KSC-05PD-2170

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — A young, female belted kingfisher perches on the tip of a branch in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a boundary with NASA Kennedy Space Center. The chestnut belly band identifies it as female. The belted kingfishers breed from Alaska and Canada and throughout the United States. This and other wildlife abound throughout KSC as it shares a boundary with the Wildlife Refuge, home to some of the nation’s rarest and most unusual species of wildlife. The wildlife refuge 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.