Birds wait for Big Chill

Roseate spoonbill on a mangrove

Copyright 2008 Lydia Hinshaw

MERRITT ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, FL -- Prince
Charming and I felt the call of the Wildlife Refuge on New Year's morning, so we headed south in search of birds.
We found the place a lot busier, fowl-wise, than it was the last time we visited. Egrets, herons, ibises, spoonbills, ospreys, buzzards were all abundant and active, perhaps because they are preparing for tonight's cold front. We've heard the freeze warnings on television, but the birds get the word more directly.
The roseate spoonbill above, is lovely from a distance, but this closer look at his face shows why he is often camera-shy.
The tricolor heron, right, was unusually cooperative in posing.
Rolling slowly along the Refuge's wildlife drive, I spotted an island covered with birds. Nope, it was just an island of coots, hundreds of them. It's safe to conclude that coots have no fear of intimacy.
Later I checked on the Internet and learned that coots often "raft" together in the winter. There's warmth in numbers.

A small part of a large raft of coots