FLORIDA – MERRITT ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Photo Experience:   My wife and I drove Black Point Wildlife Drive late one January afternoon and then again the next morning. We saw an abundance of wildlife both times, including a black bear. (This was the first bear that either of us had ever seen in Florida.) Other highlights included numerous roseate spoonbills, eleven baby alligators being watched by their mom, two pigmy rattlesnakes, and two wading bird “feeding frenzies,” one each day. The morning “event” was particularly noteworthy since it involved a large number of wood storks, white ibises, great egrets, and roseate spoonbills fairly close to the road. Other varieties of herons, egrets, and waterfowl are common here, too. A telephoto zoom lens is a must.

Other Info:   An entrance fee (in cash), or an appropriate federal pass, is required here.