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Highsmith Wildlife Pics

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The pictures on this page were taken by Shawn & Deborah Highsmith. We hope you enjoy them!

11/02/2026

Roseate Spoonbills are starting to return to our favorite places after a long, hot summer. Roseate Spoonbills stand up to 3 feet tall, with up to a 4 foot wingspan, and they weigh up to 4 pounds. Roseate Spoonbills get their pink color from the carotenoids (organic pigments) in their diet. When Roseate Spoonbill chicks hatch out of their eggs they are almost white, and within days they start to turn pink from the food that their parents bring them. Roseate Spoonbill chicks hatch out of their eggs with a normal looking bird bill. But by 9 days old their little bills start to flatten out. By 16 days old their bills are starting to look like a spoon, and by 6 weeks old their bills are almost adult size, just slightly shorter.

11/02/2026

Hooded Mergansers are the smallest Mergansers in North America, measuring about 1.5 feet long, with a wingspan of about 2 feet, and they weight about 1.5 pounds. They are about the same size as a Wood Duck, or a Crow. Hooded Mergansers have long narrow bills with serrated teeth for grabbing small fish, tadpoles, crayfish, aquatic insects, and snails. Hooded Mergansers are diving ducks, catching their food as they dive underwater. Each dive lasts 10 to 30 seconds, but they can stay underwater for up to 2 minutes if necessary. Hooded Mergansers are in Florida from now until early Spring when they head back to Canada and the Northern Midwest to breed. What a beautiful Duck!

10/30/2026

The Wood Stork is the only native Stork species in North America. Wood Storks get their name because they are usually found in wooded wetlands and swamps. Wood Storks stand just over 3 feet tall, with a wingspan of over 5.5 feet, and they weigh up to 7 pounds. Wood Storks walk through the water with their bill in the water, and open. When something bumps that bill, they are able to snap it shut in about 25 milliseconds!

10/30/2026

A Great Blue Heron watching something in the water. Those long, thin feathers hanging down it's chest are called powder down feathers. The ends of these feathers break down into a fine talc-like powder that they use to help remove fish slime from their feathers. Great Blue Herons have a comb-like surface on their middle toes that they use with this powder, as a grooming tool, to remove the fish slime and oils, and it keeps their feathers waterproof. Great Blue Herons are the largest Herons in North America!😍

10/26/2026

Wow! The icing on the cake of the day was this beautiful Roseate Spoonbill! Roseate Spoonbills are the only Spoonbill species that is native to the Americas. Roseate Spoonbills stand about 2.5 feet tall, with a wingspan of up to 4.5 feet, and weigh between 2 to 4 lbs. Male Roseate Spoonbills are slightly larger than females, but it's so slight that in a zoo setting a vet needs to physically examine, or DNA test them, to determine male from female. Otherwise they look identical. When Roseate Spoonbills are nesting, it's easy to tell them apart, because the males are bringing the nest supplies, and the females are building the nests!

10/26/2026

Look at all the colors! We found a few Glossy Ibises on our last trip out to the Refuge. Glossy Ibises are the most widely distributed of all the Ibis species, and found across the warmer parts of the continents of Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas. They are found in and around shallow freshwater, brackish, and saltwater wetlands, marshes, ponds, lagoons, reservoirs, swamps and grassy fields. They eat crayfish, snails, crabs, shrimp, grasshoppers, crickets, small fish, lizards, rice, beetles and even small snakes. Although they are listed as year round residents in Florida, we've only seen them here, from Fall to late Spring. There isn't much here in the hotter months of summer.

10/22/2026

A Great Egret, standing in a White Mangrove tree. Most of the White Mangroves here were burned in last winter's hard freeze. The dead branches still stand. But coming up from the trunks and the roots, are new shoots. It will take a couple years to fill in, but they will be green and full again. This Great Egret stands 3 feet tall, so you can see how tall the shoots have gotten since last winter. Great Egrets have a wingspan of 4.5 to 5 feet, and they can weigh up to 3 lbs. Great Egrets have black feet, so if you see one with yellow feet, that is a Snowy Egret, equally as beautiful, but half this size.
Taken Tuesday.

10/22/2026

An adult Tricolored Heron stands near the entrance of Black Point Wildlife Drive. Tricolored Herons are a common sight in Florida, and they can be found along the coasts and in the wetlands throughout North America, and all the way down to South America and the Caribbean. Tricolored Herons are at home in freshwater and saltwater marshes, wetlands, tide pools, lagoons, mangrove swamps, mudflats, ponds, and estuaries. Tricolored Herons stand about 2.5 feet tall, with a 3 foot wingspan, and their average weight is about 14 ounces.
Taken Tuesday.

10/21/2026

There are 9 Common Gallinules (also known as Moorhens), and 2 Pied-billed Grebes in this picture, with one American Alligator hoping to get lucky. The Alligator was disappointed. It was quiet on the Drive today. We saw 3 White Pelicans that were too far out to get clear pictures. Winter Migration is underway across the planet. Turn your outside lights out at night to help the birds navigate by the stars.
Taken Yesterday.

10/21/2026

A beautiful Great Blue Heron on a very windy day! Great Blue Herons are tall, stately birds, standing over 4 feet tall, with an enormous wingspan from 5.5 feet, to almost 7 feet, and they weigh between 4 and 8 pounds. They look impressive in the air! Great Blue Herons can be found from Alaska and Canada, all the way down to Belize in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Galapagos Islands.
Taken yesterday.

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Winter Springs, FL
32708

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Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

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