Yummy snack!

 

This great egret was gulping down the crawfish.

This picture was taken on the 3rd floor of the observation tower. There’s a tall tree right up against the tower. The cormorants and anhingas nest in the upper branches and the snowy egrets nest in the bottom branches. I didn’t see any eggs or babies yet with this couple although the one on the left sleeping could be a juvenile. It’s kind of cool being high up in the trees hanging out with the birds.

A male and female anhinga were either fighting or flirting. Not sure which.

This great egret found a shell in the mud. I’ve only seen these shells on the beach so it’s weird that it was in this lake. I didn’t see him swallow it.

Taking off.

A cattle egret couple were just starting to nest. The one on the left looks grumpy.

They did have a go at it so there should be late eggs coming soon.

Afterwards, they ignored each other.

A male anhinga up in the tree next to the tower.

A very young anhinga that was born months earlier. It hasn’t got any color yet.

These were all taken in late May during my 2nd trip to Gatorland in Orlando. The bird rookery was still full of babies and eggs with a few couples getting a very late start. It was a nice quiet morning with just a few photographers there. Most of the winter crowd had gone. That’s because it was starting to get hot. I got there when the back gate opened at 7:30 am with my early access pass and was gone by 11am. By then all of the birds were napping. That was my last trip until next spring but I did take a ton of pictures.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday  

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for