I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning birding Merritt Island.  On Friday afternoon, I drove the  Black Point Drive loop twice and walked the trail in back of the pump house.  On Saturday morning, I drove Black Point Drive loop twice again.

There were thousands of ducks as well as shorebirds on the Island.  Many of the ducks were at quite a distance, so hard to see and identify.  Ducks seen included Mottled, Hooded Mergansers, Northern Pintails (many), a single Redhead, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, and a few American Wigeons.  I was hoping to see the Cinnamon Teal and Canvasbacks that were seen earlier in the week, but no luck.

The shorebirds were present in large numbers, but scattered because of  low water, especially in back of the pump house.  Shorebirds seen included American Avocets, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Killdeer, Red Knots, Black-bellied Plovers, Least and Western Sandpipers, a Wilson’s Snipe, Ruddy Turnstones, Willets, and Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs.

Of course, there were the usual Coots (hundreds), Egrets and Herons, Grebes, Wood Storks, and Spoonbills.  Highlights of the trip included observing two different Clapper Rails, a Bald Eagle coming into a pond and scattering every bird, a pair of Northern Harriers flying low across the ponds, and a Greater Black-backed Gull.  I saw a total of 61 species and obtained some good images, especially of the Clapper Rails, my first.