Baby bird season

I headed up to the bird rookery in north Tampa in early April. I knew it was a little too early for a lot of babies but it was a nice afternoon out and this is an afternoon shoot spot since the sun comes up across the lake in the morning.  Great egrets were in all stages of nesting. Some had eggs, some had small babies and some looked like they were still flirting and working on nests.

There were at least 2 nests up front with baby wood storks. They look so pretty when they are babies with that orange beak and blue around their eyes. Woods storks are listed as a threatened species since their numbers are still small and are vulnerable to changing water levels. We are fortunate that they are a common bird in the Tampa bay area. I see them at many of the parks I visit as well as in the ponds in my neighborhood.

Birds were busy flying in and out of the rookery, bringing food to the babies and adding sticks to the nest. I was able to catch a great egret and a tricolored heron going by.

A tricolored heron was picking up sticks from the water and bringing them back to a hidden nest.

A rare thing to see in the Tampa bay area. It looks like some glossy ibis have been nesting here in the last few years. The nest is on the back side of the island so I haven’t seen any babies yet. For a long time I only saw them at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland but I’ve seen a few here lately.

The last of the baby egrets

One of the last nests with young ones. Driving Mom crazy begging for food.

One last trip to the bird rookery in north Tampa in June and there were still a lot of babies. Most of the great egrets babies were almost fully grown but there were still a few smaller ones getting fed by the parents. They look so clean and white against the green bushes, almost like marshmallows with legs. It’s amazing none of the eyes get poked out when the parents are trying to feed them.

 

In these last two shots, you can see fish parts coming down the parent’s beak and into the baby’s beak. Yummy regurgitated fish for lunch!

Watching baby egrets growing up.

Baby egrets at varies ages all trying to learn how to use their wings. It’s cool how you can really see the outline of their wings and the pin feathers when they are that young.

Older baby egrets were attacking mom when she came back to the nest to feed them. Mom regurgitates the fish back up into the baby’s beak. The babies don’t have much patience to wait their turn and they all attack her at the same time. It’s amazing an eye doesn’t get poked.

My annual trip to Gatorland to see the babies.

These are all great egret babies at various ages. I took a road trip over to Orlando for my annual visit to see the birds nesting in the bird rookery at Gatorland. The big lake at the park has a boardwalk full of nesting wild birds in the bushes. I got there early in the morning and the babies were all screaming for food. It was very loud. The older babies were flapping their wings and testing them out. I took tons of pictures so there will be more posts on this trip.