Birdwatching In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday was a beautiful day for birdwatching in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I took my wife, our wonder dog Elmo, my Nikon CoolPix 8700 camera, and a few fishing rods to search for fish and birdlife.

Instead of taking the long drive through unimproved Shiloh road, we went directly over Haulover canal to the section near Black Point Drive around the Indian River Lagoon.

There seemed to be more different types of birds in the area, congregating mainly in the marshes adjacent to the river.

The warm temperature also brought out the alligators en masse. They were all over the drives sunning themselves along the banks in the marsh areas.

I'll let the pics and movie clips speak for themselves.



We halfheartedly dropped baits in a couple of areas, mainly around Peacock Pocket, with nothing to really write home about.

I believe that the extreme cold fronts killed off the vast percentage of fish in the very shallow water areas we normally frequent. The Wildlife Officers that I spoke with about the poor fishing in these areas, agreed with my observation.

Fishing in the Indian River side is still decent for black drum and redfish. There are a lot of drum in the river, and they are biting on shrimp, cut baits, and whole blue crab.

Enjoy the pics.

Till next time, Tight Lines!