As befits its name, there is no more colorful bird at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery during breeding season than the Tricolored Heron. Naturally a colorful bird, breeding adds the bright turquoise lores (with color extending well out on the beak), and extra vibrancy to the plumes. The clear red eye, which looks to me to be made of liquid ruby, is even more vividly set off by the turquoise surround.

The Tricolored are also the most oblivious of the birds at the rookery to human presence. They nest closest to the boardwalk, often within arm’s reach, and they will hop up on the pilings with people 3 or 4 feet on either side, and sit there, generally moving off on their own before they are flushed.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1) 445mm equivalent field of view, f5 @ 1/160th @ ISO 500. 2) 325mm equivalent, f5 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. 3) and 4) 230mm equivalent, f5 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 

The Great Egrets are the most likely birds to contest prime nest sites at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery with the Wood Storks. They generally loose out for the tree-top sites, but they make up the whole of the next story down. This bird did, somehow, end up with a penthouse suite and was making the most of it by displaying on the balcony. You can see the green lores, one of the features of full breeding plumage.

When I visit in late April, you already find Great Egret nests at all stages of development, from newly laid eggs, to chicks about ready to fledge.

And, of course, there is nothing quite like a Great Egret in flight…and birds are in flight somewhere almost continuously at the rookery.

Great Egret winds are a wonder, even when all the bird is doing is preening.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1) 655mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100.  2) 560mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 200. 3) 350mm, f5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 200. 4) 500mm, f6.3 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200. 5) 350mm, f5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 200. 6) 370mm, f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. 7) and 8) 340mm, f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 9) 340mm, f5 @ 1/640th @ ISO 200.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 

It seems like every year there are more Cattle Egrets nesting at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery, and they were particularly bright, in their breeding colors, this year.

It is tempting to think of them as “non-native birds” since they have only been breeding here in North America since the early 1950s. However, the Cattle Egret got here under its own power, naturally, crossing the Atlantic to South America in the early 1900s and becoming established there by the 1930s. It then moved out, breeding in Canada by the 1960s, and, by now, having spread over much of North and South America.

And it has spread on the other continents as well. Originally it was native (?) to the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa (that is to say, that is were it was found when we first began to pay attention). From there it spread all through Africa, crossed over the the Americas, colonized Asia (reaching Australia by the 1940s and New Zealand by the 60s). It is now working north through Europe, and east, island by island, across the Pacific Ocean.

It goes, and can survive, and thrive, where ever humans raise cattle. Simple as that. Because of its specialization, it does not normally seriously compete with native species. That helps it to become established fairly quickly…as does it ability to blend in in communal heron/egret/stork rookeries like the one at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. Interesting bird.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1) 840mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160. 2) 440mm equivalent, f5 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160, 3) 840mm, f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 200. 4) 840mm, f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 

Snowy Egrets are nesting in large numbers at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery in April and May each spring. At any given moment from dawn to dusk you can catch a male displaying somewhere off the boardwalk. This year, when I visited in late April, many nests already had young as well. The first shot shows a male in all his finery, from the yellow slippers (maintained all year) to the bright red lores (the area between the beak and eye: red only during breeding season). But of course it is the plumage show that captures the imagination: those fine fine back feathers lifted, in challenge to other males, and in invitation to any females. It was these feathers, of course, along with the corresponding breeding finery of Great Egrets and herons, that also attracted the notice of milliners and ladies of fashion at the turn of the century. The annual harvest of Egrets and herons came close to driving the birds to extension, and lead, thankfully, to the first real conservation movement in the US.

Snowy Egrets are attentive nesters, and at the rookery you get to observe nests in many stages of development. In the second shot a female hovers over her chicks, and in the third, the chicks attack her beak hoping for food.

Then we have another displaying male, and a more intimate portrait.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1) 630mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 200. 2) 840mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200. 3) 560mm, f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. 4) 540mm, f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 125. 5) 840mm, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.  3) and 5) cropped for composition.