KSC-06pd0233

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At NASA Kennedy Space Center, a snowy egret in breeding plumage stalks the ground. This species is identified by its slender black bill, black legs and yellow feet. It inhabits salt marshes, ponds, rice fields and shallow coastal bays. Its range is northern California, Oklahoma and Maine to southern South America. They winter regularly north to California and South Carolina. 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