Food Fight!

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Lydia And I headed to Merritt Island NWR and a new location this morning...Biolab Road, which runs a bay on one side and wetlands on the other.  It's late in the year for most of the migrating birds to still be around, but some were and there were plenty of locals.
     When the tide is low, the scramble for food is on and the species mingle.  This solitary Great Blue Heron wasn't sharing his meal of fresh caught snake...the GBH used it's powerful beak to make sure the snake was dead before swallowing it whole (See Lydia's Flicker account link for a sequence).  This group of American White Pelicans, one lonely Roseate Spoonbill and a couple of Ibis were taking the slow approach to food finding.  The early morning colors came together nicely for this solitary White Ibis in the final picture, but probably didn't help his hunt for tasty morsels.