Here are some little paintings of bird sightings at Merritt Island.

The Belted Kingfisher is one of the coolest looking birds, and no other birds look anything like it. They are common enough, but usually fly away from people pretty fast so I was really happy when this one posed for me!

Sometimes when you are taking a photo of a bird it decides to fly away, fluff it’s feathers, or do something otherwise awkward. When I come home and start going through the photos from a bird watching trip, sometimes I just say “wha…?”

Here are a few birds I saw on Bio-Lab Road at MINWR earlier this week. It was late in the day and the sun was going down, but it certainly was clear with blue skies.

I spent last weekend out at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Saturday was a beach day, it felt amazing! But the water is still too cold. I saw a Crested Caracara on the way home which was the most exciting bird sighting of the day, sadly I was driving down a busy road at 60 mph at the time.

Sunday was specifically for birdwatching, down Bio-Lab Road. Days later I am still itching from the all the mosquitoes, but it was worth it! Most of the birds were far from the road and not good for photographing, but fun to watch in any case. I love all the ducks.

The best thing was seeing a pair of bobcats!

Roseate Spoonbills are always stunning.

Osprey with a fresh fish.

Black-necked Stilt, so cute. Quite a few of them out there.

Kingfisher.

The Kingfisher is the coolest looking bird. I’ve seen them a lot in town this Winter, they’ve become quite common, but I’m still thrilled by them. Every time I see one I have to point it out. Of course, when I see them in town they are on power lines near retention ponds, and I am always driving. Otherwise, you can see them at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, and I get so frustrated because they are always flying AWAY from me! I was lucky on my last trip, I found one that sat for a bit before flying away, and then I was able to get some photos of it in flight!

They have pretty markings on the wings too! That one is a female, note the red band on the breast, which oddly males do not have.