Merritt Island Bird Refuge
So, since my mother is all about birds, we headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge today.
For those of you who may know nothing about this refuge, which is probably most of you, it's located right next to Cape Canaveral. Security and fear of falling satellites and rockets reasons thus kinda prevent development, so as the U.S. government set up its rockets, it incidentally created the bird refuge, and even more incidentally created the single absolute no take zone along with Florida coastline. The Coast Guard allows no one in, not so much for the fish, but for the rockets, which has proven, as far as we can tell from outside observations, to be marvelous for the fish. Fisherman hunger right outside the security limits and grin.
The bird refuge has had a slightly more checkered success rate. The birds may or may not mind the rockets (conflicting and inconclusive studies), but many of its birds are migratory, so while a refuge in central Florida is helpful, it's not the entire story. Too, the refuge sits just north of the line that separates mangrove laden shoreline (or what would be mangroves if not for massive development) from salt marshes (the salt marshes do considerably better), a transitional ecosystem with all of the accompanying fragilities. Merritt Island controls the water depths of the island and continues fierce habitat restoration, which makes it a good place to see birds.
As we entered, we saw a little baby alligator:
And then it was off to see birds. I liked this little one:
And this heron:
And a couple of ducks:
My mother, however, was far more excited about the roseate spoonbill, and insisted that I take several pictures of it. This would have worked out considerably better had the roseate spoonbill been at all interested in having its photo taken. I'm putting these up only at her insistence:
And here, the only slightly unblurry picture of it flying away:
(if you squint really really hard you might be able to see it.)
As we drove along, we noticed the wildfire in the distance:
Which could lead to something like this:
As we left, we saw another alligator, hunched in the grass, a relatively small one -- although it massively impressed the two people from Long Island who stared at it in awe; they'd never seen an alligator in the wild before, and that day, they'd seen two, plus a bald eagle circling in the sky.
So, you know, come to Florida. If we don't burn you, you can choke on the smoke, and we have plenty of things that can eat you.
For those of you who may know nothing about this refuge, which is probably most of you, it's located right next to Cape Canaveral. Security and fear of falling satellites and rockets reasons thus kinda prevent development, so as the U.S. government set up its rockets, it incidentally created the bird refuge, and even more incidentally created the single absolute no take zone along with Florida coastline. The Coast Guard allows no one in, not so much for the fish, but for the rockets, which has proven, as far as we can tell from outside observations, to be marvelous for the fish. Fisherman hunger right outside the security limits and grin.
The bird refuge has had a slightly more checkered success rate. The birds may or may not mind the rockets (conflicting and inconclusive studies), but many of its birds are migratory, so while a refuge in central Florida is helpful, it's not the entire story. Too, the refuge sits just north of the line that separates mangrove laden shoreline (or what would be mangroves if not for massive development) from salt marshes (the salt marshes do considerably better), a transitional ecosystem with all of the accompanying fragilities. Merritt Island controls the water depths of the island and continues fierce habitat restoration, which makes it a good place to see birds.
As we entered, we saw a little baby alligator:
And then it was off to see birds. I liked this little one:
And this heron:
And a couple of ducks:
My mother, however, was far more excited about the roseate spoonbill, and insisted that I take several pictures of it. This would have worked out considerably better had the roseate spoonbill been at all interested in having its photo taken. I'm putting these up only at her insistence:
And here, the only slightly unblurry picture of it flying away:
(if you squint really really hard you might be able to see it.)
As we drove along, we noticed the wildfire in the distance:
Which could lead to something like this:
As we left, we saw another alligator, hunched in the grass, a relatively small one -- although it massively impressed the two people from Long Island who stared at it in awe; they'd never seen an alligator in the wild before, and that day, they'd seen two, plus a bald eagle circling in the sky.
So, you know, come to Florida. If we don't burn you, you can choke on the smoke, and we have plenty of things that can eat you.