SPACEPHOTOS

(01/25/1999) -- The broad, distinctive bill is a primary feature of this northern shoveler, paddling in the waters of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at Kennedy Space Center. Typically found in western Canada, Alaska, Colorado and Southern California, it can also be found farther east and south, wintering in the United States along the southeast coast. The marshes and open water of the refuge provide wintering areas for 23 species of migratory waterfowl, as well as a year-round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans and other species of marsh and shore birds. The 92,000-acre refuge is also habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles