We had a full day at Merritt Island on Kennedy Parkway, Palm Hammock Trail and Eddy Creek. Some of the highlights included excellent looks at a group of four Florida scrub Jays.
There was a pair of Red-shouldered hawks about 100 yards down the road, which didn’t seem to bother the jays.
We found a new for me species of Polistes wasp.
This Phaeon Crescent was feeding at Spanish needles.
The we found what was probably the highlight of the day at Merritt Island – a Great Blue Heron eating a Two-toed amphiuma (a large amphibian). We watched as the heron shook the amphibian and dunked it in the water repeatedly. Then we left to let it dine in peace.
From Merritt Island I went to meet Don in New Smyrna Beach. He knew of some gulls in Daytona Beach that would be new for me in Florida. So at 3:30PM we headed off. One of the many great finds at Daytona was a nice little group of Red Knots.
We met a couple of young guys who were walking the beach searching for unusual gulls and had them join us. One of them quickly spotted a Thayer’s (Iceland) Gull.
That was followed by a young Lesser Black-backed Gull. We also had immature and adult Greater Black-backed Gull and adult Lesser.
But the real find was a juvenile California Gull.
These seven gulls was mingled with 1000s of Herring, Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls. It was a great “gulling” afternoon.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 