Monday February 25th
North Florida Trip - Day 3
 |
Northern Shoveler seen on Blackpoint Drive
Photo by Bob Pelkey |
Bob Pelkey and I arrived at
Merritt Island NWR about 8:15 and headed directly to the
Blackpoint Drive. Here we were immediately greeted by a busy crowd of waders including
Roseate Spoonbills and
Wood Storks feeding behind the pay station. (MINWR is no longer a free venue). The first few stops were active with
Lesser and
Greater Yellowlegs, more waders including
Reddish Egrets. Noted a few
Hooded Mergansers as well.
As Bob concentrated on his
birding photography, I took the time to walk the road toward stop #3, which is were a cinnamon teal has been wintering. I dipped on the cinnamon teal but was able to observe a
Sora, plus diving
Forster's Terns, Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups, at least one
Greater Scaup, Reddish Egret, a few
Blue-winged Teal and
American Coots.
 |
Lesser Scaup in Flight along the Blackpoint Drive
Photo by Bob Pelkey |
The stops were peeps and shore birds were expected only offered more yellowlegs. Did have a hand full of gulls and terns though. Caspian, Forster's and Royal Terns plus Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls and a lone Black Skimmer
Stop #7 is the place for waterfowl. Most of the ducks were in the distance and the lighting was terrible. Mostly had Lesser Scaups and Coots. American Wigeons could be spotted as well. However it was very impossible to try to discern any eurasian wigeons in the poor light.
A refuge employee put us onto the Peacock Pocket Road, so we headed there next. Here we finally a large concentration of American Avocets, plus Long-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plovers, lots of Coots, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups, a few Green-winged Teal and a lone Northern Pintail. We again dipped on another cinnamon teal often seen here.
 |
Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup and Blue-winged Teal along the Peacock Pocket Road
Photo by Bob Pelkey |
I talked Bob into making a run along Bio Lab Road as he was anxious to move on to the Tamps Bay Sunshine Skyline Bridge to search for the Black-legged Kittiwake wintering at the fishing pier. So after a pit stop at the refuge headquarters, were a beautiful male
Painted Bunting entertained the visitors at the feeders, we headed over to Bio Lab Road.
Bio Lab was kind of dissapppointing. We did find several shore birds including
Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Willets, soaring
American White Pelicans and swimming
Red-breasted Mergansers. On another fresh-water pond we added more
Hooded Mergansers.
From here we made the drive across the state back to the Gulf of Mexico to seek the Kittewake. Our stop was at the
South Fishing Pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We arrived with about an hour of sun light left for the day and actually thought we had missed our target. So as we were heading back to the car the
Black-legged Kittewake was finally spotted. It spent most of the time we were there resting on the closed off section of the old bridge. So Bob got his shots. When my daughter and I visited here earlier in February,
Common Loons were everywhere and I I had a very unsatisfying look at what could have been a razorbill. So no razorbill today, but I managed to spot a group of five loons swimming toward the new bridge. Other birds using the fishing pier included
Browm Pelicans,
Snowy and
Great Egrets, Ruddy Turnstones, lots of
Rock Pigeons,
Royal, Sandwich and
Foster's Terns, Herring, Ring-billed and
Laughing Gulls.
As the sun set we headed back to Ft Myers to end our three day road trip. It was a very good trip. Bob landed a lot of Lifers and took a few thousand pics. We did dip in virtually ever speciality I had targeted, but that just makes it necessary to plan a return to the panhandle next year.
Trip List (126) -
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Gadwall, American
Wigeon, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged
Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Black
Scoter, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted
Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Wood Stork,
Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, American
Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored
Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate
Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Cooper's
Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Clapper Rail, Virginia
Rail, Sora, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied
Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater
Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Western
Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Black-legged Kittiwake, Bonaparte's
Gull, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster's
Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Common
Ground-Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Eastern
Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, American
Crow, Fish Crow, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted
Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, House Wren, Sedge Wren, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray
Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped
Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Chipping
Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow,
White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird,
Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle and American Goldfinch
