astonishment at the sheer number of waterfowl at the refuge. I think this image shows that the best.


By now it was early afternoon, and many of the birds seemed to be settling in for a siesta, making viewing much easier. The duck in the background is a Northern pintail, while the pair in front are American wigeons. The group on the hummock contains a mix of both.


While the birds seemed more settled, small squabbles still broke out, like between these skirmishing wigeons. Don't fight kids, you're both pretty!


The Roseate spoonbills were moving about, and I was thrilled to catch this group flying past.


As I neared the trail head I came across this Great blue heron fixated on some tasty morsel in the rocks along road. It stood utterly motionless.


I inched the car forward to get a better shot, and the bird never flinched.


You can see a bit of fluff stuck on the end of its beak, probably from grooming. This bird stood still for so long I got bored and left!