Baby ducks get their first taste of seed.Here in my little corner of Florida the signs of new life begin in January and February with the nesting of the Anhinga and Great Blue Herons. Ospreys also begin nesting in January as well as some other herons and egrets and the doves in my back yard. By spring the wetlands come alive with birds carrying nesting materials and building nests. By late spring early summer there are baby birds everywhere.
Young Great Blue Heron wants to be fed!
On my last trip to Wakodahatchee some of the Great Blue Heron babies were still in the nest although it was evident that they should be moving on. The parent was ignoring the young ones pleas for food and the young one was harassing the parent to no end. I am sure glad I am not a Great Blue Heron Parent.
Baby Red-wing Blackbird gets fed.
Also evident were the baby Red-wing Blackbirds. These are hard to see in the nest as the nest is quite deep and getting any clear pictures was a feat with all the foliage. We did however find one mommy feeding her young and was able to get a few shots of this event. We also baby Moorhens and baby Black-necked Stilts. We were lucky at one point to see a Limpkin fly in and it was bringing home the bacon for its family. This was a very cool sighting.
There is a little rookery (a colony of breeding birds) at Long Key Nature Center where Great Egrets, Tri-colored Herons and Cattle Egrets nest in spring. I was late getting to it this year and the Great Egrets were already nesting and the eggs were starting to hatch. In fact that day one was hatching out. I have been back every weekend since. It is fun to go and see how things are progressing, although I sometimes get confused. Where I remember there was a nest it seems is no longer there. Where last week I saw eggs in a nest this week nothing is there. I suppose that when I am not there other critters raid the nests and get at the eggs and then the birds move on or try again as my resident doves do. And then there are the Hawks and other predators. I do know that there is a colony of Iguanas that also inhabits this island. Now whether or not the Iguanas eat eggs was unknown to me. Not knowing prompted me to do a search on Google and most responses said that they (the Iguanas) were vegetarians but would eat meat if presented to them and occasionally do enjoy a bird's egg.
Great Egret Chicks
Tri-colored Heron Chicks
Last week end I saw some newly hatched Tri-colored Herons. Well I really didn’t see much as they were just laying there in the nest, little grey balls of fluff, while mommy or daddy stood guard. I think that soon some of the Cattle Egrets would soon have babies too. There sure are a lot of them sitting on nests. The nests are staggered so that it reminds me of an apartment complex. In a way I suppose it is.
Apartment Living
It is such a pleasure to be able to sit and watch all the activity going on. There are birds flying in and out with nesting material or food for the families. Sometimes there is what appears to be fight between pairs about the placement of the nesting material or some neighbors squabbling over nesting space. Little heads appear in the nest. A parent is turning the eggs. Another parent spreads its wings to shade the young from the hot sun. An Anhinga chick sees something and stretches its neck to try and reach it “Careful Jr. or you will fall out of the nest. Closer to the water there is a pair of Tri-color fledglings getting ready to try to fish for themselves. They will surely be gone next time I go out there.
Great Egret Flies in with nesting material.
Tri-Colored Herons building a nest.
Cattle Egret Turns eggs.
Young Tri-colored Fledglings ready to try fishing
Anhinga young reaching for somethingThis week things are progressing and there is evidence of all stages of nesting activity from nests being built, to nests filled with eggs, to just hatched chicks, to older chicks to fledglings. And believe it or not some of the birds are still showing their beautiful breeding colors. This week also brought our first glimpses of the newly hatched Cattle egrets. To me they look very much like the Great Egret nestlings. I can’t wait to see what next week brings…………………..
Cattle Egret with chicks
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