The bird population at the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands continues to change and grow as winter sets in. I identified almost 50 different bird species on Sunday, plus a handful of ambiguous sightings. More duck populations are arriving, with Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, Blue-winged Teals, Canvasbacks, Redheads, and a Hooded Merganser all present.

It was cloudy most of the morning with a few breaks of sunshine which transformed the Wetlands from looking like this:

To this:

There were several species of terns flying and diving for fish. I didn’t see any Least Terns, but in addition to the larger Caspian and Royal Terns there were several Forster’s Terns making circuits over the water. The terns were using the stiff northerly breeze to help them hover over a promising spot before diving in. Then they turned and used the tail-wind to speed around for another pass. Forster’s terns come to the Wetlands every winter and are among the most active feeders.

In the summer Forster’s Terns have entirely black caps, but here you can see the extended black “ear patch” of its winter plumage.

There have been Northern Harriers patrolling the Wetlands for the past two visits. This harrier was resting after cruising the marshes and stirring up trouble, scattering coots and ducks everywhere.

Male Northern Harriers are gray and the females brown. Have a look at those talons.

Most visits to the Wetlands include a Crested Caracara sighting. Longer-time followers of the blog know that I don’t manage to get many photographs of them, for some reason. This time there were two in flight a bit of distance away.

Even from this distance, the Crested Caracaras’ distinctive field marks are obvious.

Living in Florida, it is easy to overlook the White Ibis. Here they often descend on lawns and golf courses in small flocks. Ibises use their long curved bills to probe deep in the mud and soil for insects, crustaceans and small invertebrates.

Ibises look kind of like Gonzo, from The Muppets. Also, I never realized they had blue eyes!

There were plenty of Palm Warblers and some Yellow-rumped Warblers along the edge of the outer driving loop. I saw a few Eastern Phoebes and a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Woodpeckers will often hide behind tree trunks, alternating between sidling up the tree, out of view, and popping out to have a look at where the potential predator is (that would be me, from a woodpecker’s perspective).

“Hey, are you still here?”

Roseate Spoonbills don’t often come down to feed at the Wetlands, but this one obliged and let observers come within 10 feet or so before briskly walking away until it felt a bit safer. Spoonbills use their unusually shaped bills to sense for small prey items in the mud and water.

The head makings make it look like this bird has headphones on.

I was pleasantly surprised by a grouping of mixed ducks. There were Ring-necked Ducks (male and female) and a male Redhead with a couple of females. Also present were two female Canvasbacks. I had to double check that the male Redhead was not a Canvasback, as the species do look similar.

A duck social mixer.

Female Canvasback on the left, female Redhead on the right. It’s a little hard to see because of the viewing angles, but the Canvasback has a longer, straighter bill that starts at her forehead.

The American Coots continue to gather in larger groups, or “rafts.” When a harrier or other bird of prey flew by (not always making a hunting run), the entire raft scrambles. Coots are poor flyers and generally make a loud, splashing ruckus as they skitter along.

Here is a list of the identified species from the day, roughly in the order I saw them:

• Cattle Egret
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Boat-tailed Grackle
• Northern Mockingbird
• Sandhill Crane
• Forster’s Tern
• Great Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Northern Harrier
• Blue-winged Teal
• American Coot
• Common Gallinule
• Palm Warbler
• Wilson’s Snipe
• White Ibis
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Limpkin
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Ring-necked Duck
• Eastern Meadowlark (♫)
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Anhinga
• Turkey Vulture
• American Kestrel
• Fish Crow
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Savannah Sparrow
• Common Yellowthroat
• Snowy Egret
• Crested Caracara
• Tri-colored Heron
• Glossy Ibis
• Black Vulture
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Royal Tern
• Caspian Tern
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Northern Shoveler
• Green Heron
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Osprey
• Lesser Scaup
• Redhead
• Canvasback
• Hooded Merganser
• Ring-billed Gull
• Loggerhead Shrike

I believe this was the single “biggest” day in terms of species count since the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival for me. I don’t normally focus on that, but given the level of activity I felt it was noteworthy. The 2015 SCBWF registration should open soon, and I am really looking forward to that.

