Shiloh Marsh

Killdeer - Shiloh Marsh Road - 1/16/26

With our birding buds John and Rosie, we took a spin down Shiloh Marsh Road. This is a stretch of dirt road through one of the marsh habitats of Merritt Island NWR where we can get up close and natural to a number of classic Florida shorebirds and waders. The image above of the Killdeer shows the typical habitat we’ll be scanning today. Early on in our drive, we saw a Great egret across one of the ponds, and although we see many of these fine looking birds down here, it is always worth checking them out through the bins. I’m glad we did, because this guy has just speared a sunfish and was manipulating his next meal in attempt to ingest this morsel. Again, this is not a rare sight down here, but what made for an interesting shot was the shadow that the fish was being cast against the pure white plumage of the egret. Just another stroke of luck, but if you take enough shots, every once in a while you capture something special like this.

Great egret and fish shadow - Shiloh Marsh Road - 1/16/26

Red-shouldered hawk - Shiloh Marsh - 1/16/26

As we were heading back out of the marsh, Rosie spotted another iconic bird of the south….the Red-shouldered hawk. It is of interest that here in Florida, this hawk has a lighter almost blond breast plumage compared to the much redder hue that our northern Red-shoulders sport. This bird actually was more red than the usual Florida specimens so is he a possible visitor from higher latitudes? He does have that southern bird “attitude” of letting you approach much more closely than our birds from “up north”. though. It’s always a treat when they will sit quietly and pose for you at close proximity.

On the way home, we pulled into another favorite spot of ours, Riverbreeze Park in Oak Hill. Over the past years, this has been a favorite haunt of Yellow-crowned night-herons during January and early February. But for whatever reason, the have been conspicuously absent last year and today. Climate change? The only thing consistent in nature is inconsistency. We did have several nice fly-bys of a couple of locals, however. An osprey was scanning the surface of the Indian River Lagoon in search of its next meal. Beautiful bird and an exquisite flier.

Osprey - Riverbreeze Park - 1/16/26

Royal tern - Riverbreeze Park - 1/16/26

Our final sighting of the trip was another bird very common down here during the winter months - the Royal tern. This tern can be found along every beach and flying over coastal waters. Florida is about the only place this tern ventures inland unless blown in by a hurricane, but we have no problem finding him here along the shores of the Atlantic. And so, we are off to a great start finding and photographing a wide variety of southern residents and migrating birds. Nature never fails to provide us with beautiful interesting things to experience.