Photographing the bird rookery in Biscayne Bay

A Photo Journal and Diary of a Bird Rookery

When I discovered the rookery it was already near the end of summer in 2007. During that time, the nests were unoccupied and the young birds that were
born earlier were larger fledglings practicing their flying and fishing skills. The tree island was loaded with young and adult birds, cormorants, cattle egrets,
tricolor herons, green herons, nightcrown herons, little blue herons, and anhingas. Since 2008, I have been visiting the rookery on a regular basis during the
late spring and summer months. This photo journal and diary is an account of my first season with the rookery. This was a study in bird behavior,
photography techniques from a canoe, and tide and weather effects.

May 18th

High tide at 9 am, SW winds at 5-10 knots, kicking up to

knots by 10 am. We are on the water by 7 am. The

water

was

calm

aking

an easy

2.5

mile

paddle

to the rookery.

Plume Hunters

As I crossed the channel, I began to hear the

loud bird

sounds of the rookery. Something was on my mind. A couple days earlier I had finished reading

the

book

Death in the Everglades

, a story about Guy Bradley (author Stuart McIver). In 1902, one year after the Florida bird protection law was passed,

Guy

Bradley

was

hired as a warden in south Florida

protect the birds targeted by plume hunters.

One of the rookeries he protected was

Cuthbert

Lake

located east of Flamingo in the backcountry of the Everglades. In the book, the author describes the discovery of this rookery

George

Cuthbert

1889. After crossing several bays and marshland and mangrove thickets, he finally discovered the tree island in the middle of the

lake.

For Cuthbert,

finding this rookery was an irresistible challenge, it was the

oly Grail

of bird rookeries.

As he slowly

approached the

island in his

boat:

"...it greeted him,

the overwhelming smell - a nauseating blend of decomposing fish,

regurgitated flesh to feed the

baby birds, and

basic bird

smells - and everywhere the

bird droppings, seemingly streaking the foliage of every tree, covering the

ground underfoot,

even discoloring the

water

around the island."

The rookery

was about 2 acres in size and it was teeming with blue herons, roseate

spoonbills, white ibis

and all kinds of

egrets

including snowy and reddish. "

By the

thousands the birds flew in and out of the rookery, rising like white columns

above the green

mangroves

Cuthbert's conquest was the beginning of the

of this rookery and all its residents.

Cuthbert, along with many others, was a plume hunter out to

make a

living from the slaughter of birds. In those days, an ounce of bird feathers was worth twice t

hat of an ounce of gold.

High class women

fashioned their hats

with the plumage of these dead birds.

In order to supply this fashion, plume hunting

became

a big business and the primary source

of income for many Florida

esidents

In one year, 5 million birds

in the United States

were reported to have died at the guns of the plume hunters.

Guy

Bradley was hired to protect the birds, and as a consequence, was murdered when trying to do just that.

I think of this story and other written accounts from those early days that describe these rookeries in Florida. Now I have the privilege of

watching and

spending time photographing a

modern-day

rookery. The Biscayne Bay rookery is

ot close to

two acres in size

as was the rookery Cuthbert

discovered

. A

t best guess, I

believe

it has a

circumference of

00-

00 feet. There are large condominium buildings that serve as a backdrop, although

the rookery is surrounded by

the

coastline in a

well

protected area. It sits about 200 feet from a

mangrove

jetty that

separates the rookery from

a deep

channel leading out to the

bay.

It's an unlikely place

for a

rookery given

the amount of development that surrounds

and boat traffic that passes by in

the channel;

but there it is

nevertheless. Quite telling is that rookeries and safe

places for birds are

fewer

and far

between compared to 110 years ago

when the bird

protection law was passed. But

it is not only the

development boom

that is the

bird's

emise

devastation from plume hunting has

left a very deep scar and even after 100 years of

protection, the birds just

have not

come

back like they were before.

With all this in mind, I

isit the

rookery with a high reverence for these birds,

foul

smells and all.

he birds that nest here are

descendants of a lineage

surviving ancestors lucky enough (or Darwinian enough)

to have passed on their genes to the next generation. They have adapted and continue to

adapt

to the

con

stant

changes around them. They are heroes to me. I want to know how they survive and what skills they teach their young. For

learning, this little

rookery will be a good start.

