KSC-06pd0228

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At NASA Kennedy Space Center, a roseate spoonbill (front) and white ibis search the murky canal for food. Spoonbills inhabit areas of mangrove such as on the coasts of southern Florida and Texas. These birds feed on shrimps and fish in the shallow water, sweeping their bills from side to side. White ibis inhabit marshy sloughs, mud flats, lagoons and swamp forests along the coast from South Carolina to Florida and Texas and south to northern South America. The ibis with the brown wings is an immature ibis. The Center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is a habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles. In addition, the Refuge supports 19 endangered or threatened wildlife species on Federal or State lists, more than any other single refuge in the U.S. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann