The weather has been, well… just plain cold. As a result of this rather unusual cold Florida winter, the nesting season has been delayed for many of the birds within the Rookery. The Snowy Egret, Tricolored, Little Blue & Green Herons, and Cattle Egrets haven’t started nesting, nor have they gotten their breeding colors yet. The Wood Storks just began nesting last week, and the past few days the Spoonbills have been coming in to check out some potential nesting sites. I would say things are running about 3 weeks behind normal, but that’s not to say we don’t have nesting birds! The Great Egrets have been fairly constant since January, and we do have several nests with Great Egret chicks throughout the Rookery.
The Wood Storks have returned this year, and have recently begun nesting in their usual location along the northern east bank. Now is a great time to watch the Woodies courting, mating, nest building, and just plain flying around. At this point we have several sitting nests, with many more under construction. It’s great to have the Wood Storks back nesting again after their hiatus last year!
The Spoonbills have been arriving daily in the morning and late afternoon, and appear to be scoping out potential nesting sites. No sign yet of our original banded female M5, as all of the Spoonbills observed recently have no ID bands. The Spoonies are in great color, and love to pose for the camera. Flight shot opportunities are there daily, and are better in the late afternoon hours!
The American Crocodiles have been courting almost daily, with most of the courtship and mating behavior taking place on the north end of the Rookery north east of our North Gazebo. Despite the cold weather our crocs have done well, and nothing seems to be stopping their mating drive. Serious, our male crocodile can frequently be seen chasing alligators when he’s not out soaking up the sun.
The Black-crowned Night Herons have been very active, and you are almost guarenteed to see several in the early morning or late afternoon hours. They can be found on either end of the Rookery, as well as out in the main park, especially on the North Alligator Island.
The Swallow Tailed Kites arrived late February, and can be seen soaring in the sky above their usual haunt along the south Cypress Swamp. No sign yet of our Barred Owls, and there has been no noticeable activity at their old nest from last year. Lots of little birds in the mornings, including some Catbirds, Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Wrens, Warblers and even a parakeet. Momma Limpkin is sitting on a new nest located in a small palm next to a Cypress tree on the north side of the Observation Tower. Limpkin activity has been fairly constant around that area.
AJ, i'm also thinking the same for saturday, however, the local weather guy is now forecasting Rain:cool:... Man, do these people not undestand.. "Weekends are made for Photographing"!!!!!:D
Just checked the weather and the forecast is for a wet week clearing by Saturday. As it looks now, should be a great weekend for photography at the park!
Don and Mike (hey wasn't there a radio show called that???)...anyways, I digress, I will be at Gatorland tomorrow afternoon and again Sunday morning. Keep an eye out for me!
Mike will be good to see you again and Don...would be nice to meet you and put a face with the name!
Hey AJ, see you then, one change to the show's name. You'll have Don Sr., DonJr, And Don lacy as well :eek:.. So looks to be the Don show! The "Don" with the best iimages, buys lunch!
Mike, see you @ 730!:)
The rain is supposed to clear by late this afternoon, so should be a nice Saturday for photography at the park. Looks like another lunch at Cracker Barrel is definitely in order, especially now that we know one of the Don's is buying! :p We'll have some folks from Orange Audubon out late afternoon Saturday as well, so should be a fun day.
I'm working on an update today, been a few things going on now that we have finally had some warm weather!
Ask and ye shall receive! In my last update post I was wondering when the cold weather would end, and wouldn’t you know it, it has! While the past two days have been rather wet, at least it’s warmer, and the birds within the Rookery are now responding. This morning I spotted a Green Heron at the South Lake (right next to the Early Entry Gate) carrying a stick over to a papyrus island. They normally spend a couple of weeks making their nests, so be sure to check out the South Lake if you want some nice flight shots of the Green Herons.
I should mention that besides the Green Herons, there are lots of photo opportunities outside of the confines of the Rookery. Once the park opens at 9:00am, you are free to explore… we have a wonderful, long boardwalk through a native Cypress Swamp (whatever you see is wild, we don’t put anything out there), a flamingo island, parrots & macaws, a whole island of nesting cormorants and anhingas, and of course… a ton of gators and crocs. Sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the parking lot! Yesterday morning, I was just closing the early entry gate when a red-shouldered hawk flew over and landed on the back of my truck. It was terribly overcast with a slight drizzle, but I followed him out to the picket fence along HWY 441 and he seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.
As I was shooting the hawk (figuratively speaking of course!) three swallow-tailed kites flew overhead, but it was far too dark to get any decent images of them. Point is, don’t get locked into just the Rookery, there are lots of photo opportunities throughout Gatorland… sometimes in the darndest places! Of course, the Rookery is the prime spot, and with the warmer weather things are just now beginning to heat up. The Snowy Egrets have become increasingly active, and are now nesting and courting throughout the Rookery. Their lore color is almost at full breeding red, in another week and they should be strikingly beautiful!
Momma Limpkin has been sitting on her nest for several weeks, at last count she had 5 eggs, but the nest is unfortunately not photographable. Poppa Limpkin is always close by, and they constantly call to each other throughout the day. Another pair of Limpkins arrived recently, and have been very active around the Flamingo Island looking for a nesting spot. Right now you are almost sure to spot a Limpkin upclose and personal around Flamingo Island or the Observation Tower.
The Spoonbills have been arriving daily in the morning and late afternoon, with one pair courting and hopefully picking a nesting spot. The area that have been concentrating on is along the east bank almost directly across from the North Cormorant Shelter. If they settle on this site, it should be very photographer friendly, but you’ll need some big glass to get the best shot. I’d say minimum 400mm focal length will be necessary to shoot the nest. We are currently averaging 3 - 5 Spoonies a day in the Rookery.
A few more Tricolored Herons have been arriving, but still no sign of nesting or courtship. Little Blue Herons have been increasing in the evening, while White Ibis numbers have been decreasing somewhat at roost as they head out to their nesting areas. The Grackals are in full nesting mode, with constant courtship and nest building activity throughout the Rookery. The Grackal is completely without fear during nesting time, and will attack anything around their nest… even alligators!
For those folks who have visited recently, you may have images of our closest and most visible Great Egret nest with the three chicks. Last week we lost one of the chicks, and this week we lost another, leaving just one in the nest. The one remaining youngster seems to be very active and healthy, and as luck would have it, the nest directly behind this one has two new babies for your viewing pleasure.
Just a reminder that Daylight Savings time begins this Sunday, March 14, so while early entry will be at 7:30am, it will actually be a whole hour earlier “light wise”. This also means that dusk access is now a whole hour later, with sunset about 7:15pm. Boy howdee… I really hate losing an hours sleep!
Great to see you again this morning Nancy, breakfast was a blast!
HI Steve - was a little too cool for me today to wear shorts, but weather this coming week is forecasted to be in the low to mid 70's. I'm sure you Tennessee boys can handle that in shorts. Did want to remind you that there are no extended hours for the Rookery on Monday's and Tuesday's, I'll be back there on Wednesday at 7:30am. BTW, met a gentleman today out in the Rookery who said you talked him into stopping by... last I saw he was having a great time shooting baby egrets and was going to stick around for tonight! :)
Just left Gatorland today. Stayed for three days and the action was great. Mike is a great host and he makes sure that all photogs have a great experience. Nesting birds, birds sitting and baby chicks everywhere...Wow! Can't wait to get back in late April.
Gatorland Rookery Update - March 2010
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