Viera Wetlands, 3/10/2012

Least Bittern

Today was a great day at Viera Wetlands.  I mentioned in a previous post that I saw a Gray Kingbird on my way into the wetlands.  That was easily the biggest highlight for me, since it's the first I've ever seen.  But there were a couple other species I saw for the first time this year today: two Least Bitterns and one Sedge Wren.  It was also very nice to see an American Bittern, a Sora, and a Cooper's Hawk.  There were several Great Blue Herons nesting in the wetlands, and one couple was particularly active repairing their nest and feeding their young, but I'll put those photos in a future post.

American Bittern

Hooded Merganser with one Rising

Sora

Red-winged Blackbird

Loggerhead Shrike

Anhinga

On the way to Viera, I found two Swallow-tailed Kites, and on the way back I saw five Wild Turkeys.  This makes my grand total for the day 62 species.  Here's a list of the 60 species I saw at Viera:

Blue-winged Teal 25
Northern Shoveler 11
Ring-necked Duck 3
Lesser Scaup 3
Hooded Merganser 8
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Pied-billed Grebe 30
Wood Stork 2
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Anhinga 10
American Bittern 1
Least Bittern 2
Great Blue Heron 13
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 3
Tricolored Heron 6
Cattle Egret 50
Green Heron 4
White Ibis 20
Glossy Ibis 4
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 5
Bald Eagle 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
American Kestrel 2
Sora 1
Common Gallinule X
American Coot X
Limpkin 1
Wilson's Snipe 5
Ring-billed Gull 1
Forster's Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 5
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Gray Kingbird X
Loggerhead Shrike 5
Fish Crow X
Tree Swallow 50
Sedge Wren 1
Marsh Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
European Starling X
Common Yellowthroat 7
Palm Warbler 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Savannah Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 1