On Friday, Feb 18th I visited the water bird rookery at Gatorland. Gatorland is an old Florida Roadside attraction that predates Disney. There is a large and active water bird rookery. This was my first experience of an active Double-Crested Cormorant and Anhinga rookery. The Cormorants were kept busy feeding their half grown chicks.
This message was edited Feb 19, 2011 2:09 PM
A pair of Anhingas. This message was edited Feb 19, 2011 2:11 PM
This message was edited Feb 19, 2011 2:36 PM
A Great Blue Heron in one of the lakes on the property.
The Great Egrets were in full breeding plumage.
I consider it a good day, when I can get a photo of a pied-bill grebe. They are like a cork bobbing in the water.
A Common Moorhen. This is another difficult bird to photograph, since they are always on the move.
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!
The Snowy Egrets were also fighting over the hot dogs. This one was all fluffed up after it drove off 3 other snowys from this prime spot.
Great shots bsharf!!
I love seeing the Egrets in breeding plumage and would love to see an Anhinga one day. The feet on the Moorhen are so neat. Thanks for sharing your pics with us!
Wonderful variety bsharf, all your shots are great, my favorite is the breeding plumage shot.
Great thread bsharf!!
