KSC-2009-3153

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a bald eagle flies across the road in front of vehicles on the road. There are a dozen eagle nests within Kennedy and in the surrounding Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, some of them close to roads through the center. Bald eagles use a specific territory for nesting (they mate for life), winter feeding or a year-round residence. Eagles' natural domain is from Alaska to Baja, California, and from Maine to Florida. The Merritt Island refuge also includes several wading bird rookeries, many osprey nests, up to 400 manatees during the spring, and approximately 2,500 Florida scrub jays. It also is a major wintering area for migratory birds. More than 500 species of wildlife inhabit the refuge, with 15 considered federally threatened or endangered. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky