Viera Wetlands, 12/23/2011

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Ring-necked Ducks
Yesterday I went to Viera Wetlands for the morning.  I saw only the usual suspects there, but even that is pretty fun.  There were a few highlights of the morning, though.  We saw a few Hooded Merganser, and a couple happened to be a little closer to shore than normal for the wetlands, so I was able to get a couple keepers of these beautiful ducks.  A couple Limpkin also posed for me on the tops of trees.  In the southeast corner, I got out of the car and walked down to the shore.  There were two Northern Shovelers, a few Blue-Winged Teal, and about 50 Pied-Billed Grebe there.  There was also a Snowy Egret that periodically fly from shore to a bunch of reeds picking up fish from the surface of the water as it flew. And as I turned north up the eastern road, a few Ring-necked ducks post for me.

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Hooded Merganser
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Limpkin
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Pied-Billed Grebe
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Northern Shoveler
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Cormorant

After this we went over to the "click" ponds.  I saw an immature Red-shouldered Hawk, and then I had the pleasure of photographing a Great Blue Heron struggleing swallow a snake.  That part was so fun I wrote another post with photos just of that one event.

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Immature Red-shouldered Hawk
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Wood Stork
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Great-Blue Heron

Here's a list of species we saw yesterday morning:

NonBirds:
American Alligator
River Otters
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

Birds:
Blue-winged Teal X
Northern Shoveler 3
Ring-necked Duck 10
Lesser Scaup 2
Hooded Merganser 8
Pied-billed Grebe 30
Wood Stork 2
Double-crested Cormorant X
Anhinga X
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Tricolored Heron X
Cattle Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis X
Glossy Ibis X
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 3
Northern Harrier 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
American Kestrel 2
Common Gallinule X
American Coot X
Limpkin 2
Sandhill Crane 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Caspian Tern 1
Rock Pigeon X
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Loggerhead Shrike 3
Blue Jay 1
Tree Swallow X
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling X
Palm Warbler (Yellow) X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle X

Comments

  1. ...going to Vierra Wetlands next week. ...any further clues on finding the Limpkin. Your photos are wonderful! Thanks, Cherrie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Cherrie. Yes, I can tell you exactly where I normally see Limpkin at the wetlands. When you enter the wetlands, you'll drive around it counter clockwise. At one point, you'll have the opportunity to turn left and drive through the interior. Go straight, but from that point, look to your left. They are often near the shoreline on the ground. The road will make you take two left hand turns. Always stay on the exterior of the wetlands, and you're very likely to see at least one (and probably more than one) before you can make another right hand turn. I normally see them in the northwest section of the wetlands.

    If you leave the main wetlands area, you will see that Wickham Rd takes a jog north and then continues farther west as a dirt road. If you take that road, you'll see water to your left. At one point, you'll see a small, man-made "falls." I often see Limpkin there too.

    Hope that helps!

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