…But first, I have to announce that the swallow-tail kites are back for the summer! I've seen 3, but no photos yet…always seen soaring high overhead...
Ok, being able to see the spoonbills and their hatchlings may have been the icing on the cake for my visit to the St. Augustine rookery, but "the cake" would be getting home, cropping photos, and discovering that I'd been looking at a reddish egret - white morph, without realizing it! Easy to ID due to the pink base of the black bill...
Update: This is actually a snowy egret, darn it! I was corrected by someone on Facebook when I posted the photo there…I Googled images of the snowy and sure enough, this is most likely a snowy with breeding colors, though the pink can also be red or orange…the bill size makes me think snowy...
…There were a few little blue herons…this one has bright blue eggs in the nest in front of it...
…And there were some snowy egrets…these appeared to be two adults...
I was excited to see a few cattle egrets, but couldn't get any good photos…was esp. excited to be able to see them in breeding plumage at a closer range...
…More to come!
Oh yes .. a plethora of lovely Egrets and one of the advantages of digital images Jann.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I pay more attention to ID features when using my bins than when peering through the viewfinder!!
What a fun place that must be...Those birds are so beautiful, and you captured great pictures of them.
ReplyDeleteGah so much homemaking!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSweet posts Jann, and sweet shots as well. I can't imagine if the noise or the smell is more powerful!
No bins (badly) needed at the rookery, Frank, luckily for me!
DeleteThanks Janice…it was very exciting to see all those nests, but hard to capture hatchlings.
Laurence, I'd say the smell won, ha!
All so very pretty! It's especially nice to view them in their gorgeous breeding plumage.
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