Last April I attended a photography workshop in St. Augustine, Florida and returned to one of my favorite locations for bird photography. When I first heard about the Alligator Farm Zoological Park located on St. Augustine Beach, I thought it was going to be one of those cheesy Florida attractions with a few parrots and crazy people wrestling around with lethargic alligators. Not so. The Alligator Farm is a well-recognized private park and respected facility for the study of alligators and other animals found in Florida. It is also a noted Spring rookery for egrets, herons and spoonbills. This was my third visit to the Farm, and I find new things every time I go.
My goal for this visit was to capture the interaction between egret parents and young birds in the nest. Access to the nesting sites is by a boardwalk which is elevated over a swampy moat full of alligators of all sizes and temperaments. There were over one hundred gators in the water. In the trees above and adjoining the boardwalk, are the birds with nests on almost every branch. Some are at eye level and others higher in the trees, but the experience is of being surrounded by a busy, and noisy, rookery. I am told that the birds prefer this location because the ever-present alligators discourage any ground predators like snakes or raccoons from raiding the nests. However, one risk is that rambunctious chicks can fall or get pushed out of nest by siblings. This happens occasionally, much to the delight of the hungry gators circling below. In such cases, staff members don’t intervene and let nature take its course.
Egret chicks interacting with a parent and each other is a chaotic scene. Before they mature into the elegant birds we see in the marshes, the chicks look like ugly crazed baby dinosaurs with spikey white feathers sticking out all over. And they are noisy! I was impressed by the patience of the parents as they brought food for the brood and were immediately attacked by their over-zealous offspring. Nest building, tending eggs and then feeding young birds made for another busy Spring at the Alligator Farm.
