Welcome to Stop #7, George’s Blind, a beautiful spot to enjoy the Indian River Lagoon.
Listen for the lapping of the water against the mangroves.
Breathe in the slightly fishy smell mixing with the sea air.
On a sunny day, the Lagoon looks like a floating mass of shimmering diamonds; on a cloudy day, the Lagoon takes on a steely gray quality.
Bird sightings are common at this spot nestled between a red mangrove on your left and a black mangrove on your right. Mangroves are used by at least 190 bird species. Take time to see which birds are out.
Pelicans are usually found swimming in the water or flying overhead. There are two kinds of pelicans commonly found in the Indian River Lagoon; the Brown Pelican and the White Pelican.
The Eastern Brown Pelican is a year round resident. It is a large, brown bird with a 5 foot wingspan, uniquely adapted for diving out of the air to catch fish. Eastern Brown Pelicans use the islands in the lagoon as rookeries - places to nest and rear their young.
The American White Pelican breeds in the mid-west and comes to Florida to avoid the cold winters; we call these birds the original “snowbirds.”With a 9 ft wingspan, American white pelicans are much larger than the Eastern brown pelicans.And unlike the solitary browns, the whites are cooperative feeders - which means they work together to corral schools of fish. In groups, they shuffle their feet and then grab their prey out of the water with their long yellow bills.Groups of White pelicans form a line in the water and swim together towards the shore to trap their prey