Merritt Island National Refuge is a premiere spot to view rockets and the road to Playalinda Beach provides a great view without admission to Kennedy Space Center. On your way to the beach, you may see a variety of native wildlife such as Roseate Spoonbills, Alligators, Wild boar, and Anhinga with plenty of viewing areas of the rockets and wildlife that you can utilize along the way. There is a small fee associated with access to Playalinda Beach but it is a "locals" beach where you can enjoy a more quiet place. Lately, the view was a little more than just wildlife with two rockets in view as Artemis 1 awaiting the return to the VAB for repairs and Falcon 9 which successfully launched Crew-4 aboard Crew Dragon this morning at 3:52 am.
The Anhinga, or "snake bird" is a large Florida native (and a favorite of mine to photograph) that can dive into the water head first, then peeking only its head and neck out while in the water while fishing for small fish and aquatic insects. There are not a characteristic differences between the males and females but the juveniles will be lighter brown color.
