SPACEPHOTOS

(01/25/1999) -- This male blue-winged teal is one of 23 species of migratory waterfowl that winter in the waters of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at Kennedy Space Center. The male is usually identified with pale blue shoulder patches and a white crescent in front of its eye. The blue-winged teal's normal range is from Canada to North Carolina, the Gulf Coast and southern California, preferring marshes, shallow ponds and lakes. It winters as far as northern South America. The refuge provides 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