There are times when I go birding with the expectation that I will find some new-to-me birds to add to my life-list catalog. These treks usually involve visiting some new place away from Central Florida.
So it’s a fun surprise when I come across new birds in places I have been to seemingly hundreds of times. That’s what happened over Labor Day weekend when I saw two new birds at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
I was driving along Gator Creek in the morning and not expecting much in the way of birding after a SpaceX launch and its resulting rumble echoed across the landscape for several minutes — chasing away most of the birds.
But running around among the mangroves in the creek I noticed a Clapper Rail. AllAboutBirds.org notes, “Rails are famously secretive, so look and listen for them when they’re most active: at dawn, dusk, and in the spring.” I didn’t hear this one but I was able to get a few photos before it disappeared.
Not too far way, I saw a bird walking around on the side of the road among the vegetation. It was a Spotted Sandpiper. “The dapper Spotted Sandpiper makes a great ambassador for the notoriously difficult-to-identify shorebirds,” AllAboutBirds said. “They occur all across North America, they are distinctive in both looks and actions, and they’re handsome.”
With these two additions, my life catalog now stands at 263 types of birds I have photographed since I started birding. But they weren’t the only birds I saw that day. Check out the new ones and some familiar ones below.
