Fort Desoto Fishing Pier - Skywatch Friday

I saw this pelican from far away. I saw a little green on it and thought it was a band. When I got home and cropped it up I realized it was a fish hook with a green fish. Hopefully, it will dislodge.

Snowy egret with a bite of fish. He's standing on one of the cleaning stations on the pier.

Osprey nest on the old tower next to the snack bar. I think the one on the left is a juvenile.

The usual dolphin swimming around the pier.

Lots of kites in the sky this past weekend.

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New babies at Gatorland and a sad story.

I think this snowy egret was born the day before I was there. It was huddled under mom.

Baby anhinga looking up at mom. This was the first time I have seen a baby anhinga. There were 3 babies on this nest.

Baby great egret peaking over the branches.

Warning - my sad story starts with this bottom picture. There were 3 baby snowy egrets on this tiny nest when I first got to the bird rookery at Gatorland. Later in the morning I was watching this particular nest. One baby looked much younger than the other two, maybe by a few days. I then realized that the mom was holding the smallest baby by the foot. It then dawned on me that the mom was pushing the baby out of the nest. The baby didn't fall right away. It's other foot seemed to have gotten caught on a branch. In the picture the back baby was watching the other one fall. You can barely see the little legs sticking up on the far left. There were a few other photographers watching at that point. I've read about how parents or other siblings will kick out the runt if there isn't enough food or room on the nest but to see it happen was strange. The nest was too far away from the boardwalk for anyone to reach and alligators were waiting down below in the water. To make matters worse, I had heard that morning that a lot of babies were lost in the big storm that had moved through Orlando the week before. Even though the day ended on a sad note, there's still lots of babies being born there every day.

Nature's fashion show at Gatorland.

The great egret gets the lime green color above the beak. Normally, that is a dark yellow that blends in with the beak. They grow the white feather strings that hang down in the spring.

Cattle egret with beige feathers on his chest and head. Normally this would be all white. The beak turns bright purple and orange. His legs get turn brighter.

That little white feather on the head pops up and the tri-colored heron gets a little more burgundy in his feathers. His red eye becomes much brighter.

The snowy egret's yellow beak and feet turn pink and orange.

Pretty pink face.

The adult breeding birds are really pretty this time of year. Bird rookeries are fashion shows for birds. I guess it's their nature's makeup. A couple of weekends ago I headed back to Gatorland to see if there were any more babies. Lots of adults birds with beautiful faces prancing around. Most have coupled up and are either building nests or already have babies. I'm going to try and get to Gatorland one more time to catch the tri-colored heron babies before the season winds down.

Birds and dolphins at the Fort Desoto fishing pier.

Snowy egrets on one of the roofs of the fishing pier. It was a windy day.

Nice pose.

White ibis flying by.

Dolphin pod swimming by.

More dolphins.

Neat looking ship passing by the fishing pier.

Another sunny Sunday afternoon spent at Fort Desoto. It was very windy and cool. There won't be many days like this left before it gets miserable hot. I saw a lot of dolphins but weirdly they were all swimming far away from the pier. Usually they swim around and underneath the pier. I guess it's better that way. Sometimes the dolphins go after the fish caught on the fishing poles. The dolphin tries to swim away with the fish and ends up with a hook in his mouth or stomach. The fishermen are always mad because they've lost a hook. I always want to say "How would like to spend your short life with fishing hooks in YOUR stomach?" but I don't. I just walk away and shake my head. 

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Estero Lagoon Locals

Very windy conditions on the Florida Gulf Coast were again experienced this week as a storm front passed over the Florida Peninsula offering much needed rain though very little accumulated in the Fort Myers area.

The Reddish Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

The weather was otherwise ideal for an afternoon visit to Estero Lagoon early in the week.

I found haven from the wind by settling in the water exiting the lagoon into the gulf near a clump of mangroves on the beach.

The Osprey above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

From this position I was able to study a surprisingly docile Reddish Egret that was often wary of the beach patrons passing by.

I was able to observe a number of White Ibis, a Snowy Egret, and a Mottled Duck work the lagoon.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

A very rarely seen Herring Gull made a close flyby over the lagoon as it headed south along the beach.

An Osprey made a landing behind a dune in the lagoon and appeared back into view carrying a stick for nest building.

The Herring Gull above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

This was a treat to observe as I thought this activity had peaked a couple of months ago.

While it's been evident that snow birds (tourists) have been returning home these past couple of weeks, there still was a lot of foot traffic at the lagoon.

