Now that the cold weather in Florida has gone, the bird activity within the Rookery has picked up dramatically, with Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, and Little Blue Herons increasing in numbers. While we are still running about 3 weeks behind normal, many of the latter species have already begun nesting, and by late April the Rookery should be filled with lots of baby birds. At this time we have baby Great Egrets popping out throughout the Breeding Marsh, with several open nests close to the walkway making for great photo opportunities. The Great Egrets are still very active with nest building and courtship, as well as sitting on eggs and rearing chicks.

The Wood Storks are still active making nests and courting, and I recently heard some baby Woodies in one of the first nests built, they should hopefully be visible in about a week or two. The Wood Storks are quite active not only in the Rookery, but throughout Gatorland in general, where they seem to delight in trying to intimidate the guests into giving them the alligator’s hot dogs. Gatorland is a great place to see the different phases of Wood Stork maturation, with the feather headed juveniles (like the one shown below) slowly losing their head plumage and turning into the “bald headed” adults.

The Cattle Egrets have been slowly coming in for the past week, with several nests already under construction. Most of the Cattles are still “plain jane”, as their breeding colors have not yet reached their peak… I would imagine it will be another few weeks before they become vibrant! The Cattle Egrets seem to be more active in the later afternoon and early evening hours.

The Green Heron nest building has subsided at the South Lake area, although one or two can frequently be found in that location (just behind the old ticket booths at the Early Entry area). The Greenies have at least one nest in the closest Papyrus island, sharing the space with a Limpkin nesting in the same location. Late morning and early evening seem to be the best time to spot the Green Herons at this time.

Swallow-tailed Kites have been very active at Gatorland, with an average of 7-9 frequently flying over and around the South Cypress Swamp. They do make occasional visits into the the Rookery, but never stick around for more than a few minutes before flying too high or too far away. The best place to photograph these beautiful birds is at the far south end of the Rookery close to the Emus, sometimes the best place to see them is from all places the South Parking Lot!

Both of the Swallow-tailed Kite pictures you see here were taken with my 70-200mm lens as I was standing in the parking lot, but I do recommend at least a 400mm to really get a nice image. One thing about these Kites, they are always on the move, and it doesn’t take them very long to move a great distance. Many times you can catch them “eating on the wing”… in the picture below a Swallow-tail has just grabbed a small lizard and is having a snack as he flies past me in the early morning light.

Okay, I’m sure you’re wondering why I have a snake picture in the Rookery blog, as we normally don’t have too many snakes in the Breeding Marsh (wading birds and gators love to eat them)! In my last post I talked about exploring the park, and in particular visiting the Swamp Walk located in the South Cypress Swamp. On a recent Saturday I took a group of photographers on a little safari through the swamp when we came upon a juvenile Cottonmouth Moccasin basking in the sun a few feet away from the boardwalk. Everything in the Swamp Walk is wild and free, and sometimes you never know what you will see as you walk around. On our journey through the swamp we saw not only this snake, but Swallow-tailed Kites, Red-shouldered Hawks, Downy Woodpeckers, and assorted Wrens and Warblers. The next week another group was able to capture some fantastic images of Northern Parula in the swamp.

Speaking of groups, in March Gatorland has played host to several different photographer workshops, groups and clubs, including the Florida Outdoors and Gatorland Flickr Groups, the Orlando Camera Club, Naturescapes.net meetup, the Georgia Nature Photographers Assoc, Wildscape Images, and many more. The word has certainly gotten out about Gatorland’s Rookery and the wonderful display of nature to be found here, and it’s been a personal pleasure to meet all the different photographers and nature lovers from around the world that have visited Gatorland.

I’m sometimes asked if the Rookery can accomodate tripods… the answer is YES! When the Breeding Marsh was built back in 1991, it was envisioned as a wildlife viewing area complete with wide walkways capable of handling people, wheelchairs, strollers, and yes, even tripods. Photographic opportunities can be found on either side of the walkways, and all the while you are surrounded by some of the largest alligators in the world!

Besides wide walkways, the Rookery area has two covered gazebos complete with benches and power, as well as a 3 story Observation Tower that is wheelchair accessible to the second level. The Breeding Marsh & Bird Sanctuary area is roughly 10 acres in size and supports a population of 130 alligators, 2 American crocodiles, and a whole bunch of birds!

Some of the birds do feed amongst the alligators, such as the Anhinga below, however most of the wading birds feed either in our alligator-free South Lake or in various retention ponds and lakes found close by. Now that the weather is warmer and the alligators are more active, fishing within the Rookery can be risky business!

Ask and ye shall receive! In my last post I was wondering when the cold weather would end, and wouldn’t you know it, it has! While the past two days have been rather wet, at least it’s warmer, and the birds within the Rookery are now responding. This morning I spotted a Green Heron at the South Lake (right next to the Early Entry Gate) carrying a stick over to a papyrus island. They normally spend a couple of weeks making their nests, so be sure to check out the South Lake if you want some nice flight shots of the Green Herons.

