Merritt Island

Merritt Island has many venues to explore. Our favorite is Black Point Drive, but beyond that there are many varied habitats where any number of birds, mammals, amphibians and more can be found. We began our day at the Visitors Center where several ponds, a boardwalk winding through the hammock and several feeders are located. One of the prime attractions here are the Painted buntings which frequent one of those feeders regularly. Today, we were not disappointed as a male//female pair made an extended visit, allowing us to get some nice images of one of Florida’s most splendid residents.

Male and female Painted buntings visit the feeder at the Merritt Island Visitors Center

As is typically the case in the bird world, the male is the more colorful of the two, adorned so as to be attractive to potential mates. The female is more cryptically colored so as to blend in with her surroundings while on the nest. Mother Nature thinks of everything.

Pond slider - MINWR Visitors Center - 1/23/26

The surface of the first pond near the Visitors Center was dotted with turtles….mostly Pond sliders. The most common slider here in Florida is the Red-eared slider. These are native to the southeastern and central United States but are now widespread throughout most of the country having been introduced when people who had them as a pets grew tired of them and set them free in local waters. Over the years, they have become prolific and are now found in fresh water ponds in every state except Alaska (including Hawaii!).

Turtles are aquatic like this little guy while another of our finds today, the tortoise, is a land lover. Gopher tortoises in Florida are stout, slow-moving land turtles known for their deep, cylindrical burrows that provide critical shelter for more than 350 other species; these herbivores have a domed, brownish-gray carapace, strong forelimbs with shovel-like scales for digging, and a lifespan that can exceed 40 years in the wild. They inhabit dry, sandy uplands such as longleaf pine flatwoods, scrub, and coastal dunes, where they feed on grasses (like this individual ), legumes, and fruits. Gopher tortoises are a keystone and federally threatened species in parts of their range, facing threats from habitat loss, fragmentation, vehicle strikes, and illegal collection, so conservation efforts focus on habitat protection, responsible land management, and public education to ensure their burrow networks and associated wildlife persist.

Gopher tortoise - Canaveral National Seashore - 1/23/26

Another common site while driving through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge are the American kestrels. Our smallest falcon, this photograph is of a female whose plumage tends to be “rufous” while males are a deeper slate blue. Both sexes have distinct black “mustaches” from the eye extending down past the side of their faces.

American kestrel - MINWR - 1/23/26

While the image above with the kestrel perched on a phone line is not the most aesthetically pleasing setting for a photograph, it does show how you will most likely find this bird while touring the refuge. Throughout the winter months, these little birds of prey are found perched along the roadsides surveying the surrounding grasslands for a quick and easy bite. The diet of the kestrel is predominantly insects like grasshoppers and beetles, but they do occasionally feed on small rodents, lizards and even small birds. One look at those talons and the hooked bill tell you that this is a bird meant for hunting.

One more avian species for today’s post is the Sanderling. Most often, we find these little shorebirds scurrying along the Atlantic coastal beaches chasing the waves as they wash against the shore. Today, however, we found several scouring the sandy shore of the Indian River just south of the Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville. This bridge serves as one of the connections from Titusville to Merritt Island and Parish Park, located below the bridge, is a popular picnicking and fishing area for local residents.

Sanderling - Indian River near Max Brewer Bridge - 1/23/26

Well, there’s plenty more of Merritt Island we’ve yet to explore, but we’re here for several more months and as the time marches on, there will be plenty more places to visit and plenty of new natural wonders to witness and photograph.