Finding a good spot to park the canoe

The sounds of the tree island tell you that there is a blustery amount of activity

n the trees

. At once I he

the low croaking of the cormorants, like a

burping

sound a

young

boy would be proud

to make

. There are several other higher pitched sounds and it would be impossible for me to distinguish

them

, but many of the sounds are coming from young cormorants still confined to the nest

ach

sound is

part of a cac

phony that is music to my

ears. The smell is not so bad, of course the

closer you get the

ore pungent

the smell

. I

recognize

this smell

from the days when I was a student at

the University of Texas at Austin. Our

department

was located in the building adjacent

to the football field. In

the summer when no one was around, I

could

ark

in the

stadium parking

lot, located beneath the bleacher stands.

Inside the parking lot

lived a colony

of bats and the smell from the bat guano

was

overwhelming

. Finding the

right parking spot was key to not getting th

acid

at droppings

on your car.

It's a foul smell, very musk

y, but sweet-

It's exactly the same smell

that

emanates from the tree island. I don't mind it much, as long as I don't get

the stuff on me.

The mangrove

branches

and leaves are covered in white

bird droppings, but I

safe

from it

several feet away in my canoe.

By the time I arrive, the water level around the island was about 3-4 feet

high;

low enough that

ould

easily use the stake-out pole for

anchoring

but too

high

get out of the canoe

. I paddled slowly

around the island, watching the activity in the trees. The cattle egret

and cormorant

were most prominent

and actively flying back and forth.

everal

cormorants were

scattered about

in the water and those flying from the

tree island

would either go to some

point in the water or off to a farther location. The

cattle egrets were consistently fly

ing

toward the coastline behind

the tree

island or flying away across

the jetty and further

south along

the coast. I paddled around to

the north

east

end of the island

for

the best lighting.

Rounding the corner I could see

some active cormorant nests, but could barely

the

babies. The cattle egret nests were more

difficult to

ind

The only way I could

dentify

one of

them was to watch an egret fly in with nesting material. I witnessed this several times and it

became a

pattern. After landing, the bird would catch its

balance and maybe disturb another bird or two in the process. Then it would hop or walk

around until it

got onto the right branch that would lead into the

thickness of the mangrove where the nest was located, out of sight from my

perspective.

Because of

this display,

located

a couple

more open

nests

almost at eye le

vel

. I noticed a bird,

aybe

female, sitting in the nest

. I

f I had gotten out of my boat

and walked over to it, I could have looked down

into the nest.

made note of this because

later, I may be able to see

the babies

from my canoe parked

several feet away.

I found a good spot to park the boat and placed the stake-out pole in the

hickly packed sand floor

so that the current would make my boat drift in a way

that I

could

fac

the birds

ith

the sun on my back. Both the cormorants and cattle egrets were busy bringing in nesting material, although I

noticed the

cattle egrets were more frequent. The cormorants were quite active in flight and in the water, but I only spotted a bird with nesting

material on

occasions. I thought I would be ready to capture one, but always missed it. Despite that, the cormorants would prove to be quite

interesting as the

morning wore on.

One thing that impressed me was how close the nests were to each other. The cormorants and egrets seem to

not mind each other

much. After

watching them for several hours, I decided that the cormorants have a much calmer demeanor than the fussy cattle

egrets. Although I

never saw a

cormorant and egret get into a tussle, I did see pairs or group

s of

3 egrets get into a bit of a rumble, or what appeared to

be so. There

were

other kinds

of birds, but

only

one or two to speak of. I saw a young little blue heron (still whitish) fly into the mangroves somewhere

amidst all the

cattle

egret and

cormorant nests. I watched a tricolor heron land on the peak of the mangrove canopy and then fly off. I noticed one or

two green

herons

under the

mangrove branches, closer to ground level. A few black birds flew around and sometimes landed on a branch, but never

stayed long.

wondered if

they were there to pillage the nests. And high in the canopies, far away, I could barely

one anhinga.

