Category Archives: North America

Random Merritt Island NWR & Canaveral NS

After watching the launch of STS-129, we left KSC and followed traffic back towards Titusville. Instead of going to our hotel, we headed to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to have a quick spin around Black Point Wildlife Drive. It was getting close to sunset so we mostly kept moving, knowing we would be back the next day for a longer, slower visit.

Sunset

We spent the entire next day at Merritt Island. Again we started on with Black Point Wildlife Drive, this time taking it easy.

After this Killdeer took a bath, it ran to the shore for some serious preening action.

Killdeer

American White Pelicans

I was cracking up watching these busybody American Avocets foraging in the shallow water.

American Avocets

Wildlife Observation Hide

Frog

We visited Canaveral National Seashore too. On the way in, an Osprey ambassador reminded us to park in designated areas only.

Canaveral National Seashore sign

Osprey

From one of the viewing turnouts we could see launchpads 39A and 39B. 39B is closer to us, on the left side of the photo, surrounded by three towers. It is now undergoing modifications to accommodate launching the new Ares 1 rockets. STS-129 launched from 39A (right side of photo) as will all of the remaining five Space Shuttle missions.

Launch Pads

We had a nice long walk on the beach, enjoying the lovely late afternoon weather and the birds foraging and posing in the surf.

Willet

Turnstone

RoyalTerns1

An informational sign told us: “Often mistakenly referred to in general as “sandpipers,” shorebirds include many species that delightfully challenge birdwatchers.” (emphasis mine, ha ha ha)

Shorebirds

It was getting late but we couldn’t resist another go around Black Point Wildlife Drive. On our way there, we were treated to a great sighting of a pair of River Otters crossing the road. We were very excited to see this life mammal but unfortunately did not get a photo. Our second Black Point sunset was predictably beautiful.

Sunset

We finished the day with 55 (bird) species and three lifers including Florida Scrub-Jay which we were thrilled to finally see.

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Posted in Florida | 2 Comments

BPW: Red-shouldered Hawk

Here’s another Viera bird. During our first visit we heard a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk calling, over and over. The next day I watched an adult polishing off a meal on a post at the back of the wetlands.

RSHA

RSHA

RSHA

More photos of this bird at my Flickr stream here.

When the meal was done, the bird joined another RSHA in a tree further from the road.

RSHA

Later we saw this RSHA perched over the wetlands.

RSHA

RSHA

RSHATree1

More photos of this bird at my Flickr stream here.

Red-shouldered Hawks range where we live but I have never seen one around here before. With so many of the birds at Viera and in Florida in general, you can get such good looks. The birds seem so much more relaxed and approachable. It was great to see these hawks at the wetlands. This was not a lifer but among our best looks at this bird (besides a couple of other times – in FL of course!).

This post has been submitted to Bird Photography Weekly, hosted by Birdfreak. I love BPW because not only can I see great bird photos, but I can read the cool reactions people have to them. There might be a bird I would consider common that is a lifer for the poster. Yet other posts will be of birds that would be a lifer for me, taken in someone’s back yard. Then there are the familiar but far-away European birds that make me feel homesick for Holland. It’s always a great mix. Check out this week’s submissions. While you’re at it, why don’t you submit your own BPW post?

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Posted in Bird Photography Weekly, Florida, Viera Wetlands | 9 Comments

Random Viera Wetlands

Can you tell I like Viera Wetlands? We visited twice last week and it was great, much better than our previous visit mosquito-wise too. What a relief, we could drive with the windows down and not get eaten alive. We had 48 species over the two visits, including our lifer American Bittern (in flight, no photo unfortunately). Here are some other Viera highlights from 15 and 18 November.

ATTENTION

Viera Wetlands

White Ibis

Northern Shoveler

Tricolored Heron

Hooded Merganser

Blue-winged Teal

Bald Eagle flying

Viera Wetlands

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Posted in Florida, Viera Wetlands | 1 Comment

Two days at NASA

Today Space Shuttle Atlantis landed safely at Kennedy Space Center after an 11-day mission to the ISS. Here are a few photos I took back on Sunday, 15 November and again on Monday, 16 November when we spent most of each day at KSC and viewed the launch.

There’s more to see on the grounds besides the technological wonders.

Gator

BlackVulture

Turtles

Palm Tree

At the observation gantry, the grackle-racket was impossible to ignore.

Gantry Grackles

Gantry Grackle

Gantry Grackles

Atlantis was also hard to ignore. This was taken about 30 hours before launch.

Gantry4

While waiting to board the bus at the Apollo-Saturn V Center I spotted this Osprey.

Osprey

Sign

Monday morning we arrived at KSC bright and early. Cloud cover looked bad but the signage was promising.

Launch!

The skies clear up just in time. Our scope was great for viewing the launch. Photos below were taken right before lift-off and shortly after.

Scope

SecondsBefore

Seconds After

No photos of the launch itself; I was watching it. I could never take any photos or video as fine as what NASA makes publicly available, anyway.

It was awesome to watch the launch. So glad we didn’t go bust, honey!

