12/14 My Grandmother, Grandfather, Claire, and I took a short drive down to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. ~[link] A vast area of land left protected surrounding Cape Canaveral and the NASA station.
“Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 as an overlay of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. Consisting of 140,000 acres, the Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals.
Many recreational opportunities are offered at the Refuge. Bird and wildlife observation, a wildlife drive, manatee observation deck, fishing and hunting opportunities, and boating and paddling are examples of available activities.”
Claire had never explored this area of Florida before, we told her we were going to see some pretty cool birds, maybe some flamingos or spoonbills, and definitely a gator! She was hesitant to believe us about that gator.
we didn’t see any manatee’s this time…
Man made canal
69º water
draw bridge connecting to the Intracoastal waterway
there’s an Air Force base on the other side of Cape Canaveral
pretty nice to cruise slow with the mini van doors open, cameras firing away
flamingo? too far to tell
“A helpful little device used to approximate the length of a gator (It’s not a good idea to walk up to a live one with your trusty Stanley tape measure) is to estimate the number of inches from the eyes to the nostrils. This is marginally the length in feet, form head to tail, of the gator.” [link]
Claire’s first encounter with a gator!
we were standing about 25ft. away.
we figured these two were about 8-10ft.
about 5-6ft.
4-5ft.
viewing hole for a bald eagle’s nest.
i didn’t see it…
front coming through this evening, hoping to get some long boarding done tomorrow.
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