At first, the birds noticed my presence and seemed nervous. I kept a good

feet or so from the island, which seemed to be reasonable length

between my boat and the birds. After awhile, I believe they forgot I was there or decided there was no threat. One thing I learned from reading about

the plume hunters, nesting parents will not leave their young, even under threat. This fact made plume hunting the cruelest of acts against animals,

the

adult nesting birds were sitting targets and the babies were left to die on their own. I think of this fact and

understand that I could

get very close and

disturb these nests if I wanted to, it would be so easy to get a close up shot of a nesting egret with her young.

If I hear about a photographer disturbing

a bird's nest, I will refer to him or her as a plume hunter from now on. My feeling on all this is that I am

not

welcomed and at best, tolerated by these

birds. I will respectfully keep a comfortable distance and will be as quiet as possible. The key is to stay

till

for awhile, let the birds get use to you. That

is exactly what I did today, and I spent a good 3 hours in one spot.

The nesting cormorants

The

main characters of the day were cormorants and cattle egrets. I found a cormorant nest that was well out of hiding and high enough in the canopy

that the babies and parent were contrasted against a bright blue sky.

his was a bonus

because cormorants are so well hidden within the mangroves

making them very difficult photo subjects

. I got into a good lighting position and watched this nest

for

some time. There were 2 young ones and they

were quite large, almost the size of the parent

(see photo below)

. The difference was the

feathers; the

young birds having more grayish fuzz than the

slick, black feathers of the adult.

Also, it appeared that the secondary feathers had not

come in yet.

They were very needy and seemed to beg the

parent

quite often by

raising their long necks up as high as possible with immature wings

fluttering around as the parent would stand over them, patiently

letting

them peck at

its mouth. Finally, the adult bird would allow one of the babies

heads into its

mouth

and with several violent jabs, the baby would

get its

entire head inside

the mouth of the adult. All this, while the other eagerly

begged. Finally, the young ones would switch and the second baby

would get

its meal. I

witnessed this on several occasions.

bserved

another interesting spectacle from the cormorants. On

several

occasion

noticed one or two cormorants come out from under the

mangroves and

swim into the open.

ne time

a group of 4 birds caught my attention.

This group was more noticeable, there seemed to

some

activity going on. I watched them more closely and realized that

one of the cormorants was an adult and the others were young ones. The

adult

started to feed one of the young birds in the water (see

photo below).

Cattle egrets and their breeding plumages

Something interesting that I noticed after looking at the photos I took today was that there appeared to be 2 types of cattle egrets. One type had the

typical orange

crown

and chest along with yellow eyes and legs. The other was more colorful, similarly arranged orange feathers, but with red eyes and

legs and a splash of purple around its beak near the eyes. With some investigating and talking to my

photograph

friend

Daniel

, I learned that the more

colorful

version was a transient breeding plumage. This bird (male or female) was simply trying to attract a mate

(see photo below on far left)

. Along

those

lines, this version never seemed

to leave the mangrove canopy, while the other version would fly to and from the rookery, coming back most of

the

time with nesting material. This

seemed to jibe with Daniel's explanation that the colorful bird had found a good nesting spot and was now coaxing

its

potential

mate to join him or her. Some of

the cattle egrets appeared to

in nesting mode, so there must be various stages of nesting going on.

Endless opportunities for flight shots

Sitting at this rookery is a great place to practice flight shots. Every 10 to 60 seconds one or sometimes a few cattle egrets would come flying in from

the distant mangroves lining the shoreline, sometimes with branches or twigs

(see photo below)

. As soon as I spotted one coming closer, I quickly

learned that another

would soon follow, and sometimes 2 or 3 more after that. Cormorants were also consistent, but much more difficult to capture and

this is for t

hree

reasons that I was able to figure. The first is that cormorant flight is much faster than cattle egret.

second

reason is that cormorants

fly in from just about any direction. The cattle egrets on the other hand seemed to hold a flight

pattern and soon, I

could determine where a bird was

heading within the rookery even when it was 1/4 mile away. The third reason cormorants were

more difficult to

capture is that they fly low, about 3-4

feet above the water and

about 30-50 feet from the rookery mangroves would swoop up at a

high

angle and then

come in for the landing. The cattle

egrets were shot almost exclusively with a sky background as they consistently flew higher

above the

mangrove line.

