David's Images of the Day Photoblog
December Road Trip to Florida in 2011: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Birds (American Avocet, Great Egret, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, and an unknown bird) and Reptiles (Rat Snake, Turtle, and Alligator) along Black Point Wildlife Drive or Biolab Road in the National Wildlife Refuge.
I try to stop and spend at least a day at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge when I do a road trip to Florida. It has been a while, and the last time I got rained out. The wildlife refuge suffered some Hurricane damage. Both Black Point Wildlife Drive, and Biolab road are open. Biolab road is now one-way, starting from the boat launch area. This is unfortunate, since in the morning you are driving into the sun. I spent the night in Titusville. When I woke up it was foggy. I arrived at the entrance to Black Point Wildlife Drive just after the gate was opened at sunrise. The fog was starting to rise, and when I looked behind I saw the opportunity for a great landscape sunrise image. The clouds and lifting fog made for good backgrounds. I did two loops on Black Point Wildlife Drive, and one pass on Biolab Road. I saw many birds up close. I think the early morning fog helped. Many of the palm trees on Biolab Road lost their tops during the hurricane. I hoped to see more Osprey, but only caught one in flight. There were many more Turkey, and Black Vultures. I am not sure of the ID for the Hawk with a red breast. After the sun came out, a couple of Alligators showed up. As I was leaving, I saw a number of spider webs with droplets of water left by the fog that were lit up by the sun.
December Road Trip to Florida in 2011: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
I stopped for a couple of days in Merritt Island, and spent the time at the National Wildlife Refuge. A target rich environment. These are a few images from that day — Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Wood Stork, Alligator, and Sunset. I especially liked the Great Blue Heron doing the “Chicken Dance”.
My only view of an alligator on that day was just as I was leaving. All that was visible was an eye and the tip of its snout. It was starting to rain, so I only got one loop on the wildlife drive. Some birds, but not as many as I have seen on previous visits to the National Wildlife Refuge.
Alligator Crossing Biolab Road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. I stayed in the car while taking images. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/1250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.
