Tag Archives: pelicans nesting

Early May at the rookery

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I made another trip to the bird rookery in north Tampa in early May. While there were already a lot of babies, the wood storks were still flirting.

The baby great egrets were the loudest, yelling at Mom to feed them.

A young tricolored heron trying to fly. I love the wire looking feathers on their heads.

Young anhingas were high up in the cypress trees.

Birds were constantly flying in and out of the rookery. I was hoping to see cattle egrets or maybe the glossy ibis but I saw neither of them on this trip.

Blue and purple alien life form on this planet.

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It feels a little early for mating season but since we’ve had warm weather this winter the birds are getting busy.  On the island in the middle of the pond at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, the pelicans were building nests and doing some extreme flirting. Most of these pelicans are injured. You can see in the last picture the pelican is missing one of his wings.  Most of these injuries are due to getting caught in fishing wire.

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I did notice a very tiny bald head under one of the pelicans. The pelican above had 3 babies that had just hatched under her wing.

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A few times the parent got up to stretch and we were able to see the babies a little better. They must have been only one day old if that. They looked like little blue aliens.

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It was a busy morning for them as they were trying to feed, nest and bath all together.

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Looks like they were having fun splashing around.

The pelican island at the wildlife park is a safe place for these injured pelicans to live. The babies that they have can grow up and fly away whenever they are ready. We were lucky to have been there on a warm day right when the first of the babies were born. By now these guys are almost fully grown. Soon Mom will be an empty nester again.