Summertime is Here, and So Are the Birds!
It’s summer in Florida, which means the temperatures are hot, the air is humid, and the rains come almost daily. But, for those that wish to brave the elements, there are still plenty of birds to see within the Gatorland Rookery. The Little Blue Herons (such as the one pictured above) have been increasing in numbers, with many new nests being constructed along the southern end of the Rookery. The Great Egrets are also building a few new nests, with two new nests under construction directly across from the North Gazebo on the East bank. Several more Great Egrets have nests underway along the Western edge of the boardwalk north of the Observation Tower. A pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers have also taken up residence high atop a dead palm tree next to the wheelchair ramp at the Observation Tower. The Woodpeckers can be seen throughout the day and have occupied the lower hole as you can see in the photo below.
While there is still some new nest building happening within the Rookery, most of the activity at this time is fledging, with many different species of birds training their youngsters to fly or hop around the branches. Flights of a parent bird followed by its offspring are fairly constant throughout the Rookery, as well as feeding time for those big babies not quite ready to leave the nest.
Of course, we still have lots of baby birds, especially Cattle Egrets, and while the vegetation has grown up around the nests, there are still opportunities to get a fairly clear shot of nesting behaviors such as the frequent feeding of the chicks. It’s amazing to see the smorgasborg of items the parents bring in for their young, and looking at the picture below, it makes me thankful I wasn’t born as a Cattle Egret!
During a recent Night Shine tour I ran across Baby, the young Barred Owl that was born at Gatorland. It followed me around the park; and, after the tour, I was able to spend some time with the youngster who
flew over to its old nesting area by the Wrestling Stadium. Baby has lost its downy feathers, and is fast becoming a beautiful young owl. I was able to get one fairly clear picture of Baby, (it’s really difficult to manually focus on a dark bird at night with no lights) which you can see below.
Extended hours for the Rookery are scheduled to end on June 28, however, as we still have a fair amount of activity and new nests being made, Gatorland will be offering a scaled back version of extended hours for July. During July we will keep the Rookery open early and late on Friday and Saturday, with early entry only available on Sunday. With the announcement of our new 2009 Photo Contest, this will give some of you more chances to grab some great pictures within the Rookery. Deadline for all entries will be November 2, 2009 and you can learn more about the contest by clicking on the Photo Contest tab above. Good Luck, and Happy Birding!