Off to Florida
(click on a photo to enlarge)
As I mentioned in the last post, in mid-May, the opportunity arose for a trip to Florida. Not the part of Florida that birders flock to, but the northeast corner. Still, it was Florida. I’d been to this area before so was somewhat familiar with the best places to visit. However, my biggest regret from the past trip (some years ago now) was driving by the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine and dismissing it as a “tourist trap.” It is anything but that. This time it was my primary destination and it came through with flying colors, or perhaps I should say, flying, nesting and perching birds.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery
There is a large natural rookery located on the grounds of the Alligator Farm and most of Florida’s wading birds can be seen there — egrets, herons, storks and spoonbills. For once, my timing was perfect — all of the above were in various stages of nesting. Birds were nest-building, sitting on eggs, feeding young or tending to offspring almost ready to fledge.
Particularly abundant and photographable were the Great Egrets.
Great Egrets (Ardea alba), working on their nest
Great Egret chicks
We hope you brought us something!
Mmmmm, good!
The adults were kept very busy, flying back and forth to the nests.
Coming in for a landing
Another food foray for the hungry chicks
As busy as they are, the adults must take care of themselves and keep their feathers in prime condition.
Time for some feather maintenance
One of the special birds that one goes to Florida to see is the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana). I was surprised to see them this far north, forgetting that their breeding range actually extends from the Gulf Coast states into the Carolinas. Most of our trips have been in winter and Florida is the only state where they reside year-round.
They too were busy constructing nests and raising young.
Adding to the nest, Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
Nesting Wood Storks
Wood Stork tending young
There were also many nesting Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Little Blue and Tricolored Herons, some nests were so close to the boardwalk that you could almost reach out and touch the young. I only saw one pair of Roseate Spoonbills who had a nest hidden in a dense shrubby tree. I couldn’t determine if there were young in it yet.
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)
Since I was at an alligator farm, I thought I should be looking at alligators too. There is quite a collection of both gaters and crocodiles here. The moat that surrounds the bird rookery is well-populated with American Alligators of all sizes. During a break from photographing the birds, I looked down at the water just as a gust of wind came up and took my hat along with it. Unfortunately it blew right into the moat. Probably because the gators are fed by visitors (those “gumball-type” dispensers are located around the area), two gators immediately headed for my hat and, well, the rest is history. Fortunately there were similar hats for sale at the gift shop on my way out.
Hope it tastes good!
Next: Exploring the coastal parks
June 1st, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Have fun in the Jacksonville area. I love birds and have bluebirds nesting in my backyard and all sorts of birds, woodpeckers, cardinals, wrens, just wonderful. Love your pics. HAVE FUN
June 1st, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Hello,
Enjoy the area. I live in Fleming Island, Orange Park. have bluebirds nesting in my backyard, all sorts of birds. Beautiful Have fun and I’ll check out your pics. I also love river and ocean birds.