Sunday, April 5, 2015

Merritt Island NWR


I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   They are both fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

Happy Easter & Happy Passover to all!


I am sharing more from our Florida trip, so far I have only showed the first two days of our two trip.. Beware of trip photos overload..SORRY! I have mentioned before if there is a wildlife refuge near our travels we will always try to visit them.. Merritt Island NWR has a great visitor center and an awesome wildlife drive.




 One of my all time favorite birds is the Painted Bunting.. it was found right outside the Merritt Island Visitor Center..



Various flowers, oranges and buttterflies seen around the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.


Above one of my Florida lifers.. the Reddish Egret.. egrets are not always white.


The Reddish Egret is a beautiful wader..wow look at the colors on it's bill. It was cool to watch this bird dance around.


There does not seem to be a problem with the American Coot population in Florida. We saw them everywhere we went..

Above are some of the Merritt Island NWR birds we saw: various ducks like the Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Avocet, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Moorhen, Glossy ibis, Green Heron, possible Boat-tailed Grackle

I hope you enjoyed my post. Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. I appreciate the nice comments..

I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.
I hope you can join in on our fun at  Mosaic Monday and   Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

86 comments:

  1. What a wonderful wildlife refuge! Beautiful shots...another great one of the green heron!

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  2. hello saw your post i assumed that u like nature huh nice:D

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  3. Oh, these are soooo beautiful pictures. Could you please take me with you the next time you go some sunny place? ;-)
    Happy Easter & Happy Passover to you, too!

    ✐ Tinna

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  4. Happy Easter Eileen. These are beautiful photos from your trip. I love the butterflies especially. Hope you have a lovely week.

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  5. wonderful birds! would love to see a reddish egret someday. glad you got to see the bunting!

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  6. Beautiful photos from your trip ! At least it looks warm and sunny !

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  7. Hello Eileen!
    The island looks a fantastic place to visit!Beautiful nature and lovely birds!Great shots of the Egret and the butterfly!
    Happy Easter to you and your family!
    Dimi...

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  8. Oranges fresh from the tree! Did you get one? :)
    I thought the coots were a fence under water :))
    All your pictures are beautiful!
    Would have loved to come with you :)
    Happy Easter to you, too!
    【ツ】Knipsa

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  9. Beautiful shot--all of them. We seem to have a zillion Coots here as well.

    Happy Easter to you!
    MB

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  10. Happy Easter, Eileen. I love the butterfly and seeing gallardia which are exotic flowers in our country. Great wildlife and birds. Have a great week ahead. Jo

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  11. Hi Eileen--
    I love these photos and was glad that in a round about way happened onto your site by way of Lavender Dreams--
    I am hoping to be in Florida the first week of May to visit my grown kids--and have been looking for places to take photos--and had not seen any info on the Merritt Is one--so thanks!
    am also looking for a senior place to live down there!!
    Smiles

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  12. Easter greetings. A wonderful selection, super shot of the egret, a little reflection, a few ripples, he is so regal.

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  13. Beautiful pics, Eileen and a very pretty mosaic, featuring my beloved ducks! The birds are lovely, too.

    Happy holidays!

    Poppy

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  14. Wonderful photos. Amazing colors in the Painted Bunting.

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  15. I love the bird captures you have here, all the different colours are amazing! Have a wonderful Easter xx

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  16. You got COOTIES!!

    I would always stop near a wildlife refuge, meself, also. And I'd love to see a painted bunting in the wild someday...
    ~

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  17. Beautiful series, and I love your lifer, excellent.

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  18. lovely photos - the painted buntings are so amazingly coloured!

    Happy Easter

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  19. A beautiful post, you had a good time taking all those wonderful photos and enjoying the moment.

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  20. I hear the music of nature in your shots, E!



    ALOHA from Honolulu,
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  21. You take the most amazing photographs Eileen - thank you!

    Happy Easter to you my dear bloggy birding Friend!!!

    Shane

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  22. Very nice ! I love the colors in the first photo !

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  23. Wonderful photos ! Hope you had a Happy Easter weekend ! Thanks for sharing ,

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  24. That Reddish Egret is a beauty!

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  25. That first pic with the butterfly and flower is so beautiful!

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  26. Hi Eileen - wonderful photos/mosaics you posted, and Happy Easter!!

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  27. What a tremendous selection of bird species in this post adn great shots of them.

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  28. This are stunning collages, Eileen.
    It was a wonderful trip I think.

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  29. Lovely photos and mosaics!
    I like especially the oranges. :)
    Have a great week ahead!

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  30. Magnificent captures and so much variety.

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  31. Beautiful birds as usual. The reddish Egret is lovely.

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  32. Wonderful variety of wildlife photos. The colours of the painted bunting and the reddish egret are most fascinating.

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  33. Such delightful shots.

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  34. The reddish egret reminds me of one of my favorites, the great blue heron.
    Very nice mosaics

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  35. one of the best things about a trip, photo overload and weeks of "blog material"!!!

    some real beauties here eileen and the mosaics are such a great way to display them!!!!!

