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| Roseate Spoonbill chicks |
Sometimes you find unexpected beauty in ugly places, and the
rookery of wading birds at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm is one such
place.
Serious birders that we met in
Titusville had told us about this rookery.
Wild roseate spoonbills, snowy and great egrets, herons and wood storks come to this alligator farm
every year to build nests and hatch their young.
They are not encouraged or fed by the folks
at the alligator farm.
We were told to arrive
around 5 o'clock, about a half hour before the farm closes, when the birds return from feeding in
the nearby wetlands.
The farm lets
photographers with permits stay to take photos for a while after closing, and
you can blend in with them.
So we did.
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| A tree full of egrets, wood storks and roseate spoonbills |
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| Their alligator guardians |
We had learned in South Carolina that wading birds like to
build nests near alligators because the alligators eat the animals that might
prey upon the bird's eggs. The hundreds of birds in this rookery
are roosting in fewer than 10 trees around a pond with easily 30 alligators in
it. For protection of their eggs, the
birds have chosen well. The nests have been built in the crevices formed where palm
fronds fell off of the trunks of the palm trees. In the trees with branches, the nests are layered with the smaller egrets
and herons in the lower branches, the roseate spoonbills and larger egrets in the
mid-level branches, and the wood storks are on the top.
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| Every tree is loaded with birds |
It is a noisy, busy place. Birds are calling to each other, the spoonbills are clacking their bills, and
the snowy egrets are making their gobble-like mating calls. Mama birds are sitting on their nests, or
standing up and gently nudging their eggs. We saw baby spoonbills that were little pink balls of fluffs, and
older babies still in the nest with bright pink feathers. We saw mama storks feeding really large
babies that still had feathers on their heads (they eventually lose the head
feathers). We saw tiny baby egrets flopping around in the nest crying to be fed.
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| Wood Stork with chicks |
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| Newly hatched Great Egret chick |
You view this splendor from a boardwalk above and across a
pond full of alligators.
The height
above ground puts you at eye level with many of these nests.
Some are close enough to almost touch.
The boardwalk was
jammed with serious bird photographers with very expensive cameras and long,
large telephoto lens.
Toward the end of our time, everyone was crowding into areas of shade. Everyone tries
to stay out of everyone else's shot.
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| Some of our photographer pals |
We took over 200 photos, and almost every one was good enough for the blog. We have posted our favorites! Here are some more...
Roseate Spoonbills
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| Roseate Spoonbill chicks feeding |
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| Three spoonbills sitting in trees. |
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| I'm ready for my close-up. |
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| Another Roseate Spoonbill close-up. |
Wood Storks
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Wood Stork showing those lovely dark wing feathers.
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| Guess the Wood Storks like to nest near each other - guess there was no other room. |
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| Can't get enough of Wood Stork chicks - look for the chick in the left nest. |
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| They look prehistoric don't they? |
Egrets
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| Great Egret and chick |
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| Snowy Egret and chicks |
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| Mom will be back soon little chick - yellow bill tells us this is a Snowy Egret |
Herons
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| Little Blue Heron in white phase, molting to blue - first time we've seen this outside of the bird books |
