Haulover Canal and more

Roseate Spoonbill

Team Views From Our Kayak kayaked together today again and it was GREAT!!!! I cannot believe we came back home with so many pics after a rain shortened paddle but we did. I am going to express finish this one providing only the information that may be important for you. Let us start with the Put In and Take Out location.

Osprey

Put In / Take Out: Bairs Cove at Merritt Island. We usually do not use this facility since is not kayak friendly. The kayak canoe area has lots of stones and is not as nice as the usual area we use. But this time I fell victim of my own mistake and thought the draw bridge over Haulover Canal  was open to traffic so approached from the South. Well, the bridge is still closed to traffic so there was no other option than to use Bairs Cove. The fee is $5 and uses the pay and deposit in an envelope system.  Heck!!! It did worth the payment!!!!!

The only reason this pic is here is because the mullet. You know how many times I have try to catch one mid air? N times. This time I was not even aiming at it. Was aiming at something else I cannot remember. Was not the Great Blue Heron

Do not remember at what time we started our paddle but that is not important. The fact is that this paddle was less than 2 hours because of the rain. We headed to Mullet Head Island, at the West side of the Canal in the Indian River, under a cloudy sky with no wind at all. While we did not see manatees at Bairs Cove we saw a few at the Indian River. Wifey was able to shoot a pic of  one of them floating belly up. Also, instead of circling the island counter clockwise we did it the other way around. Mullet Head Island gave us several chances for pics and wifey was like a kid in a candy store. This place is truly magnificent.

Indian River manatee

We were halfway around Mullet Head Island when saw a lighting and heard a thunder in the distance, South from us. That was enough to spook Wifey, who asked me to end our paddle. She has not been in a kayak with me for months so I decided to play nice even when the storm was way far from us. So we headed back to Bairs Cove, no Dolphin Cove this time, to end our paddle. Here are pics of what we saw during this trip. Have in mind that it was a short one and 90% of the pics are from Mullet Head Island...

Spoonie

Mullet Head Island greeting committee.

White Pelican

TBD

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

Reddish Egret

Rudy Turnstone

Dolphins

The one on the left is a morph of a Reddish Egret. The one to the right may be a juvenile Great Egret

Brown Pelican

Snowy Egret

Osprey

Osprey

Red Bellied Woodpeckers

Scene at the Indian River

Cormorants

Snowy Egret and Juvenile Black Crowned Night Herons

Brown Pelican

Spoonie

White Pelicans

Great Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Dolphin

Manatee goes sideways

Tern

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

Tri-Colored Heron (Juevenile)

Brown Pelican

Juvenile Tri-Colored Heron

Great Blue Herons

Magic scene. White Pelicans flying away from Mullet Head Island

Juvenile Great Egret

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

Osprey in a lunch break

Tri-Colored Heron

Belted Kingfisher. They are baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!

We left Bairs Cove and no rain was imminent. Wanted to say "I told you so" but one more time decided to play it nice so did not say a word. But convinced Wifey to go to Scrub Ridge Trail, to which she agreed with the condition: It had to be a short hike. Once again, I played it nice. We only needed two minutes before a pair of Scrub Jays showed up. The pics are of one of them. The difference a background makes...Is not that true?

**Warning: The mosquitoes at Scrub Ridge Trail seem to have developed immunity to bug spray. My back is the best witness of that.

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

After leaving Scrub Ridge Trail we drove around Black Point Wildlife Drive. Wildlife was not present but we managed to come out with a couple of pics, including our first ever Eastern Kingbird...

Great Egret

Tri-Colored Heron

Green Heron

 

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Osprey

And this is it for this one. Thanks for your patience and for coming back for the whole post. Hope you enjoy it. Check also our Facebook page for more pics and videos. We have a nice one of the White Pelicans at Mullet Head Island. We will be at another beautiful paddling place ( Is there any other kind in Florida?) and will share with you the Views From Our Kayak.

Indian River scene