I’m not scientist — let’s make that clear from the start. But I am avid nature observer and bird lover. Since I starting visiting Emeralda back in the fall, there appear to be more Snail Kites hunting in that area. And among the Kites there now are some banded ones I had not previously seen.

Back in January, Audubon released an interesting report titled, “Snail Kite Population Showing Strain in Dry Years.” Since the kites feed on Apple Snails, those snails need water to reproduce. If there’s not enough water, there’s not enough snails and not enough food for Snail Kites. With very dry springs in 2024 and ’25, Audubon said it found only 30 successful Snail Kite nests in the entire state in 2025.

Fast forward to 2026. Florida is again in the midst of a serious drought. One place in the Kites’ historic range that is lowest on the drought index is Central Florida, which includes Lake County near Emeralda. Maybe the Snail Kites are migrating farther up the peninsula looking for Apple Snails — and finding them at Emeralda?

Hopefully, someone with proper training and credentials will look into this hypothesis. But for now, I’m just happy to have more Snail Kites to photograph. Here are some from recent trips to Emeralda.

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I’ve previously only taken still images of these amazing pink birds. Photographs can be amazing, and I am proud of the ones I have taken of these birds over the past couple of years. But a still photo can’t convey the incredible movements these birds made as they spent their morning walking, feeding and resting around Bird Island in the Indian River.

The video starts with one of the flamingos dancing in a circle, presumably feeding. I had never seen that behavior before, another great reason for me to start including video. I hope you enjoy it.

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There were nine there when I last visited them on March 27, but there are way more now. I counted 20 flamingos, and another photographer said he counted 21.

What exactly does this population boom mean? I’m not entirely sure. But last year the number of flamingos at MINWR steadily grew during the spring, with the flamboyance reaching more than 30. The number of birds went down as the summer progressed, with the remaining ones eventually leaving the Haulover Canal area for other parts of the refuge.

One thing I did learn is that flamingo are very active a night and that’s when they usually migrate. So, there could be more morning surprises in the future.

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It appears they never actually left but were residing in less remote parts of the 140,000-acre refuge. There had been a couple of reported sightings of flamingos in the past six months, in New Smyrna Beach and areas mostly north of Haulover Canal. But during the week of March 19, a group of them returned to their previous hangout at Bird Island off the heavily traveled Haulover Canal.

I went to visit them on a Friday evening as the sun was setting. It was great to see nine flamingos around the island and many of the other birds who are there. Hopefully, like last spring, more flamingos will join the Merritt Island group. Fingers crossed.

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There is a mated pair of Sandhill Cranes who nest in the same spot at the wetlands each year. I was a bit concerned because they seemed to be behind schedule, but last week two little Sandhill Crane colts hatched from the nest. I got to see them on Sunday when they were still less than a week old.

Unlike most baby birds, Sandhill Crane colts don’t look terrifying right after they are born. In fact, it’s definitely cuteness overload with these little birds, who will quickly grow and, hopefully, become the next generation of Florida Sandhill Cranes.

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A second Burrowing Owl has shown up and they appear to be mates. That’s great news for this pint-sized raptor, which Florida lists as an “imperiled” species.

Here’s what the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says about Burrowing Owl breeding in the state:

“The typical breeding season for the Florida burrowing owl is February 15 to July 10, though owls can breed earlier or later. Nesting occurs in burrows in the ground that they dig.  These burrows will be maintained and used again the following year. …   Females lay up to eight eggs within a one-week period, and they will incubate the eggs for up to 28 days.  Once the white-feathered juveniles are born, it takes two weeks before they are ready and able to appear out of the burrow.  Juveniles will begin learning how to fly at four weeks, but will not be able to fly well until they are six weeks old.  Juveniles will stay with the parents until they are able to self-sustain at 12 weeks old.”

Hopefully we’ll get to see some baby burrowers at some point.

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These brilliant birds can be spotted year-round in Mexico and also parts of Texas, the U.S. Southwest and and Central America. It’s not unheard of to see them in Florida, but they’re definitely a rarity. Still, a female and male have been visiting Orlando Wetlands each winter and early spring for two years, and there have been sightings of others in the region, too.

They’re pretty easy to spot, especially the males.

“A feathered ember in a desert landscape, the male Vermilion Flycatcher is exactly what its name says: a brilliant red bird that hawks flying insects from conspicuous perches on shrub tops and fences,” AllAboutBirds.org notes. “Females are delightful in their own way, subtle gray-brown birds with a warm salmon-red blush to the underparts.”

Here are some shots of a female Vermilion from Orlando Wetlands and a male from Emeralda Marsh in Lake County. (The male at Orlando Wetlands has been staying in a part of the facility this year that is closed to the public.)

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“In 2025, Florida experienced an abnormally dry spring and the University of Florida reported only 30 successful Snail Kite nests in the entire state,” Audubon said in a report on the birds in January. “No successful nests came from the two largest historic kite nesting regions: the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. The previous year also wrought a dry spring and poor nesting success. As a result, the population estimate for 2025 has dropped to about 2,000 kites total.  The 2026 population estimate is expected to be even lower.”

Snail Kites live in Central and South America and the Caribbean, but in the U.S. they’re only found in Florida. The Everglades and the wetlands that feed it are their primary environment, and apple snails are their main diet.

The birds’ “highly specialized diet, restricted range, and human changes to historic water flow in the Everglades combined to land the Kite on the federal endangered species list in 1967,”Audubon.noted. Native apple snails have been pushed out by invasive ones, but the Kites evolved so they could eat the larger, non-native snails. But when there is a drought, the snail supply — native and non-native — is impacted, and so are the Kites.

So I feel fortunate to be able to take pictures of these endangered birds whenever and wherever I can. I have found a place in Lake County called Emeralda Marsh where a small group of Kites hang out. Hopefully they can hang on, too.

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It was a group of five otters. They were swimming together along near the bank of one of the ponds in the back of the wetlands. Then they decided to come ashore, and I was able to get some pictures of them.

“This water-loving animal is found throughout Florida except the Keys,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says on its website. “River otters usually prefer fresh water and can be found in rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, and swamps. Otters live in burrows on the bank of the water body, often under tree roots. They may dig their own burrow or remodel a beaver’s burrow.”

The FWC says the otters are native to Florida. “They are social animals and groups usually consist of a female and her juvenile offspring,” it notes.

Interesting, at least to me, was watching a couple of the otters deciding they needed to “mark” their territory on land the same way dogs do.

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That changed on an evening in late February when I visited MINWR and came across a lone Black Skimmer. It was skimming across a pond as the sun was setting. A few minutes later, it was later joined by several other Skimmers who joined in the fishing.

More arrived, but they just flew past overhead. Still, it was great to finally see these odd-looking birds do what they do best.

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