Merritt Island NWR in early November

Dixie

During the first week in November I had to make a trip to Fort Lauderdale. A trip to Florida without stopping by some of the wetlands just isn't a trip to Florida anymore thanks to Harry. Harry, I would have given you a call, but I stopped by Vierra Wetlands on two different days and the area was closed to vehicular traffic both days. I ended up doing all my shooting on the different drives in Merritt Island NWR.

Comments are welcome.

Click on the image for EXIF data.

Osprey on Biolab Road.



Great Blue Heron on L Loop Drive.



Woodstork on Shiloh Marsh Road.



A Great Egret along Shiloh Marsh Road.



Spoonbill along Black Point Wildlife Drive.




Woodstork along Biolab Road.



Belted Kingfisher along Biolab Road.



A Great Egret along Black Point Wildlife Drive.



Tri-color Heron along Black Point Wildlife Drive.



Low-flying tortoise. This dude was big - about 18 inches from head to tail. Anyone know what type of tortoise? According to SunGlo this is a Gopher Tortoise so I want to thank him for his ID.



What is this one?



Thanks for looking. Others can be seen in my New Photos Gallery.

raptorcaptor

All good Dixie! And you even started it with an Osprey!

Harryb

Outstanding captures Dixie, Its a good thing you didn't call me because I was in Hawaii at that time. They closed the Viera Wetlands for around a week to do some roadwork after an elderly couple make a small mistake and drove into one of the cells.

SunGlo

Dixie wrote:

Low-flying tortoise. This dude was big - about 18 inches from head to tail. Anyone know what type of tortoise?

Great shots Dixie. The tortoise in question is a gopher tortoise. Yes, they are big and can be quite fast for a tortoise. They are also an endangered species.

Have fun,

Phil

gluwater

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding captures Dixie, Its a good thing you didn't call me because I was in Hawaii at that time. They closed the Viera Wetlands for around a week to do some roadwork after an elderly couple make a small mistake and drove into one of the cells.

How did you plan your trip so far in advance around an accident that closed Vierra before the accident even happened? You're good Harry.

Beautiful shots Dixie. That is indeed a tri-color. Are you coming down in February?

dbaker1221

excellent captures Dixie:ivar

ShepsMom

Beautiful, i absolutely love your 2nd shot clap

riddim_maker

All very beautiful portraits and nicely framed

JenGrace

That does appear to be tricolor heron there...and the last one looks to me like a redwinged blackbird. That little yellow strip there is one clue, and there seems to be a hint of red just above it, hidden by some other feathers. Great series!

Dixie

raptorcaptor wrote:

All good Dixie! And you even started it with an Osprey!

Thanks, Glenn. Had to start with the Osprey - I have a thing for those birds of prey.

Dixie

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding captures Dixie, Its a good thing you didn't call me because I was in Hawaii at that time. They closed the Viera Wetlands for around a week to do some roadwork after an elderly couple make a small mistake and drove into one of the cells.

Thanks, Harry. It had also been raining really hard because of the hurricane that swung out into the Atlantic after crossing Cuba and the Bahamas. There was lots of rain the last few days of October and the first day or two of Nov. I figured that also had something to do with the closure of Viera as well. I hope that the elderly couple weren't injured.

Dixie

SunGlo wrote:

Great shots Dixie. The tortoise in question is a gopher tortoise. Yes, they are big and can be quite fast for a tortoise. They are also an endangered species.

Have fun,

Phil

Phil,

Thanks for the comments and also for giving an ID to the tortoise. I'm not much a turtle or tortoise guy and try as hard as I could on the web, I just didn't come up with an ID. Thanks again.

Dixie

gluwater wrote:

How did you plan your trip so far in advance around an accident that closed Vierra before the accident even happened? You're good Harry.

Beautiful shots Dixie. That is indeed a tri-color. Are you coming down in February?

Nick,

Thanks for the positive ID on the tri-color and the comments. That's the first one that I've shot so wanted to know for sure.