Today, I shot everything with the Minolta 300mm + 1.4X teleconverter. I brought the Sigma zoom without the teleconverter but never took it out of the

pelican case. 420mm was perfect for probably 95% of the shots, the other 5% being when birds were flying too close. The flight shot opportunities

were so numerous that it didn't matter. Below are a few shots from the day.

May 24, 2008

Summer mornings in south Florida

Like any summer day in south Florida, we had temperatures in the low 80s by 6 am

, eventually reaching low 90s by late morning

. We were on the

water before 7 am, knowing that a

storm system would be moving in later

hat

day. Winds were very calm in the morning, but reaching 15 knots by

am. This would be a

much easier paddle compared to last week when I had 2

knot winds as I paddled back from the rookery to

the

launch site.

Today, low tide was at 7:30 am and the sky was scattered with some thick clouds passing in a northwesterly direction. The sun rose

behind a thick

swatch of clouds and I would have to wait about 20 minutes while on the water for the sun to rise above the clouds.

ear

the launch

site w

about a

dozen great white egrets fishing in the low tide. They covered an area that extended out

from the

mangroves about 500 feet. As I waited for the sun, I

paddled around them getting into a position of good lighting once the sun finally made its

appearance. This is a typical summer day here, clouds come

and go, sometimes making sunrises very bland.

Finally the morning sun was clear of clouds and the warm glow lit up the mangroves that make beautiful reflections in the dark water as the white birds

fish

around. This would be easy, I could float with ease closer to one or two of them

. T

hey are so active

with catching fish and other marine edibles

that it

was

only seconds before I capture

a bird

with a large fish in its great beak. I capture

a few others making their beak dives but noticed that one

one, they flew off to a more distant and safe

spot

over a course of about 15 minutes

. Satisfied with the shots

got,

I moved on toward the rookery.

Growth and development in

cormorants

Like last week, the activity emanating from the tree island was in high gear as the cattle egrets and cormorants flew around the area. The water was

about 1-2 feet lower

than last time

, making it possible for me to get out of my boat if I needed to. I staked out in the same spot

last week

;

if you are

successful

one time,

maybe you'll have success a second time

. I noticed the cormorant nest from last week and the babies were there with the parent

in their usual begging

positions. I

set up for some shots and noticed that their feathers were shedding the fuzzy look and taking on the more slick, adult

version (see photo

below). The

secondary feathers have not yet fully developed but I did notice a marked difference just within one week.

I did

ome

research on nesting cormorants and ran across an interesting

story

about a baby

cormorant that was rescued after having fallen out of

its

nest. It was about 1 week old and smaller than a dollar bill. The woman who cared for it is

from the

Marathon Wild Bird Center in the Florida Keys. It

was a female bird she named 'Baby'. What is interesting

about this story is that she chronicles the bird's growth and

development over a course of

about 10 weeks, the length of time it takes a baby to become

independent.

After 10 weeks of caring for the bird, she

motored it out to a rookery island

where the bird flew off toward it. She never saw

again.

A few interesting points I learned from her story;

feather growth over a 24-hr period is

measurable in inches, the bird gets its hook on the

beak after about 4 weeks, a

n immature

bird eats up to 10 fish a

day and it takes about 7 weeks for

the feathers to mature into the adult version. I'm

guessing that the baby cormorants I am watching are

older than 4

weeks because they do have

hooks. I'm curious to find out whether or not they take

to the water before they are able to fly.

Bird flight 101

Last week I was not successful capturing cormorants in flight as they flew back to the mangrove. I learned that they have flight speeds near 50 mph

with no wind. From what

information

I could find

flight speeds of egrets and herons, the cattle egret flight speed is

less than 40 mph, probably closer

to 25-30 mph. This really brings to light the differences in my cormorant and egret flight shot attempts. A factor

in all

this is the flight distance from the

water surface. The cormorant flies much closer to the water and my uneducated guess is that would provide less

wind resistance. I did find one website

that reported a study where they tested wind velocity as a function of height above sea level. They found that

wind velocity increased logarithmically

with an increase in

vertical distance from sea level. Another factor may be simple biomechanics and muscle

power to body weight ratio. What ever the

reasons are, the cattle egrets

quickly

became

easier

to capture in flight (I must have made over 100

attempts by

now) and the cormorants

took longer

to get use to but

eventually

they

became easier targets as I learned their flight patterns (see photos

below).

Nesting cattle egrets

The cattle egret nests I noticed last week were still there including the one at eye level (see bottom left photo below). The mother bird was on the nest

most of the time and with a close up shot, I noticed that she seemed quite bloated. Could this be a bird getting ready to lay eggs? I did not notice eggs

in the nest, so that is the only conclusion I could draw from her quite plump body. She seemed very attentive and once she realized I was there was

very watchful. At first, I noticed her sleeping in the nest, almost laying sideways. Her head was facing away from me, but she reminded me of a

sleeping orange and white calico cat. Any other cattle egret nest was too well hidden and I could only surmise where they were located based on the

landing choices made by the incoming birds. Among several cattle egrets perched in the mangrove were 2 young birds with white plumage and dark

beaks. Apparently, young little blue herons are difficult to distinguish from young cattle egrets. I watched a few little blue heron adults flying into and out

of the mangroves, but I am inclined to think these 2 may be cattle egrets given that they are surrounded by cattle egret adults. They barely came out of

hiding for any photo shot so I can't examine them closely. I did get a couple shots of what I believe to be a young cattle egret. It was adult size, yellow

beak and eyes and orange feathers on the head and chest, just like an adult (see photo below). What distinguished this bird from

typical

adult

was the

messy appearance, its orange head feathers stuck out and seemed to be unmanageable, typical of a young egret or heron.

ut, with further

observation, I suspect this is an adult egret that could have been

recovering from a recent feeding of the young, which is a messy display of food stuff.

The poor bird was probably taking a break from the demanding children and hadn't taken time to clean up.

Other than cormorants and cattle egrets

There were a few other characters

I spotted a couple ibises flying over head but they did not land on the island. The ibises have been nesting, which is

why I have seen so few of them feeding along the mangroves or flying overhead. They should be coming out of hiding now and soon I should see

the

young ibises with their brown and white plumages. I noticed a green heron or two flying from the mangrove island to the mangroves that line the

coastline. At one point, I watched one flying to the island with some nesting material. It flew in low so the nest must be somewhere below all the

cormorant and cattle egret activity. I don't know how any bird could survive on the lower level of the mangrove island with all the cormorant and cattle

egret droppings. I was reading about the problems they are having in Michigan with cormorants. Once they find trees for nesting, the trees eventually

die off from the acidity of the bird mess and when that happens, the birds will move on to wreak havoc in a new location. I'm not sure if this problem

exists here or if mangroves can take this sort of thing better than other trees. All I know is, this mangrove island seemed to be doing just fine and there

are a number of birds living and feeding at the level of the roots, at water level.

I know there are blackcrown nightherons around here and I did spot one come out of the dark of the mangrove roots and swoop into the water grabbing

some marine animal. Without hesitation, it flew back into its hiding spot. I also noticed a couple female anhingas in the canopies. Other than that,

cormorants and cattle egrets dominant this place. It will be a couple weeks before I can get back here. Much can happen in 2 weeks, so

the bird

rookery should have some new things for me to see.

June 16, 2008

Back on the bay, finally

The winds and storm systems running through south Florida the past 2 weeks have made it impossible to get out on the water sooner than later. After

having been out of town for a week, I was anxiously wanting to get back to the rookery and planned to get here during the first week in June. But, the

weather is the master of my domain it seems. Finally, a day that was calm, starting out around 0-5 knots in the morning and kicking up to

maybe 10

knots. Fast moving thick cumulus clouds covered much of the morning sky and by the time I arrived at the rookery, most of the large clouds had

moved on and the sun was bright in the sky. More thunder clouds would be forming later in the morning, but coming from the southeast and never

really reaching the bay. Long story short, it was a great day to be out here. I was on the water by 6:50 am, high tide would be rolling in about 8:30 am

(90% moon visibility)

so there would be no wading birds en route to the rookery.

