KSC-2009-2488

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Distinctive with its black and white coloring and very long red legs trailing behind is a black-winged stilt. The bird is a common sight around Kennedy, which shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. 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. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky