Merritt Island NWR, 1/28/2012

Willet

This morning I went to Merritt Island and had a great morning.  I first went to the Max Brewer Causeway and saw many gulls and skimmers, but only one shorebird: a Willet.  Next I went to Pumphouse Loop--not much was there, a bunch of Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers and Willet.  Things picked up on Blackpoint Drive.  Of the 8 Reddish Egrets I saw, two of them were white morph.  I found an American Bittern between stops 6 and 7.  He was nice enough to come out and wade in the stream.  By the restrooms I also saw a Sora.  From there I went to the Scrub Ridge Trail and found 4 Florida Scrub Jays.  From there I went down Biolab Rd, where the only birds I saw of note were Sanderlings,  Savannah Sparrows and an Eastern Phoebe.  From there I was going to head home, but I saw a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road and a raft of ducks in the water, so I pulled over and found hundreds of American Widgeon; one Eurasian Widgeon was relatively close to the shore.

Ring-billed Gull

White Morph Reddish Egret

Loggerhead Shrike

American Bittern

Sora

Florida Scrub Jay

Eastern Phoebe

All said in done, I found 71 species on the island.  Here's a list of the species I found between 8:30am and about 2:30 pm.

Gadwall 1
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 1000
Mottled Duck 5
Blue-winged Teal 10
Northern Shoveler 11
Northern Pintail 50
Lesser Scaup 1
Hooded Merganser 3
Pied-billed Grebe 20
Wood Stork 1
Double-crested Cormorant 11
Anhinga 4
American White Pelican 15
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 20
Great Egret 15
Snowy Egret 5
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 15
Reddish Egret 8
Green Heron 1
White Ibis 30
Glossy Ibis 7
Roseate Spoonbill 11
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 4
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
American Kestrel 1
Sora 1
Common Gallinule 3
American Coot 1000
Black-bellied Plover 10
Killdeer 3
American Avocet 4
Willet 10
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Sanderling 20
Dunlin 100
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 9
Laughing Gull 10
Ring-billed Gull 20
Herring Gull 5
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1

Black Skimmer 15
Common Tern 2
Forster's Tern 5
Royal Tern 3
Mourning Dove 1
Common Ground-Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Loggerhead Shrike 4
Florida Scrub-Jay 4
Fish Crow 5
Marsh Wren 1
Gray Catbird 1
Palm Warbler 5
Pine Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
Savannah Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle X