I was meeting a friend for lunch on the beach in January and threw my camera in the car to make a few stops on the way home. Since I was close by, my first stop was at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. It’s now run by a group of volunteers and they rescue and rehabilitate injured birds.
The sanctuary is shaded by overgrown mangrove trees and wild birds nest high up in them this time of year. Great egrets were working on fixing up their nests.
I could just barely make out baby great blue herons through all of the sticks and leaves. This nest had 2 babies and they were already growing up.
One of the first baby night herons of the season. They usually nest a little later but these guys were already almost as big as their parents.
A pretty pelican face.
This sandhill crane is one of the residents. You can see he’s missing his bottom beak. He’s well fed here.
Much farther north on the water, I stopped back by Weaver Park again. I always see parakeets here. They aren’t hard to miss, screaming so loud all of the time. Looks like they’ll be nesting soon.
The pier was pretty quiet. Mostly terns and gulls. I was hoping to catch the opsrey diving for fish but there wasn’t any here this afternoon.
Wow, wonderful photos and sightings. I like the mural on the first image. It is neat to see the rookeries and birds on the nest. I like the parakeets and the Terns! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend.
I’ve never seen a parakeet around here but it would be a thrill to see one in the wild. I love those baby herons! Baby birds are the cutest. Oh and your banner is amazing! Enjoy the weekend and this fabulous weather!
Apparently at one-time called Black-hooded Parakeets, these parakeets are known as Nanday Parakeets and are commonly seen on the bayfront of St. Pete all along the waterfront parks, from Coffee Pot Bayou to at least the yacht club. Most recently I saw them among the flowers in the huge Bombax Ceiba tree next to the art museum, but also at other times in and around the Gisella Kopsick arboretum on North Shore Drive NE and open areas north of that location..