The Magnificent Frigatebird above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

A pair of visitors from Miami photographed the Reddish Egret with me for a brief time.

The Roseate Spoonbill failed to arrive on the scene as I commented was a possibility.

The Miamian above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

After walking a few hundred yards to the south, I settled down to study a pair of Snowy Egret and the Reddish Egret that had flown in to take advantage of the incoming tide.

A Ruddy Turnstone flew onto the scene for a brief moment as the sun was close to setting.

The Reddish Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

I chose to photograph the waders directly into the sun in the final hour of my stay at the lagoon for what I had hoped would offer some interesting images.

This proved to be a problem with the reflection of the sun in the water so bright that I needed to use manual focus as auto focus couldn't distinguish the birds from the surf.

The Michiganian above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

The beach goers near Estero Lagoon are often visiting from other parts of the country or the world.

It's always interesting to speak with them when the chance arises.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in April 2011.

Alligators and birds at Gatorland

The big gators were bellowing when I walked into the bird rookery.

A big one standing in the water.

You can feed hot dogs to the gators in the lake but I think the birds eat more of them than the gators do. I once saw a kid throw the hot dog on the gator's head and a bird picked it off his head. I have also seen a gator catch and eat an egret so it happens.

Wood storks close to the boardwalk. I think they were walking around looking for lost hot dogs.

Big smile!

It always seems funny to see the birds use the gator tails as logs to stand on.

This snowy egret was stepping over the gator.

A loud video of the gator bellowing. Birds are calling in the begining. Towards the end you can hear the bellow.

I got to Gatorland right when they opened at 9am and headed straight for the bird rookery. When I got there I heard the strangest noise. I have been to Gatorland several times in the spring for the last 2 years and had never heard that sound before. All of the alligators were bellowing. It sounded like a sick dog groaning. It was very loud. Creepy but interesting. I was just glad I was on the boardwalk and not in some swamp with that sound. The weather was cool when I got there which I think is why the gators were so active that early. It warmed up pretty quick though. It's interesting the relationship with these birds and the gators. They are both just looking for food in the same places. The alligators in the lake provide a safe place for the birds to build their nest over to keep raccoons out (until one of the babies falls out of the nest).  I posted this picture last year on Flickr of an alligator with a great egret - flickr picture. Sad but I know everyone has to eat.

Nesting wild birds at Gatorland

I think it all starts here. The great egret gets that pretty bright green "I'm sexy" color on their face.

Then they grow the "I'm sexy" feathers and start doing the "look at me" dance.

Then they start "going steady" and become a couple.

Then "it" happens. There was a lot of it going on at Gatorland recently.

They work on the nest bringing sticks and twigs.

Then they become parents. This one only had one egg. 

This is a snowy egret with four eggs. They are going to be busy parents when they hatch.

Two weekends ago I made my first seasonal trip over to Orlando to check out the wild bird rookery at Gatorland.  The mangroves along the alligator exhibit are full of wild birds that fly in for the spring to have their babies here. Since the alligators keep away the raccoons, I guess the birds think it's pretty safe for them to build their nests over the alligators. Right now it's mostly great egrets, snowy egrets, anhingas and storks that are nesting with eggs. Soon the tri-colored and blue herons will move in and nest as well. There was only one nest that had hatched (more on those later) so I'm going to try and get back there in late April to check on the rest of the eggs.

Eagles at Fort Desoto

Another baby eagle family near Fort Desoto. These are extremely cropped. The nest is across the lake and there's no way around the lake.

The only baby's thinking "What are you looking at?"

Flock of white pelicans circling around Fort Desoto.

Snowy egret posing on the fishing pier.

There's always a lot of great egrets on the pier.

Great blue heron flying into the lake.

I can't go to the Fort Desoto fishing pier and not take pictures of dolphins.

It's that time of the year. Warmer days means heading to the beach at Fort Desoto park. Recently, we had our first real warm day and the hubby and I headed out.  Our first stop was the duck ponds just outside of the park. There's an eagle's nest across the pond. As we drove near it you could see all of the photographers standing on the side of the road with their big lenses pointed at the nest. We got out and I took a handful of pictures. We waited for about an hour but the other mate didn't return.  Another photographer said the mate did not return until noon the day before so we left and headed to the beach.

After a picnic lunch on the beach, I walked down to the fishing pier. In the past you would see lots of pelicans swimming around the pier. It's a good place to practice birds in flight photography and pelicans diving for food photography. No such luck on this day. For some reason there wasn't a single pelican around. The fishermen didn't seem to be catching much either so maybe that's why.