A pretty red tree and a big alligator

On August 30, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I made another trip to the bird rookery in north Tampa in early May. The royal poinciana tree near the little park area was blooming and the wood storks were hanging out in it while taking a break from feeding the little ones.

A wood stork flew right in front of me and got a drink of water.

The baby great egrets were screaming to be fed.

A young black crowned night heron was also screaming for Mom to feed him.

A young moorhen gets a snack from Mom.

There were a lot of glossy ibis but they stayed in the far back and it’s hard to see their babies until they are flying.

A female anhinga panting in the heat.

I’ve seen tiny alligators in the pond but this was the first big one I’ve seen here. He climbed right up on the bank and plopped down for a while.

He walked around the bank and into the street, then turned around and headed back down in the pond and under the water. I had my 600mm lens with me so these are pretty far away and cropped up.

Nesting season was in full swing.

On July 5, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early April I made the first trip of the bird nesting season to the north Tampa bird rookery. The small island in the middle of the big pond looked the same as last year. The cypress tree closest to land had fallen down and was laying on it’s side in the pond. The only remaining tree was in the far back and it was full of cormorants nesting.

The great egrets were busy flirting and showing off their breeding feathers. Even though there were a lot of babies many of them were just getting started.

I could easily see two great egret nests. One had chicks a little older than the other.

Some of the other nests had some babies screaming for Mom to feed them.

This nest had some older babies and Mom was busy feeding them. In the last shot you can see some regurgitated fish sliding down Mom’s throat and into the baby’s beak.

Wood storks staying cool in the heat of the afternoon.

A full wood stork nest with three babies. The one laying down on the left looks much younger than his siblings.

An older wood stork baby posing for the camera.

Where are all of the birds?

On August 3, 2024July 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I made one last trip to the bird rookery in north Tampa in early May. I was planning to go back again at the end of the month but never made it back. Above is a phone shot of most of the little island. I know I’ve said this many times but it feels like there are less and less birds nesting here each year. The island has not changed sizes. It hasn’t been disturbed. Are there less and less birds or is there another rookery somewhere else that they are going to now that we don’t know about?

I saw very few baby wood storks. Much less than this time last year. I did see several couples still flirting and mating. Maybe they are all just later this year.

The little blue herons hadn’t started nesting yet.

I did see several anhinga nests in the back. These guys were a little older. Anhingas usually nest early in spring.

There were a few great egret nests with babies. These were the youngest ones I saw.

This Mom was busy feeding her babies.

These babies were almost as big as Mom and were quite a handful when she was trying to feed them.

I did not see any cattle egrets at the rookery this year. While they usually nest a little later they are starting to build nests by now so it was a bummer not to see them with their bright colored breeding beaks and feathers. There were about half the glossy ibis than last year. They nest in the back of the island so those babies aren’t visible until they are much older anyway. By this time last year there were a lot of juveniles in front of the island waiting to be fed. We’ll see what next year brings.

The annual rookery trip

On June 15, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

In early April I made my annual trip to north Tampa to visit the bird rookery in the middle of a small pond. The first thing I noticed was the above dirty wood stork. Maybe he had just taken a bath in a muddy spot.

I could barely see these baby wood storks deep in the bushes. This was the only wood stork nest with babies I could see on this morning. It feels late this year. By late March last year the rookery had tons of baby storks.

A lot of great egrets were still busy flirting and working on their nests. Most of them had their green breeding feathers around their eyes and those pretty wispy flirting feathers.

There was one nest with a teeny baby great egret. It looked to be a day or two old.

Another nest had a bigger baby great egret that was begging for food.

There were a lot of glossy ibis but they nest in the far back and we can’t see them from the street. We have to wait until the babies are big enough to fly around the rookery.

A female grackle sitting pretty on the bush.

Every year it feels like there are less and less birds nesting here. The rookery island looks the same size. Have they moved on somewhere else or are there truly less birds? I made another trip in early May but more on that later.