[For part I, from the Moccasin Island tract, click here.]

The Viera Wetlands (officially the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera) are an important wintering area for many birds. Ducks, coots and gallinules  gather in large floating groups, called rafts, to feed and provide common defense. Mergansers and grebes mingle with them in pairs or small groups, and we even had Mute Swans this past year.

It’s a little early in the wintering season, but I thought it would be good to see how the Wetlands transition from summer to winter. The American Coots were already starting to gather in groups but other species, like this Pied-billed Grebe, were enjoying the larger stretches of still empty water before things get noisy and crowded.

Lone grebe as a picture of solitude.

The lake at the center of the Wetlands is a favorite place for gulls, terns and Ospreys to dive for fish. Normally when an Osprey goes after a fish, it strikes the water feet first and uses them to grab its prey and immediately flies back into the air. Osprey have special barbs, called spicules, on the underside of their feet that aid it in grasping fish and manipulating to to face head-first. This makes transporting the fish to either a nest of an eating perch more aerodynamic and therefore more energy efficient. What happens when an Osprey dives a little too hard and misses its meal?

A dejected and wet Osprey drips dry after diving in a little to hard for a meal.

Heron and egret activity was much reduced. I saw no Cattle Egrets and the rookery trees were empty. There were a few Green Herons across the lake from me, and I saw just one each Great Blue Heron and Great Egret. Now that breeding and nesting season is over, the males have molted and lost their plumes and lancet feathers, but still retain a simple beauty and grace.

A Snowy Egret standing patiently. Normally this species is an active feeder, using its bright golden-colored feet to stir up fish, crustaceans and frogs.

Herons sometimes amaze me with the focus and patience they have when stalking the edge of a pond or standing, head poised for a quick strike to grab a fish or a frog. There was a Little Blue Heron that was so intent on its foraging activities that it gave me almost no mind as I got within a couple of feet.

This Little Blue Heron was so focused, I could almost see laser beams coming out of its eyes.

Its nonchalance seemed to attract a Glossy Ibis and Common Gallinule; the normally more skittish birds hung close to it and only glanced at me once or twice before I moved on.

When you hear a Common Gallinule’s calls, you realize why this species used to be called the Common Moorhen (hen as in chicken).

Other birds have finished their end of summer molting as well. The small flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and Boat-tailed Grackles are generally quieter now that the chaos of summer is over. The birds making the loudest ruckus were the Gray Catbirds in the trees and brush along the outside of the outer road.

This female Boat-tailed Grackles feathers looked almost like a burnished metal in the sun.

I walked back to my car and drove a partial loop to get to the exit, covering some of the same ground I did on foot. Not much had changed in the short time, except more Osprey were diving for food, and I hope this one wound up more successful, or at least less wet, than the first one I saw.

Best of luck and farewell.

Here is the complete species list, including my adventures at the Moccasin Island Tract. You can read about it in part 1.

• American White Pelican
• Boat-tailed Grackle
• Sandhill Crane
• Mourning Dove
• Common Grackle
• Tree Swallow
• Purple Martin
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Great Blue Heron
• American Crow
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Bobolink
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Tri-colored Heron
• Great Egret
• White Ibis
• Glossy Ibis
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Common Yellowthroat
• House Wren
• Northern Cardinal
• White-eyed Vireo
• Grey Catbird
• Common Ground Dove
• Northern Mockingbird
• Blue Jay
• Green Heron
• Eastern Phoebe
• Osprey
• Anhinga
• Red-winged Blackbird
• American Coot
• Common Gallinule
• Little Blue Heron
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Snowy Egret
• American Kestrel
• Black Vulture
• Turkey Vulture
• Wood Stork