Feb. 26, 2016---back to Wakodahatchee:
Been a busy, hard week! Angie has been wanting to renovate their master bathroom and I volunteered to help. So when Friday morning rolled around and she hadn't done the touchups and caulking that she wanted to do herself so the area behind the new vanities was done and ready for the plumber, I took the morning off to run to WAkodahatchee! It was a nice change of pace! I didn't even have to wait for a parking spot. Don't know if it's because I got there before 10:30, but there was quite a line by the time I left. It was a beautiful day to be there! About 70, sunny and lots of pretty clouds.
A male Great White Egret grooming his mating feathers. Apparently the males stake out a nesting place, then try to woo a female. Then they both build the nest.
Apparently it was a great day for Anhingas to be fishing! Saw several anhingas with catches. They catch fish by spearing them, then they have to get the fish off their beaks and into their mouths. It was interesting watching it do that.
took him a little while, but he finally accomplished getting the fish unspeared.
Then it swallows the fish whole.
a Tri-colored Heron watching nearby.
another Anhinga fishing. Never did see if this guy got that fish down!
Didn't see the baby Anhingas that I had seen there a week or so ago. I've read that within 2 weeks they jump out of their nests and into the water and start swimming. Then they climb back up into the nesting area. I did see one climbing up from the water, so maybe that was one of them. I've also heard that alligators like to hang out under the nesting tree waiting for the newly independent birds who've just left the nest. Didn't see any alligators there, but did see that the huge gator I saw last week was now on the other side of the park.
But there were several more baby birds.
Amazing how big the baby Anhingas are! They're almost as big as their parents at this point.
The adult Anhingas look rather funny when they're flying.
I always see a bunch of little terns or swallows when we're here and at Green Cay, but they are so fast I never get a picture of them. I spent awhile today trying to. This is as good as I got.
dang, I wish I had this great white egret in focus!
one of the many Wood Storks here.
a female Grackle
Red Bellied Woodpecker. I've seen a few of these guys around Florida, but none as huge as this guy!
I believe this is a Glossy Ibis. I would have said Reddish Egret, but it has an Ibis bill.
another successful Anhinga fishing trip.
an Anhinga couple. The male is the black one. Interesting that even the coloring around their eyes change during mating season to this blue color. They're also suppose to be monogamous and return to the same nesting area every year.
A cattle Egret
a wood stork coming in for a landing.
hard landing. I assume this is his mate telling him to watch it, buster!
Another one coming in for a landing. Looks like they don't know how to land too gracefully.
another Wood Stork couple. By 14 days, newborn wood storks will weigh 10 times its hatching weight. At 28 days,
each is 25 times heavier. During the breeding season, wood storks need
over 400 lb of fish to feed themselves and their offspring.
When the weather is very warm, parents also collect water and bring it
to the nest to drool on and into the mouths of the chicks. By the time
the young are four weeks old, both parents leave the nest to search for
food, and this continues until the chicks leave the nest. I haven't seen any baby Wood Storks there, yet, but there seem to be a lot of "couples".
Wood Storks like to live in colonies. This is part of a colony.
Love these little guys---pied bill grebe.
Love the spikey "hair dos" of the baby Great Blue Herons.
There are several Florida Softshell turtles here, too.
It was a nice break from construction! Now back to it!
