Monday, 11 February 2013
Here we are in another exciting year at Gatorland’s wading bird rookery. This year we’ve added Thursday mornings and kept Saturday nights in the schedule. The program will run through June 16th. We’ve also added two areas of the park to the Photographer’s Pass: the main walkway along the South Lake and one of my favorites, the Swamp Walk! The Great Egrets have started a month earlier than last year with our first eggs showing up in three nests during the first week of January. Now in early February, these eggs have hatched and we have more eggs in other nests! Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything; there are many egrets in every stage of nesting. Wood Storks are pairing up and I saw a pair of Anhinga’s building a nest too. Other species are just hanging out for now. We have had consistent sightings of up to five Roseate Spoonbills on most days. They prefer to hang out during the day along the South Lake or in the NE corner of the rookery. Tim Williams, our Dean of Gator Wrestling, said he even saw one carrying a stick a few days ago. We’ll keep our hopes high. I’ve been through the Swamp Walk in the morning to see passerines including: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Cardinal, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Common Yellowthroat and I’m sure there are others to be found. I’m especially keeping an eye out for Green Heron and Black-crowned Night-Heron nests. Adults are around and I’ll let you know what I see. Happy birding!
Adam Hall
Join me here in the rookery with your exclusive Gatorland Birding Photo Pass
