As the temperatures start soaring, the number of migrating birds in our area starts dropping.
Category: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Screech Owl mania at Merritt Island
I’ve been making some trips to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge looking for the little Eastern Screech Owls, and I’m not the only one.

Colorful Killdeer at Black Point Wildlife Drive
Killdeer are pretty common around here. They are year-round residents but look striking with their black stripes and neon-orange eyeliner.

Screech Owls, other birds on Merritt Island
The Eastern Screech Owls were little 6-to-9-inch-tall birds I spotted along Bio Lab Road at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Roseate Spoonbills by the side of the road
Of course, I had to pull over, make my way through some brush and get to the pond to photograph these amazing pink birds.

Flamingos still around in Indian River despite numbers dropping
On a recent Saturday morning, the number of flamingos that continues to hang around Bird Island totaled14.

Indian River flamingo family keeps growing
On a recent Sunday morning outing to see and photograph the pretty-in-pink birds, I counted 32 flamingos present.

Cloudy morning birding on Merritt Island
It was cloudy and the lighting wasn’t great, but I did get to see some of my favorite birds, including a male Common Yellowthroat.

Revisiting Flamingos in the Indian River
The flamingos were in a different spot this time, but there were more than 20 of them gathered near Bird Island when I photographed them..

Watching American Flamingos in the Indian River
This flamingo flamboyance included some brightly colored adults as well as a couple of juveniles who still had many of their gray feathers