Bird Watching: Gatorland Bird Rookery in Orlando FL, 1 by bsharf

bsharf wrote:
The water birds have learned to grab food that visitors toss into the alligator ponds. Gatorland employees apparantly encourage feeding since it is a crowd pleaser. Signs warn that the birds will take food and fingers from children. I was really shocked to see that people brought bags of hotdogs into the park to feed the alligators. Great way to encourage people aggressive alligators and birds! The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine is quite firm in stopping people from feeding, and you can see the evidence in their bird rookery. The birds ignore people completely since they don't associate us with food. The Wood Storks were especially aggressive in grabbing the hot dogs. Wouldn't want one of them nipping me!