Merritt Island field trip 1/9/10

The sky filled with ducks, mainly Northern Pintails and American Wigeons, escaping a perceived threat at MINWR. Click for larger version.

JAN. 9, 2010, SLAS FIELD TRIP REPORT
VIERA WETLANDS AND MERRITT ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Eleven hearty participants ignored the Titusville area weather forecast for rain and wind, and enjoyed a rain free day to observe 86 combined species of birds at both the Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Highlights of the day began with the Florida rarity – Masked Duck, male, in breeding plumage at Viera, and ended with three endangered Florida Scrub Jays, accommodating the photographers in the group with close up and personal views at Merritt Island.

Between those two memorable sightings were good looks at American Bittern, Marsh Wren, Crested Caracara, and a lone Lesser Scaup mixed in with Ring-necked Ducks at Viera; and Marbled Godwits, Reddish Egrets, American Avocets, spectacular displaying Roseate Spoonbills, distant views of the uncommon in Florida - Canvasback, and Eurasian Wigeon, and sky-filling flights of thousands of ducks when they were roused by some unseen passing threat.

The group spent about two hours at Viera (50 species) before moving 35 miles north to Merritt Island (68 species) where we finished birding just before 4 p.m., as the promised clouds, wind and rain began to move in and we hit the road home. Hart and Jewel Rufe led the trip.

PHOTOS BELOW LIST.

11 Participants, 86 species
Gadwall	MI	Black-bellied Plover	MI
Eurasian Wigeon	MI	Killdeer	V MI
American Wigeon	MI	American Avocet	MI
Mottled Duck	V MI	Greater Yellowlegs	MI
Blue-winged Teal	V MI	Willet	MI
Northern Shoveler	V MI	Lesser Yellowlegs	MI
Northern Pintail	MI	Marbled Godwit	MI
Green-winged Teal	V MI	Ruddy Turnstone	MI
Canvasback	MI	Sanderling	MI
Ring-necked Duck	V MI	Least Sandpiper	MI
Lesser Scaup	V	Western Sandpiper	MI
Hooded Merganser	V MI	Dunlin	MI
Masked Duck	V	Short-billed Dowitcher	MI
Pied-billed Grebe	V MI	Wilson's Snipe	V
Double-crested Cormorant	V MI	Bonaparte's Gull	MI
Anhinga	V MI	Laughing Gull	MI
American Bittern	V	Ring-billed Gull	MI
Great Blue Heron	V MI	Herring Gull	MI
Great Egret	V MI	Lesser Black-backed Gull	MI
Snowy Egret	V MI	Great Black-backed Gull	MI
Little Blue Heron	V MI	Caspian Tern	MI
Tricolored Heron	V MI	Forster's Tern	MI
Reddish Egret	MI	Royal Tern	MI
Cattle Egret	V	Black Skimmer	MI
Green Heron	V	Rock Pigeon	MI
Black-crowned Night-Heron	V	Eurasian Collared-Dove	V MI
White Ibis	V MI	Mourning Dove	V MI
Glossy Ibis	V MI	Belted Kingfisher	V MI
Roseate Spoonbill	MI	Red-bellied Woodpecker	MI
Wood Stork	V MI	Blue Jay	V
Turkey Vulture	V MI	Florida Scrub-Jay	MI
Black Vulture	V MI	Fish Crow	V MI
Osprey	V MI	Tree Swallow	V
Bald Eagle	MI	Marsh Wren	V
Northern Harrier	V MI	American Robin	MI
Red-shouldered Hawk	V MI	Northern Mockingbird	MI
Crested Caracara	V	Loggerhead Shrike	V
American Kestrel	V MI	European Starling	V
Sora	V	Palm Warbler	V
Common Moorhen	V MI	Savannah Sparrow	V
American Coot	V MI	Red-winged Blackbird	MI
Limpkin	V	Common Grackle	V MI
Sandhill Crane	V	Boat-tailed Grackle	V MI

-- Submitted by Hart Rufe

Photos taken on Viera-MINWR Field Trip by Hart Rufe
American Bittern	Crested Caracara	Marbled Godwit	Marsh Wren
	Masked Duck, Florida rarity	Roseate Spoonbill

JAN. 9, 2010, SLAS FIELD TRIP REPORT VIERA WETLANDS AND MERRITT ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

11 Participants, 86 species

JAN. 9, 2010, SLAS FIELD TRIP REPORT
VIERA WETLANDS AND MERRITT ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE