Baby bird season

Posted on May 28, 2022 by dinajohnston

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.

Pretty great egrets

Posted on April 25, 2020 by dinajohnston

The great egrets were showing off their mating feathers and starting to work on nests at the rookery in north Tampa.

They were flying in and out of the rookery in late March.

Last shots of Gatorland.

Posted on August 3, 2019 by dinajohnston

Last shots of the baby birds from the bird rookery at Gatorland from May.

The juvenile baby great egrets were fighting with each other waiting for Mom to bring food.

Mom brings back a fish and both babies fight for it.

The sibling that didn’t get the fish was yelling “Where’s my fish?”. Off mom went.

Beautiful birds but a sad ending

Posted on June 15, 2019 by dinajohnston

Tricolored herons are always fun to watch. They are really pretty when they are ready to mate. I mean, how many other animals have their legs turn from gray to bright pink in the spring?

Snowy egrets are always making a fuss.

The great egrets were also showing off with those red eyes.

This is a sad story but happens in nature. There was a nest near the boardwalk with three almost grown babies that had apparently been abandoned by the parents. Maybe something happened to the lone parent? Meanwhile, a mean adult snowy egret decided it wanted that nest instead of building her own and she was going to steal it from the babies. She spent all morning trying to push the babies off the nest. One had been poked in the face and was bleeding. The sad thing is that if the original parents did not come back, those 3 babies were probably going to starve. They are too young to feed themselves. They were sticking together and fighting off the intruder. She eventually left that morning but may have come back later to try again. Gatorland won’t interfere because it’s common for this to happen in nature. I’ve seen it happen before in a park where we couldn’t reach the nest. It’s a tough life out there for these birds.

Nesting season in full swing.

Posted on May 11, 2019 by dinajohnston

It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow and these birds are about to be very busy moms.

There were a few babies in the far back of the wood stork rookery in north Tampa in late March. You can barely make out the fuzz in the back nest. I was a little early for babies but was in the area so I stopped by for a quick visit.

Many of the wood storks were still fighting over nesting spots.

Many were still bringing in sticks to add to the nest.

A few great egrets were also looking for sticks.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there.

Growing up on the pond

Posted on September 29, 2018 by dinajohnston

The young wood storks have such an intriguing face.

Young cattle egrets and little blue herons starting to use their wings and learn their way around the mangroves.

Great egrets feeding their young go on for a long time. The baby egrets being fed already look like adults. I’m sure the parents are glad when they become empty nesters.

More shots from the bird rookery in north Tampa this summer.

Wild zoo babies

Posted on July 19, 2017 by dinajohnston

An almost grown great egret scratching. This one must be one of the first ones born at the zoo this spring. He still had just a little bit of baby fuzz on his head.

Very young little blue herons were waiting to be fed.

Baby little blue herons that were a little older but not yet flying. They were in lots of different stages of growing up.

Screaming “Feed Me” in Mom’s ear.

Two baby great egrets still on the nest waiting for a parent to fly in with food.

My favorite part of Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa is the bird rookery at the alligator exhibit. It’s much smaller than the one at Gatorland but it’s close to home. The wild birds come in and nest right in front of the exhibit. While all of the kids are oohing and aahing over the alligators I am busy trying to get shots of the baby birds.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World.

Morning walk at Chesnut Park

Posted on September 8, 2016 by dinajohnston

A limpkin hiding in the bushes over the lake.

Pretty flowers fill the pond.

This is what cattails look like in the middle of summer.

Great egrets at the park.

The moon was still showing in the morning at Chesnut Park.

“Don’t poke my eye out”

Posted on August 10, 2016 by dinajohnston

More pictures from my stop at the bird rookery in north Tampa back in June. These are all great egrets. Most of the baby egrets were already grown up and almost as big as the adults. They were still being fed by their parents and most were probably flying soon after I took these pictures. The babies, even though they look fully grown, still have a little bit of fuzz on the top of their heads. They are very aggressive when the parents fly in to feed them. I feel bad for them having to regurgitate fish up to feed to the screaming kids who look like they are trying to attack them.

Yummy fish for breakfast

Posted on July 20, 2016 by dinajohnston

Young great egrets are being fed by mom. The parents swallow the fish and then regurgitate the fish back up into the baby’s beak. Doesn’t that sound yummy?

A young cormorant was begging mom to feed him.

The youngest babies at the park that day. They are 1 or 2 day old snowy egrets. The parents were going to be busy feeding 3 babies. You can just barely see the fish eyes coming out of the mom’s beak. Looks like she had a beak full of minnows.

All morning long the babies yell to be fed. The tiny ones like in the last pictures aren’t so bad since they are so small and don’t quite know what’s going on yet. The bigger babies such as the top great egret pictures are obnoxious. They are really loud and flap their wings until they are fed. When the parent flies over to the nest they attack them. The parents keep feeding them though. All of the above were from my trip to Gatorland in May.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag Archives: great egrets