Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Description

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is well-known for wildlife photography. Black Point Wildlife Drive allows you to stay in the air-conditioning and see lots of birds. Canaveral National Seashore is beautiful. My favorite time of year to go is during the winter, when the refuge is covered in migrant ducks, pelicans, and other birds.  It’s easy to find Roseate Spoonbills in breeding plumage in January and February.

Photography Advice

Take your longest lens.

Windy days tend to be less birdy.

Be aware that hunting is allowed on parts of the refuge.

When to GoWinter and spring
Species Photographed (38)American Avocet, American Coot, American Goldfinch, American White Pelican, American Wigeon, Black Tern, Black-Necked Stilt, Blue-Winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Clapper Rail, Common Loon, Dunlin, Eastern Meadowlark, Florida Scrub-Jay, Great Egret, Greater Yellowlegs, Green Heron, Hooded Merganser, Horned Grebe, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Little Blue Heron, Loggerhead Shrike, Long-tailed Duck, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Red-Breasted Merganser, Reddish Egret, Ring-Billed Gull, Roseate Spoonbill, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Snow Bunting, Sora, Tricolored Heron, Turkey Vulture, White Ibis, White-Eyed Vireo, Willet
Websitehttp://www.fws.gov/merrittisland/
eBirdhttps://ebird.org/hotspot/L127381
Google MapClick here to view Google Map
Trail MapTrail Map

Bright and Yellow

December 18, 2012 - My favorite wintertime bird is the goldfinch. They spend lots of time at our backyard feeder, and our cats spend a lot of time watching them! When I go outside to refill the feeder, I think they have a watchbird monitoring my activity. As soon as I step away, I hear a chorus of sweet […]

Enjoying the Sunshine

December 11, 2012 - On the day that Michael and I hiked out Shiloh Marsh Road to photograph the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher, we came across this Turkey Vulture sunning himself. He seemed to be enjoying the sun very much. He didn’t want to move! We had to pass him on the trail, and he would watch us dubiously, then move […]

The MINWR Snow Bunting

November 26, 2012 - On Black Friday I had the opportunity to photograph two rare birds in Florida: the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the Snow Bunting.  The Snow Bunting lives in the Arctic, breeding in the northernmost parts of Canada.  In the wintertime its range extends down to northern Pennsylvania or Maryland.  But not normally to Florida!  So when this […]

A Scissor-Tailed Misadventure

November 25, 2012 - On Black Friday morning I was up early like the rest of the world.  Except most people were waiting in long lines in crowded stores.  I was out in the middle of the swamp with a camera in my hand, photographing the sunrise!  I had a great morning at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge with […]

Betcha Can’t Go Just Once!

January 4, 2012 - On December 31 I made yet another trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, this time with Dyeyo. He had never been on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. We carefully planned to go on a day when it would be sunny with little wind. Then we got there and it was a little windy, and there were […]

Silly Bird, Turn Your Head This Way!!

December 30, 2011 - After spending a cloudy morning cooped up in the house yesterday, the sun came out and I decided to head to Merritt Island to experiment with afternoon light at the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. It was less windy than the previous day, and the birds were closer to the trail. The afternoon light was incredible! I […]

Finally!

December 29, 2011 - Finally! I got to use The Beast for the first time in almost a month! After hearing friends talk about the great birds at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I went there yesterday. Blackpoint Wildlife Drive was busier than I’ve ever seen it (both with birds and photographers :)). The birding wasn’t spectacular, due to […]

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2011 - I was photographing the sunrise at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge back in September when I noticed this spider.  His web was suspended between branches, and the background was the bright orange reflections of the sunrise in the water.  I deliberately underexposed to bring out the colors in the background and to render the spider […]

Quiet Morning at MINWR

September 2, 2011 - All week long, I’ve been seeing these amazing sunrises in the east.  The colors have been extraordinary.  Each morning, I’ve wanted to drive to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and photograph the sunrise over the water.  But instead I had to go to work.  :-p  Funny how work gets in the way of birding and […]

Tiny Stilts and Willets at Merritt Island NWR

June 12, 2011 - This morning I was off to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) in search of baby Black-Necked Stilts.  I’d seen a very photographable nest there last weekend, and I was hoping to see chicks there today.  At first I was disappointed – the nest was deserted. But I drove around some more and found some […]

Life on Stilts at MINWR

June 3, 2011 - Can you imagine going through life with ridiculously long red legs? It’s not often that I devote a Beyond The Backyard blog post exclusively to one bird.  But after spending the morning at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I had a ton of great images of Black-Necked Stilts.  They are all over! I found […]

Beautiful Morning at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

April 3, 2011 - After hearing  time after time about how great the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is, Dyeyo decided that he wanted to go with me and see it.  It was a pretty foggy morning, but the sun burned off the fog just as we arrived at the refuge around 8:30.  The Birdbrains have been saying that […]