St. Augustine Alligator Farm

[Joe Campanellie]

In mid November my daughter was married on the beach in St Augustine. While there I decided to stop in on the alligator farm. Knew there wouldn't be too much in the way of photo opps but my three year old grandaughter loves the place. What a surprise...they are doing a major renovation and clean out of the main lagoon. Had most of the water drained out and were installing a retaining wall around the island. has also taken out a whole lot of underbrush and trees. Not sure how that will affect the nesting sites as well as some of the prime photo locations from the boardwalk.

Headed back down for Christmas with the kids so it will be interesting to see what the final project looks like.

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you for the update, Joe. I have never been to the Farm but was hoping to visit next April for the first time. Any updates after your next visit would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

[Joe Campanellie]

Thank you for the update, Joe. I have never been to the Farm but was hoping to visit next April for the first time. Any updates after your next visit would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

Will do!

Hope to get some "playtime" in on this trip. Since our grandson was born in February we've made five trips to Florida. Think the car knows it's own way down 95 now from Maryland. All three of our kids and two grandkids are now in Florida. We keep trying to make the move but haven't been able to sell the house yet.

The Farm is great and there will sure be a lot of activity for you to photograph in April.

[Robert vanMierop]

As an update, things at the 'Farm are moving along well. The swamp was cleaned out, some new small trees were planted, and everything is in great shape. Photopass early entry and late stay began yesterday. As for the birds, they're in full nesting, breeding, posturing form with eggs on some of the Great Egret nests. I have counted four Spoonbill nests but more are expected...same for the Wood Storks. The Snowies, Tri Coloreds, and Cattle Egrets are increasing in number every day. It's interesting, we're only a 2 hour drive to Gatorland, but every year the birds down there are a month ahead. Also, this has been a great year for shore birds along our beaches, and the late afternoon light is awesome just before sunset. 'Hope this helps.

[Marina Scarr]

This is the update I received from a friend who lives in GA and just visited The Farm last week:

"It was very depressing. A lot of trees have died due to a fungus and the place just looked bare. There were quite a lot of egrets building nests; 2 woodstorks and 6 roseates. There were 3 night herons that looked as though they were sick because of their color and the way they were standing. We only stayed 2 hours and left. I hope they fix their tree problem and then it might be a lot better in a couple of months."

I hope they fix the problem too b/c I had planned on visiting The Farm for the very first time this seasons. Appreciate any updates from other photographers as the season progresses.

[Robert vanMierop]

Wow...I was there about 4 hours ago...there's new growth on all the trees and it's surely not fungus. At sunset there were hundreds of birds flying in. I'd be surprised if anyone feels depressed about spending two hours there for bird photography...from now until June. 'Sorry they caught it on a bad day though. Anyone who reads this can send me a message as to the latest updates.