This slideshow requires JavaScript.
As posted at Friends of Viera Wetlands
I haven’t been to the wetlands in quite a while. Life has been keeping me pretty busy over here on the beach. I made a little time over the last few days to take a bunch of lousy photos, and a few good ones too.
There are tons of waders out at the clickponds. Spoonbills, Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Tri Color Herons, Green Herons, Avocets, Black-Necked Stilts with babies, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis,and Sanderlings are everywhere. There is also a family of mottled ducks, anhingas, and cormorants. Terns, of an undetermined kind, were seen both visits as well. On the edges, look for young shrikes, families of mockingbirds, mourning and ground doves, and cardinals, of course.
Over at the clickponds, things are kind of slow. The highlight of my day were was the Purple Gallinule family. I found both parents and counted three chicks.
Also of note was the most famous Caracara, some Swallow-Tailed Kites, and this hawk I’ve pictured. I’m a little leery to identify it as a Red-Shouldered Hawk, so if you know it to be something different please say so! I’ve gone through Juvenile Red-Shoulder, Juvenile Red Tailed, and I think I’ve ruled out Broad-Winged Hawk. Even after seeing varieties of them for years now, every once and a while I can’t quite make the call.
I also found a few Rabbits and a beautiful Cottonmouth on Four-Mile Road.
Did you notice the construction going on? It’s a new access road that will bypass the sewage plant and take you right to the wetlands parking lot.
Any osprey?