Viera Wetlands

Hello,

Prayers for London and the victims of the terror act.

These are images from our time in Florida, I hope you enjoy. It was a great 5 months living in Florida, I have enjoyed this experience of living in a new place and the state of Florida.

We learned to avoid traffic on the highways in Florida it is best to leave early in the morning. On this day we were heading to the Viera Wetlands in Melbourne Florida. We were early enough to see the sunrise at the nearby Satellite Beach.

Pelican flyby.

Below are the some of the birds we saw at the Viera Wetlands, the White Ibis with his colorful bill and legs.

A Great Egret and a Roseate Spoonbill.

Great Blue Herons on nest.

White Pelicans were one of my favorite sights.

Start each day with a thankful heart. 

I am thankful for my time and experiences while living in Florida.
I am thankful my dreams that turned into reality.

Be thankful for unknown blessings already on their way. 


 Thank you for your visit and comments on my post. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Thanks to Michelle for the meme Thankful Thursday

I am also linking up to Skywatch Friday, I hope to see you there.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

American White Pelican

Hello,

Happy Valentine's Day

I always enjoy seeing the American White Pelican. Since being in Florida, I have been able to see these pelicans in various wildlife refuges and at our local lake. The pelicans are one of my favorite birds, I just love the way they look. Here are some of my photos from various places in Florida.

White Pelicans seen at Lake Morton, Lakeland Florida. The White Pelican likes to nest in colonies on freshwater lakes.

White Pelicans on our local lake. Unlike the Brown Pelican the White Pelican does not dive for it's food. The White Pelican catches it's food white swimming and eats more than 4 pounds of food in a day.

The White Pelicans come together in large groups where they can corral the fish to feed on. The photo below was taken at the Viera Wetlands near Vero Beach.

White Pelicans seen at Ding Darling NWR

The White Pelican seen at Pelican Island NWR.

One day, I was able to catch these White Pelicans flying over our house.

I hope you enjoyed my White Pelican photos and post. Thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Sora

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes and NC Sue @ Image-in-ing

For this week's Wild Bird I am sharing the Sora I saw while in Florida.. It came out into the open at the Viera Wetlands..just as I was driving by..The Sora was not a lifer for me my first sighting was Sora @ Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico and last year I saw it in a local Maryland Park.  They are always cool birds to see..

The Sora is a secretive bird in the rail family. It has a short yellow bill, black face and a triangle-shaped body..

I was able to click two some what clear shots of my Sora..

The Sora did not stay out in the open long before it hightailed back into the reeds..

 I hope you enjoyed the Sora and my wild bird post.. Till next week's wild bird post.. I wish you happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird and nature photos please visit:

 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes and Sue for NC-SUE @ image-in-ing

thanks to all of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.

  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Viera Wetlands, Florida

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.

On March 17th we visited the Viera Wetlands, nearest city is Viera in Brevard County, Florida.   We drove down from our hotel near Merritt Island. This is another birding hotspot to visit while in Florida. Before leaving home I checked out the Florida Birding Trail  map for all the great birding spots around the areas we were visiting..It is a great source of information..  I was really happy with the birds we saw, below is a mosaic with just some of the birds we saw during our visit.

Top row starting from the left is a Sora, American Bittern and a Pied-bill Grebe.
Middle row is the American Bittern again, an alligator, Sandhill Crane.
Bottom row, a Tricolored Heron,  Limpkin and a White Ibis.

A look at one of the pond areas at the Viera Wetlands..You can bird by car, foot or bicycle. Birding by car can be great, because the car acts as a blind. All my photos were taken from the car except for the American Bittern shot. We climbed the observation tower and looked down at the American Bittern right below us..



I made a slideshow of the American Bittern, we were able to watch it walk right below were we stood on the observation tower.. It was a great sighting, to see this somewhat shy bird..

Some more images of a Sandhill Crane.

The American Coots were seen all over the place, every birding spot we visited the Coots were plentiful.

The Moorhen was another common bird we saw every place we visited.. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend visiting the Viera Wetlands.. A great spot for awesome birding.. I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.. Thank you for visiting and for all the nice comments.. Have a great day and week ahead!

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 with 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!