Viera Wetlands, 8-6-2011

Least Bittern

Today was a good day at Viera Wetlands, at least for early August.  I saw nothing spectacular there today, with the possible exception of this little Least Bittern.  He posed for me for quite some time, though he never gave me a full view of himself.  I had to put my 2x extender on my lens to get my shots, so thankfully he was still enough for me to manual focus.

Loggerhead Shrike

I also found this Loggerhead Shrike.  He confused me for a while because his right foot isn't right--it looked to me like he had talons.  But my best guess now is that it somehow got mangled.    I saw three other Loggerhead Shrikes there as well, all with normal feet.

One other species to note was a Red-Shouldered Hawk, which I saw on the dirt road north of the wetlands that heads west behind the park.  He also posed for me for a little while.

Also, the "click" ponds across from the wetlands have been largely drained, so they have attracted a significant number of shorebirds, including Black Skimmers, American Avocet and Black-Necked Stilts.  Unfortunately, they were too far away for me to get many pictures.  If I were there in the evening, I would be able to shoot them from the other side of the ponds and get better pictures.

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Here's my list of species from today. A number means the number of the species I counted, and an X means I didn't count them. Click here to see my gallery of photos from today.

Non-Birds
American Alligator
White-Tailed Deer
Florida Red-Bellied Cooter
Florida Soft-Shell Turtle
White Peacock Butterfly
Various Dragonflies

Birds
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck X
Mottled Duck X
Wood Stork X
Anhinga X
Least Bittern 3
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron X
Cattle Egret X
Green Heron X
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis X
Glossy Ibis X
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Purple Gallinule 1
Common Moorhen/Gallinule  X
American Coot X
Limpkin 1
Sandhill Crane 6
Black-necked Stilt X
American Avocet X
Willet X
Sanderling X
Least Sandpiper X
Pectoral Sandpiper X
Stilt Sandpiper X
Black Skimmer X
Mourning Dove X
Common Ground-Dove X
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Loggerhead Shrike 4
Fish Crow X
Purple Martin  X
Northern Mockingbird X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle X