Visiting Viera and the ‘other’ wetlands

After making so many trips to the Orlando Wetlands, I thought it was time to visit the “other” man-made wetlands in our area – the Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera.

I stopped by there last Saturday while birding in Brevard County. The Viera wetlands was closed for six months to remove muck and other vegetation from its ponds. It partially reopened in March, but it’s still not fully open.

The small part that I did see was impressive – a great pond with lots of wading birds and a rookery for egrets and herons. An adult and juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron flew overhead, and a pair of Roseate Spoonbills were hanging around. (The last one had left the Orlando Wetlands weeks ago.)

There were a lot of Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons and even a family of Black-necked Stilts with adults and chicks. A Least Tern even flew around the pond fishing.

That’s a lot of bird diversity in such a small space – and its was surprising to see this time of year.

I’ll definitely return in the future.