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Wood Storks Share the Rookery with Great Egrets

Posted by Gary on February 13, 2013 in Wading Birds

Stretching its wings.

Fluffs its feathers.

Egret incubates eggs.

Ceremonial greeting.

Looking for sticks for nests.

Egret examines its egg.

Wood storks are not the only birds constructing nests in the Florida cypress swamp. The crayon green shrub thickets that border the swamp are dotted in white by dozens of egrets standing on saw palmetto and elderberry bushes building their nests and sitting on nests incubating eggs.

A male egret wades in shallow water examining sticks floating on the water. It grabs one, mouths it for a bit then drops it, takes a few steps to another small branch, picks it up out of the water and drops it. It is deliberately looking for a specific length and thickness of twig for its nest. It finds one, grasps it firmly in its beak, flies up to a saw palmetto and drops the twig onto the pile of sticks that form the foundation of a nest. Its mate is there and examines the stem. There seems to be a ceremonial greeting between the two of them; there is squawking and display of feathers before the male drops back down to wade in the swamp. The female picks up the twig and weaves it into the rest of the branches forming the nest.

Nearby another egret is sitting on its nest. The bird stands up on toothpick legs revealing a single blue-green egg. The egret stretches open its wings and preens its feathers. When it is done grooming itself, it sits back down on the egg.

Everywhere you look at this rookery there are dozens of egret and wood stork nests. I can hardly wait to return to see the chicks and hear the cacophony of sounds that must resound in this cypress swamp when hungry chicks call to be fed.

Tags: Birds, Egret Nests, Egret Rookery Florida Everglades, Nature, Photography, Wading Birds of Florida Permalink

Florida’s Wood Storks Assemble This Year’s Nursery

Posted by Gary on January 29, 2013 in Wading Birds

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Storks collect long twigs to place into the nest.

Storks build nest by weaving twigs into a network of branches.

Mating occurs during nest building phase.

Alligators patrol the swamp keeping predators away for the wood storks.

In a cypress swamp at the headwaters of the Florida Everglades, wood storks gather in cypress trees that tower over a marsh full of alligators. It is late January and internal biological clocks triggered by the lengthening of daylight cause the storks to seek ideal places to raise this year’s families. It might seem insane to nest precariously above hungry gators, but you can blame it on evolution. American alligators are the bouncers of the swamp. They keep the tree climbing predators – raccoons, bobcats, rats and snakes – away from stork eggs and chicks.

Some say the endangered wood stork has a grotesque, pre-historic look. This is due to its dark-colored naked head and neck and a heavy downward curving bill. They are large birds – standing over three feet tall with long skinny legs. Wood storks are mostly white, but have black flight feathers and a black tail.

The storks are paired off and each couple begins to build a nest on different branches in the same tree. I observe one pair sitting on a branch that hangs over the water where hungry alligator soaks in the January sun. One adult watches as its mate pulls a twig from the tree branch and calculatingly inserts it under and around other branches forming a network of loosely placed branches forming the base of the nest. It flies off and returns with a long twig held in its bill, alights and weaves it into the lattice of branches forming the nest. On a nearby branch another nest is under construction and an adult stork flies with Spanish moss trailing in its bill, alights and drops it onto the nest. During the nest-building phase the male stops and mates with the female. It looks awkward and clumsy as it flaps its wings to maintain balance. It is a wonder these large birds don’t fall out of the tree during their moment of passion.

I watch for some time, amazed at how agile these birds are despite their size and look forward to returning to the rookery to see the special delivery of their babies.

Tags: Birds, Photography, Wading Birds of Florida, Wood Stork Love, Wood Stork Rookery, Wood Storks and Alligators, Wood Storks at Gatorland, Wood Storks of the Everglades Permalink

A Warm Winter’s Day in Florida

Posted by Gary on January 10, 2013 in Shore Birds

Cormorants hand out on the buoys bordering the swimming area of the beach.

A pelican appears on the horizon.

Royal terns and a variety of gulls hang out on the beach.

Raccoon tracks lead to the salt marsh.

Royal Tern taking flight.

Royal tern juvenile begs for food.

Anne and I woke up on this January morning in Florida to temperatures in the low 70s. This is even unusually warm for a Florida winter. We decided to take advantage of the nice day by heading over to the Gulf coast to Fort Island Gulf Beach. Wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts, we grabbed light jackets in case there was a cool breeze blowing off the Gulf. It turned out we didn’t need the jackets. Even the gentle southwesterly breeze was mild and refreshing.

Boat-tailed grackles greeted us as we stepped out of our car. I guess they were hoping that we brought a picnic lunch and there would be leftovers because they followed us as we walked on the white sandy beach to the water. When it was apparent we had no goodies, they flew back to the parking area to harass the people who were just arriving. The salty water was calm and Anne stuck her toes in and declared it was not so bad. Other visitors were relaxing on chairs and at picnic tables enjoying the fresh Gulf air and scenic watery landscape.

A group of semi-palmated plovers hung out on the rocks of one of the jetty that lined the edge of the beach. Cormorants rested on the buoys holding a rope that marked the farthest point one could venture into the water. Beyond that terns flew over the water, occasionally diving down to snatch fish from the water. A pelican appeared on the horizon and flew towards the beach, then continued into the nearby marshes. The tracks of raccoons led down to the marsh where there was an abundance of fiddler crabs. Heron tracks followed a similar route.

Along the edge of the water a group of terns and gulls relaxed on the sandy shore facing the beach. I’m sure these birds were not looking at the scenery, but watching for land predators. Immature and adult ring-billed gulls stood side by side with royal terns. Several sanderlings waded into the water to eat the small crustaceans and insects at the water’s edge. A fully fledged royal tern with fluffed feathers called to its mother insisting she bring it food. But mom was having no part of it and just ignored the youngster. The juvenile walked around mom “crying” for food as mom turned away and pruned her feathers.

Anne and I hung out for some time enjoying the natural world before heading home to our own habitat. The road back took us through large expanses of salt marshes dotted with pine and cedar hammocks. Osprey were patrolling these areas and egrets and herons were wading along the edges of the marshes. It was a great day for all of us!

Tags: Birds, Nature, Photography, Royal Terns on the Gulf of Mexico, Story, Terns of Fort Island Gulf Beach Permalink

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2012 in review

Posted by Gary on December 30, 2012 in Uncategorized

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.