Industrial Birding

Birding in Port Canaveral

A cormorant and pelicans by the entrance to the Port Canaveral lock

One of the neat features of bird festivals is the opportunity to take local field trips with professional birders. When in Cape Canaveral last month attending the Space Coast Birding Festival, I signed up for a four-hour pontoon boat ride that was designed to bird in the Port of Canaveral and the surrounding Indian River Lagoon. When I read the trip description, I could not imagine seeing many different species of birds in what seemed like such an industrial setting but it sounded intriguing and a nice way to get out on the water. Boy was I surprised by what we saw!

Our bird guide for the trip was Greg Miller, a long-time birder who was portrayed in the movie, The Big Year. A birding “big year” means attempting to see as many birds as one can in a calendar year. In 1998, Miller travelled over 130,000 miles to see 715 species in North America (north of Mexico). He did not end up getting the top bird count that year but he ultimately had actor Jack Black portray him in the movie based on his competition. On this trip, Miller helped us in identifying 46 species.

White pelicans fishing by lock gates

The first leg of our trip was entering the Canaveral Lock on our way into the Port of Canaveral. There isn’t much difference in water elevation between the Banana River and the Port. Instead the lock was installed to reduce the tidal current velocity in the Port and prevent salt water intrusion into the Banana River lagoon during storms. This large lock, designed at one point to ferry rocket parts, had a nice diversity of birds attracted to the prey stirred up by the water flow.

White pelicans are migratory, spending their winters in the South before heading back to North Central US and Canada to breed. Nice to see our Minnesota pelicans enjoying the warmth!

A snowy egret and brown pelican in the lock

The Port of Canaveral is a naval, cargo and cruise port with over 4 million passengers passing through it a year. Despite this busyness, there were still birds to see.

At the entrance to the Port, a Roseate Spoonbill flies by the bridge.

On the shoreline, just below a parking lot, a pair of spoonbills walk by.

Ospreys making use of metal platforms for nesting

Nice side-by-side comparison of a snowy and great egret. Snowies are smaller with black bills and yellow feet.

A trio of brown pelican, great and snowy egret by the lock wall

A double-breasted cormorant at rest

An uncommon visit overhead in the Port was a Magnificent Frigatebird. Frigatebirds are related to cormorants although they lack waterproof feathers and need to get their fish from the surface or from stealing meals from other birds. Hence their nickname “flying pirate” or “man o’ war” bird.

A bird very accustomed to human activity!