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  36. Hi Eileen, Wow ... lots of interesting bird photos here and a few flowers as well. I sure agree with you about the Painted Bunting. It is one of my favorites as well. When nature was creating the Painted Bunting, it must have said "Let's make this one the most colorful of all." Ha ha. Well, something like that must have happened. Have a fine day.

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  37. Love LOVE the REDdish egret!! Although there's a fine collection of birds in your mosaics. I use PicMonkey too and it's so easy to use for someone like me who has no clue! So far this is shaping up to be a great trip - looking forward to more!

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  38. What beautiful creatures you've captured, most of them I've never seen in my life! Thanks for this interesting post.

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  39. Wonderful shots from your trip. Beautiful and lovely birds.

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  40. As always I love the photos in your blog posts, especially those little 'feathered friends' of yours that you find wherever you go. Happy Easter - hope you had a good one.

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  41. Looks like this was the perfect trip for you! What an amazing variety of birds you saw. I would LOVE to see a painted bunting, and am jealous of you there ;) We have indigo buntings here, but just not in my area, and they are stunning too. Thanks for sharing your photos, and have a great week! Wendy

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  42. Love the photos of the egret! What a gorgeous bird!

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  43. I didn't realize there was a reddish egret but will be on the lookout for it when we travel to Florida again. The beak is pretty as you pointed out.
    Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday Eileen.

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  44. All the photos are gorgeous, but that painted bunting is just spectacular, isn't it! What a great place to visit.

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  45. You make the most beautiful bird and other wildlife photo's Eileen. I love coming here,
    Have a nice week.

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  46. as always, wonderful photos of some amazing subjects. :)

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  47. Beautiful mosaics Eileen..Great way to display a lot of pictures..Great shots..

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  48. Great photos and such an interesting place to visit. The Painted Bunting is magnificent!

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  49. Beautiful captures as always, Eileen, and the next best thing to being there myself! What a delightful trip!! Thanks so much for sharing the fun and the beauty!! Hope you have a wonderful new week!!

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  50. We just got back from a weekend there. Wonderful pics. Isn't it a great place!

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  51. Hello Eileen,
    I just love birds and wildlife! Your mosaics are really wonderful and I enjoyed looking at all the birds. Must have been a wonderful trip. Thank you for sharing and stopping by for a visit.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  52. Your images are wonderful. How joyful to watch birds.

    I use picmonkey too when I make my collages. You used to be able to use all the functions, but now you have to pay.

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  53. so many wings. i love the butterfly. or was that a moth. either way very cool. ( :

    happy week for you!!

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  54. Awesome bird shots! I love that Reddish Egret!

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  55. So many good photos there. I have never heard of or seen a reddish egret. Just assumed they were all white. Good to learn something new but I can't guarantee that I will remember it!

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  56. Definitely your kind of place and fantastic shots!

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  57. Oh my goodness, what marvelous shots! You must just love being out taking these photographs, I would absolutely love it!
    Nancy

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  58. The bunting is such a beautiful and colorful bird. I love your shots of the butterflies as well.

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  59. Beautiful photography/mosaics! I need some of your patience when it comes to photographing wildlife. LOL
    Hope you had a very enjoyable Easter weekend!

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  60. Wonderful shots from your trip.

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  61. I'm enjoying your trip pictures. Great shots of the birds and natural world.

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  62. Wonderful pictures, beautiful mosaics, I like those birds !!

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  63. Lovely photos - Florida is such a great place to visit - so many different species to explore and learn about!

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  64. Hi Eileen, what wonderful shots. You are such a great photographer and I enjoy your mosaics too.
    You really took a nice trip. Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great week.
    Hugs, CM

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  65. Wonderful,photos Eileen . . .
    Every. Single. One.

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  66. What a treat to see such gorgeous wildlife! The Reddish egret is splendid!

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  67. Eileen, the painted bunting looks great! Thanks for sharing. Sylvia D.

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  68. Ooooh! I love the painted bunting! Amazing bird! So many nice photos....Hope your Easter was lovely!

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  69. Lovely series Eileen. Happy week ahead!

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  70. beautiful shots from florida!!
    love the Bunting and the egret!!!

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  71. What a beautiful peaceful spot...I have never seen a Reddish Egret....they are unusual.

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  72. Wow that's a colourful bird in the first collage. We don't have any quite that colourful here :)

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  73. I never made it to Merritt Island and since I have no plans to return to Florida I probably never will. Looks like a great spot to bird.

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  74. Wonderful collages. I like the butterfly and the pink flower.

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  75. I never tire of your trip photos Eileen. Have a happy week.

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  76. I was hoping for better weather on our Easter but not to happen. All these photos and wildlife are just perfect, I have to go through them all again, so I don't forget what wildlife is! Ha! Ha!

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  77. These mosaics are a fun way to display photos. Very well done and beautiful pictures of flowers and animals:-)

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  78. What a beautiful series Eileen… I got to watch little white butterflies flutter from the heavens this afternoon… more snow.

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  79. Dearest Eileen; Wow, GREAT post of so many wonderful birds and butterfly from the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge♡♡♡
    As I can see Egret in my poor nature environment, the Reddish Egret impressed me the most :-)

    Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in America, xoxo Miyako*

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