Regurgitated sushi for dinner

On August 6, 2022August 2, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Wood storks and great egrets were flying into the bird rookery in north Tampa non-stop in late May. They were bringing more nesting material but mostly food for all of those screaming babies. It was loud to stand there in the late afternoon as those big growing babies were ready to eat. And they let everyone know it.

There were still a lot of young wood storks honking for food.

The almost grown baby great egrets were really aggresive. These parents have a tough job. Getting fish, then swallowing that fish, then regurgitating it back up to feed the baby.

If you look closely at the beaks you can see fish parts coming down from the parent’s beak and into the baby’s beak. All while big brother is trying to get a bite as well. That does not look yummy.

Even after they are fed, they still yell for more food.

Growing up fast

On July 27, 2021July 27, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I headed back to the bird rookery in north Tampa in mid-May for a quick trip out of the house. I figured most of the baby birds were grown up and they were, including the big baby egrets above. They were still waiting for Mom to come home with dinner.

I don’t think Mom was ready to get back to the nest. She stopped close by and took a break.

There were still a lot of cattle egrets in breeding colors but I didn’t see any babies. They usually nest much farther into the bushes.

The anhinga on the right was keeping an eye on the wood stork, making sure he didn’t get too close.

A few of the other birds included a little blue heron, a young night heron and a tricolored heron.

The anhingas were farther back on the little island. Mom was feeding an almost grown baby in the shot above. That doesn’t look comfortable having the baby stick it’s head down her throat.

The baby muscovy ducks were almost grown as well. They saw me get out of my car and came swimming over. “Sorry guys, no handouts from me.”

The bird rookery

On June 12, 2021May 31, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Catching a little blue heron lift off.

Snowy egrets were showing off.

Baby great egrets were screaming for Mom to feed them.

The sky over the Tampa rookery was busy in early April. It was like standing at the airport during the holidays watching the planes take off.

The cormarants and anhingas are usually high up in the trees but I saw this anhinga sitting on a nest low on the other side of the rookery.

There were many other birds at the rookery besides the usual egrets and herons. A night heron, a female red winged blackbird and a catbird were also sighted. I was excited to see the glossy ibis here in the bottom picture but it looked like the couple was working on a nest on the backside of the rookery so seeing little glossy babies is a slim chance.

Teeny tiny baby birds

On June 4, 2019June 4, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The tiniest babies a the park, these snowy egrets were only a day or two old. Mom was sitting on them most of the morning but she stood up to stretch for a few minutes.

A few other nests had babies that were a few days older.

This baby was getting big.

Across the lake, baby great egrets were just waking up.

I did not make it over to Gatorland in Orlando last year so I made a trip in early April this spring. Most of the baby birds at the bird rookery were great egrets and snowy egrets. The cattle egrets and tricolored herons were just sitting on eggs. The morning went by fast as the birds were feeding the babies and flying by with sticks for the nests. All too quickly it was almost lunch time and the birds were settling down for mid-day naps.

Photographing New Zealand

The crazy baby birds at Gatorland.

On July 2, 2014June 20, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

Baby tricolored heron babies hiding in the bushes. These are the fun babies to watch.

Look at those faces! They were screaming for Mom to feed them.

What was this one thinking? He’s thinking “Man, I need some hair gel.”

These two looked bored. Look at those long yellow feet.

The front one is thinking “Save me, please!”

Proud parent trying to sleep. These guys were actually pretty quiet.

Two to three-day old great egrets. I don’t know what Mom was feeding them.

“Come on Mom, we’re hungry”.

This one is about ready to go, or at least he thinks he is. He’s thinking “That’s it. If Dad doesn’t bring home McDonald’s for lunch, I’m outta here.”

On my last visit to Gatorland for the season in late May, the baby tricolored herons were just getting big enough to be funny. They all have that crazy, feathers sticking up everywhere look. They are very animated and even when they are quiet, they have a personality. There were also a few late baby great egrets as well. The season starts to wind down in mid-June. All of the babies start to leave the nests. Then the parents take off until next spring.