LaurenVH

Tuesday, 31 January 2017 Gatorland’s 2017 bird photography season starts this Thursday, February 2nd! We have had some cooler mornings but many of the Great Egrets are pairing up and starting to build nests. There’s a good amount of preening and displays in the rookery each morning. There are even a few nests with eggs already. The Great Blue Herons are patrolling around as usual like they own the place. There are plenty more birds that will be arriving soon. Snowy Egrets and Tri-colored Herons are flying in to roost each night, along with hundreds of White Ibis. They soar in each night performing their “evasive maneuvers” as I like to call it, darting back and forth and finally gliding up to a free perch in the safety of Gatorland’s alligator breeding marsh. These behaviors make for some challenging but amazing photographs if you come [...]

Thursday, 26 May 2016 We still have 3 weekends left in the 2016 photographers pass season. There are still plenty of opportunities to see the natural breeding behaviors of many of Florida’s wading birds. Many chicks are constantly hungry and very demanding when a parent has just come back from a fishing trip. There are still a few adult birds in their breeding colors as well. The alligators are still shaking the walkway with their bellowing each morning as well. We will have birds nesting through most of the summer I would imagine but don’t miss out on these last few weeks of early morning and late evening light! Adam Hall Join me here in the rookery with your exclusive Gatorland Birding Photo Pass

Friday, 15 April 2016 It looks like just about everyone is here now. We may have a few Cattle Egrets and Tri-colored Herons arriving still though. Many are building nests and are in peak plumage. Our first clutch of Great Egrets are fledging but there are still eggs from them as well. Snowy Egrets have chicks and eggs. The Little Blue Herons are here also; they are not as “showy” as the others so keep a sharp eye and you’ll find them. Cormorants and Anhingas have eggs and chicks. The sun rises over a distant cypress head so the lighting in the mornings has been very nice. There’s a lot of feeding going on all day long. We have 20 Wood Stork nests this year. This is a significant jump from our usual 13 to 14 so the birds are thriving with the protection of [...]

Friday, 3 March 2016 We are getting ready for peak time here at Gatorland. In the next few weeks, we should start seeing an increase in the number of active nests. Right now we have a good number of Great Egrets nesting. Many of them are very close to our boardwalk. The Great Egrets are still in all stages of nesting: displaying, nest building, laying, etc. There are a few nests with chicks and many with eggs. The image above was taken with my Nikon D90 (1.5x crop) with a DX 55-300mm lens at 300mm. The nest is about 8 feet from the boardwalk. I was standing behind a few other cameras so it’s possible to get closer if you don’t have 450mm of reach to play with. There are quite a few Snowy Egret pairs building nests also and possibly some eggs under a [...]

Friday, 22 January 2016 Just two weeks until the start of our 2016 photography season. I have been curious all “winter” about how the birds would react to our unusually warm weather. After being out in the rookery this morning it looks like the birds are right on schedule. Great Egrets are displaying and pairing up. I saw about 6 nests that had birds lying down so they probably have eggs already. No one stood up so I could see though; it was a bit windy outside. Many of the adults have beautiful green faces and they all had fresh breeding plumage. There were plenty of other species hanging around however the Great Egrets are the only species nesting this early. I saw White Ibis (below), Snowy Egret, Anhinga, Wood Stork, Great Blue Heron, Common Gallinule, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Robin, Red-shouldered Hawk, Black Vulture, Double-crested [...]

Saturday, 9 May 2015 The Cattle Egrets are nesting. Some have very bright color. Many are building nests and some have had eggs for a few weeks. I also saw one nest with chicks. Some of the first Great Egret chicks are starting to fledge while other Great Egrets are on eggs. These two are getting a fish and dragonfly breakfast. Many Snowy Egrets are hatched but there are some adults in full plumage still. Tri-colored Herons have eggs and small chicks. Anhinga’s are growing up too. Lots and lots of baby birds, and it seems that many nests are having little trouble raising all their chicks. Food must be plentiful. Adam Hall Join me here in the rookery with your exclusive Gatorland Birding Photo Pass