I should mention that besides the Green Herons, there are lots of photo opportunities outside of the confines of the Rookery. Once the park opens at 9:00am, you are free to explore… we have a wonderful, long boardwalk through a native Cypress Swamp (whatever you see is wild, we don’t put anything out there), a flamingo island, parrots & macaws, a whole island of nesting cormorants and anhingas, and of course… a ton of gators and crocs. Sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the parking lot! Yesterday morning, I was just closing the early entry gate when a red-shouldered hawk flew over and landed on the back of my truck. It was terribly overcast with a slight drizzle, but I followed him out to the picket fence along HWY 441 and he seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.

As I was shooting the hawk (figuratively speaking of course!) three swallow-tailed kites flew overhead, but it was far too dark to get any decent images of them. Point is, don’t get locked into just the Rookery, there are lots of photo opportunities throughout Gatorland… sometimes in the darndest places! Of course, the Rookery is the prime spot, and with the warmer weather things are just now beginning to heat up. The Snowy Egrets have become increasingly active, and are now nesting and courting throughout the Rookery. Their lore color is almost at full breeding red, in another week and they should be strikingly beautiful!

Momma Limpkin has been sitting on her nest for several weeks, at last count she had 5 eggs, but the nest is unfortunately not photographable. Poppa Limpkin is always close by, and they constantly call to each other throughout the day. Another pair of Limpkins arrived recently, and have been very active around the Flamingo Island looking for a nesting spot. Right now you are almost sure to spot a Limpkin upclose and personal around Flamingo Island or the Observation Tower.

The Spoonbills have been arriving daily in the morning and late afternoon, with one pair courting and hopefully picking a nesting spot. The area they have been concentrating on is along the east bank almost directly across from the North Cormorant Shelter. If they settle on this site, it should be very photographer friendly, but you’ll need some big glass to get the best shot. I’d say minimum 400mm focal length will be necessary to shoot the nest. We are currently averaging 3 - 5 Spoonies a day in the Rookery.

A few more Tricolored Herons have been arriving, but still no sign of nesting or courtship. Little Blue Herons have been increasing in the evening, while White Ibis numbers have been decreasing somewhat at roost as they head out to their nesting areas. The Grackals are in full nesting mode, with constant courtship and nest building activity throughout the Rookery. The Grackal is completely without fear during nesting time, and will attack anything around their nest… even alligators!

For those folks who have visited recently, you may have images of our closest and most visible Great Egret nest with the three chicks. Last week we lost one of the chicks, and this week we lost another, leaving just one in the nest. The one remaining youngster seems to be very active and healthy, and as luck would have it, the nest directly behind this one has two new babies for your viewing pleasure.

Just a reminder that Daylight Savings time begins this Sunday, March 14, so while early entry will be at 7:30am, it will actually be a whole hour earlier “light wise”. This also means that dusk access is now a whole hour later, with sunset about 7:15pm. Boy howdee… I really hate losing an hours sleep!

The weather has been, well… just plain cold. As a result of this rather unusual cold Florida winter, the nesting season has been delayed for many of the birds within the Rookery. The Snowy Egret, Tricolored, Little Blue & Green Herons, and Cattle Egrets haven’t started nesting, nor have they gotten their breeding colors yet. The Wood Storks just began nesting last week, and the past few days the Spoonbills have been coming in to check out some potential nesting sites. I would say things are running about 3 weeks behind normal, but that’s not to say we don’t have nesting birds! The Great Egrets have been fairly constant since January, and we do have several nests with Great Egret chicks throughout the Rookery.

The Wood Storks have returned this year, and have recently begun nesting in their usual location along the northern east bank. Now is a great time to watch the Woodies courting, mating, nest building, and just plain flying around. At this point we have several sitting nests, with many more under construction. It’s great to have the Wood Storks back nesting again after their hiatus last year!

The Spoonbills have been arriving daily in the morning and late afternoon, and appear to be scoping out potential nesting sites. No sign yet of our original banded female M5, as all of the Spoonbills observed recently have no ID bands. The Spoonies are in great color, and love to pose for the camera. Flight shot opportunities are there daily, and are better in the late afternoon hours!

The American Crocodiles have been courting almost daily, with most of the courtship and mating behavior taking place on the north end of the Rookery north east of our North Gazebo. Despite the cold weather our crocs have done well, and nothing seems to be stopping their mating drive. Serious, our male crocodile can frequently be seen chasing alligators when he’s not out soaking up the sun. He’s the one with the big smile on his face in the picture below!

While the Tricolored Herons have not yet begun nesting, we do have several that are quite active fishing throughout the Rookery. They can be found along the East bank of the Rookery diving for minnows, as well as on the south end of the South Lake section where we come in for early entry.

The Black-crowned Night Herons have been very active, and you are almost guarenteed to see several in the early morning or late afternoon hours. They can be found on either end of the Rookery, as well as out in the main park, especially on the North Alligator Island.

The Swallow Tailed Kites arrived late February, and can be seen soaring in the sky above their usual haunt along the south Cypress Swamp. No sign yet of our Barred Owls, and there has been no noticeable activity at their old nest from last year. Lots of little birds in the mornings, including some Catbirds, Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Wrens, Warblers and even a parakeet!