NoBust

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Posted in Florida | 2 Comments

Playing Anhinga

During one of our visits to Viera Wetlands, we saw this Anhinga playing with a piece of pipe. Anhingas hunt by swimming under water and spearing fish with their sharp bills. They then have to manipulate their prey in order to eat it, which usually involves tossing the fish into the air from the perpendicular and catching it as it falls parallel into its throat. These photos I found on Flickr show the toss and catch process. We were both enthralled and amused watching this Anhinga’s antics as it practiced its prey-flipping skills.

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Posted in Behavior, Florida, Video, Viera Wetlands | 3 Comments

CuteCootTube

I admit I had fun watching the American Coots at Viera Wetlands last week. American Coots look a lot like Common Coots, a familiar bird I saw almost every day back in Leiden. They remained relatively solitary on the city canals so seeing coots in a big amicable group (raft) was new to me.

Besides the coot photos I shared yesterday I also took a couple of videos, which I put together here. The first part of the video shows a group feeding calmly together. After the transition the coots are on high alert. I am not sure what spooked them but I found this looking-in-all-directions behavior very cute. Despite the alert level there is a teeny tiny mini standoff between two of the birds starting at about :15 (look on the left side). That’s more like the coot behavior I am used to seeing!

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Posted in Florida, Video, Viera Wetlands | 1 Comment

Coots in Florida (BPW)

We returned home late on Friday from an 8-day road trip down to Florida to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis lift off for the ISS. The launch was scheduled for Monday, November 16th and, unlike last time we tried to view a launch, there were no delays and the Shuttle took off right on time.

Of course we couldn’t pass up the chance to do a bit of birding along the way. While staying on the Space Coast we visited Viera Wetlands twice and spent a day at Merritt Island NWR (which remained closed during our last Florida visit, when the Shuttle was delayed, and delayed, and delayed…). We took our time driving home and stopped at Great Swamp Sanctuary in South Carolina and even drove through Great Smoky Mountains NP.

To start off what will probably be a handful of blog entries about our trip, here’s my Bird Photography Weekly submission for this week. American Coots summer up here in Illinois, but we rarely get to see them up close. At Viera, they were tooling around in large rafts all over.

Tight Raft of American Coots

Raft of American Coots

Pair of American Coots

American Coot

>American Coot with big noms
nom nom nom

Bird Photography Weekly is a regular collection of user-submitted bird photos from all over the world. The new edition comes out every Sunday. Go have a look at this week’s submissions!

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Posted in Bird Photography Weekly, Florida, Viera Wetlands | 5 Comments

Photos: October morning at Volo Bog

Last Saturday we visited Volo Bog. It wasn’t crowded when we arrived.

Volo Bog Parking Lot

First we walked the Volo Bog Interpretive Trail, a boardwalk loop through the bog. There were American Robins everywhere.

Berries

Berries

Volo Bog Interpretive Trail

Volo Bog

Tamarack Trees

Flock of Robins

Next we walked the Tamarack Trail around the preserve. At the outlook platform we had a view over much of the park. A flock of Cedar Waxwings held my attention on the trail back from the outlook.

More Volo Bog

Volo Bog viewing platform

View over Volo Bog

Blue skies over Volo Bog

Cedar Waxwings

More Waxwings

The sun had been spotty during most of the walk but cleared up nicely as we finished the trail. The visitor center looked particularly fetching as we approached the end of the walk.

Volo Bog Trees

Dangerous Snag

Volo trees and blue sky

Volo Bog visitor center

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Skywatch at IBSP

As part of the Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch 10th anniversary celebration, we attended a morning bird walk that followed the path leading from the Hawkwatch pavilion. It was a cold morning and started out a bit overcast, but soon the sun was shining.

Path

Lone Tree

One tree held a family or families of Bluebirds. There were about ten birds in a single tree. I’d never seen so many at the same time before.

Bluebirds

Some trees were just starting to turn.

Turning Tree

Turning Tree

Towards the end of the path we spotted a sparrow which we determined to be a Lincoln’s. Life bird!

Lincoln's Sparrow

For more stories of the sky from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

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Posted in Hawk Watch, Illinois, Skywatch Friday | 2 Comments

Raptors at Hawkwatch

On the weekend of 10-11 October, the Illinois Beach State Park Hawkwatch celebrated their 10th year with an open house weekend. As part of the celebration, education birds from a new group, The Northern Illinois Raptor Center, were on hand. The birds wowed the crowd with their beauty while their handlers told us about them and answered our questions.

The NIRC was formed after the raptor program at the Springbrook Nature Center was discontinued due to lack of funds. This is their (western) Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawk1

Red-tailed Hawk (western)

Red-tailed Hawk (western)

The NIRC now has four birds which are currently housed with NIRC team members while construction of their new facility at Vogelei Park in Hoffman Estates is underway. This is their American Kestrel.

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

The birds are used for education programs. The group eventually plans to also rehabilitate birds in need when their facilities are completed. This is their Great Horned Owl.

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

I love Great Horned Owls, but I love Barred Owls even more. Look at this beauty, the NIRC’s fourth bird.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl

Barred Owl

Barred Owl

It’s always so great to see raptors like these up close, and to hear their stories. I so admire everyone that works with these beautiful raptors and their dedication to both their birds and to educating the public. Big kudos to the NIRC and everyone else involved with caring for birds of prey. Thank you for all you do.

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Posted in Festivals & Events, Hawk Watch, Illinois, Rehabilitation | 1 Comment