As to the MINWR shoot in Feb - I don't have any plans for February yet, so I will what I can do to be there for at least a portion of the time to try and meet everyone if for no other reason.

Dixie

dbaker1221 wrote:

excellent captures Dixie:ivar

Thanks, Dave, your comments are appreciated.

Dixie

ShepsMom wrote:

Beautiful, i absolutely love your 2nd shot clap

Thank you, Marina. I'm sort of partial to the GBH as well.

Dixie

riddim_maker wrote:

All very beautiful portraits and nicely framed

Thank you, Russ.

Dixie

JenW wrote:

That does appear to be tricolor heron there...and the last one looks to me like a redwinged blackbird. That little yellow strip there is one clue, and there seems to be a hint of red just above it, hidden by some other feathers. Great series!

Thank you, Jen. That blackbird does give me a problem on the ID. There was no red shoulders on the bird at all. The dark reddish-yellow stripe was about the only color there was. The black eyes rule out a lot of the possibilities, but still leave the red-winged blackbird if it is possibly an immature bird (I have no idea how long after birth before the red shows up) or maybe a female (the book says the female and young are heavily striped with brown). One other outside shot as to the ID was a type of Grackle, but I for one am totally at a loss as to what it is.

Anyone know of a really good bird book that shows male and female as well as photos or illustrations of the immature versions for the entire US. I don't even care if it is broken into volumes by region.

JenGrace

Dixie wrote:

Thank you, Jen. That blackbird does give me a problem on the ID. There was no red shoulders on the bird at all. The dark reddish-yellow stripe was about the only color there was. The black eyes rule out a lot of the possibilities, but still leave the red-winged blackbird if it is possibly an immature bird (I have no idea how long after birth before the red shows up) or maybe a female (the book says the female and young are heavily striped with brown). One other outside shot as to the ID was a type of Grackle, but I for one am totally at a loss as to what it is.

Anyone know of a really good bird book that shows male and female as well as photos or illustrations of the immature versions for the entire US. I don't even care if it is broken into volumes by region.

It's definitely not a female. Here's a pic of a male with his shoulders partially hidden (not mine):


Here's a female (pic not mine):


We used to have a rescued female where I work and I just thought it was a big sparrow...they're tricky to positively ID. But I'm fairly certain your pic is a male.

Dixie

JenW wrote:

It's definitely not a female. Here's a pic of a male with his shoulders partially hidden (not mine):

Here's a female (pic not mine):

We used to have a rescued female where I work and I just thought it was a big sparrow...they're tricky to positively ID. But I'm fairly certain your pic is a male.

Jen,

Thanks. Seeing actual photos of some of the variations tend to make me agree. I spent some time watching the one I shot and he definitely didn't have the bright red, but who says they all have to be exactly alike? I was calling it a red-winged blackbird prior to posting, but didn't want to look any dumber than I am by having someone correct me. Thanks for the research work.

Cracker

Beautiful captures of beautiful birds! Florida looks like bird paradise this time of year.
Graham

bfjr

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding captures Dixie, Its a good thing you didn't call me because I was in Hawaii at that time. They closed the Viera Wetlands for around a week to do some roadwork after an elderly couple make a small mistake and drove into one of the cells.

I was wondering why you had to hide out on the Island.

Now that clears things up, Thanks :hide

Hey Dixie all nice as is all your body of Work

dallas

Now that's an OSPREY. Excellent images Dixie.

Dixie

Cracker wrote:

Beautiful captures of beautiful birds! Florida looks like bird paradise this time of year.
Graham

Thanks, Graham. I agree about Florida. That is one of the main reasons I like heading down that way.

Dixie

bfjr wrote:

I was wondering why you had to hide out on the Island.

Now that clears things up, Thanks :hide

Hey Dixie all nice as is all your body of Work

Thank you, Benjamin.

Dixie

dallas wrote:

Now that's an OSPREY. Excellent images Dixie.

William,

Thank you for your comments. Biolab Road was a great place for the Osprey. They are use to the cars going by and sit low in the trees which makes it ideal for getting fairly good close shots.