Cattle egrets and more cattle egrets

I almost feel it does this bird an injustice calling it 'cattle' egret. Some may feel this bird deserves little respect because it is not indigenous to this region.

It is believed cattle egrets come over from Africa

making their way north through South America and eventually landing in Florida sometime in the

1940s. Lucky them, plume hunting had already died out. Indigenous or not, they have become part of the landscape, a motif showing up frequently

along the Florida highways. Without knowing anything about these birds other than their propensity to hang out with bovine, you would never guess that

they exist in very large communities on mangrove islands

somewhere

in a bay

the Atlantic Ocean. As a non-native, the cattle egret is

thought to be

quite

unobtrusive toward other herons and egrets

although some will say that they have crowded out the little blue herons from their nesting spots.

But

overall, they seem to have little impact on other

birds.

There

are a couple reasons for this. One, cattle egrets nest later in the season, after many

herons have already broke away from their nests.

And two, they

eat a lot of non-marine animals such as insects and land invertebrates, and

they don't

take to water or

fish. Thus, they present little

competition

They are here, those non-natives, and they are living peacefully among

all the other birds.

So, hurray to them! Is there a more respectful

name for the cattle egret? The scientific name, Bubulcus Ibis doesn't sound much

better. But, there is

another common name, Garcilla Bueyera.

Hmmm, sounds too much like a character from

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

, not quite what

I was looking for.

Oh well, for now, cattle egret will remain as

cattle egret.

I come to the island today seeing dozens of cattle egret in the branches. I paddle around to the

northeast corner

of the island

to get the

orning sunlight

and to find the nest I

had been eyeing. And there was the nest, this time with 3 little egrets

in residence

(see photo below)

. A parent was near by and

once I noticed it

bringing a small branch

into the

nest. The babies appeared to be begging as they would extend their exposed necks upward one at a

time with beaks

wide open. Later, I

watched both

parents come into the nest, where they found the room I have no idea. One stayed on, the other

flew off again to a

near by perch. The

cattle egret

nests that are so well hidden seemed to come more to life today than the previous days I visited.

This is because there

were now many

more babies

flapping their wings and attempting to roam from the nest a bit more,

and most of them that I saw

today were much

larger than the 3 little

ones I spotted at the start. It would be difficult to estimate how many cattle egret

nests exist on this tiny island,

but within 25 sq ft,

I saw what

appeared to be 3 active nests. And those were the less hidden nests. Locating a nest

could be done 3 different ways

today; first, watching

an adult fly

in and land, second, watching an adult grab a branch and take it to the nest, and third,

the larger babies were becoming

more noticeable.

Compared to 3 weeks ago when I was here last, I spotted about two dozen young egrets on the north

east

side of the island where I had been

photographing most of the time. There was one nest in particular, a bit higher on the mangroves than most, that seemed quite active. I noticed 3

babies and one seemed to venture out more than the others. It appears that the young birds know how to hide well, getting a photograph of one was

nearly impossible. But every once in awhile, one bold baby from a nest would rise above the others on a higher branch and look out. The bird would

stand tall and look about, watching cormorants and other cattle egrets flying

. Then, an adult would come in to the nest and there would be a

clashing

of several wings thrusting about here and there. It would be mayhem as the adult tried to feed the hungry beggers whose beaks by now were

as large

as mom's. Photographing these scenes was very challenging and I was lucky to get one decent shot of the interaction.

I also noticed some other behaviours from the cattle egrets. Last time I was here, I watched several egrets bring nesting material in from some distant

place. Today, I did not see that at all. Rather, egrets that were in the mangroves were finding branches and twigs and walking or flying them over to

their nearby nests. I saw one egret grab a twig from an unoccupied cormorant nest and take it to its own nest. I saw th

e gathering of branches

several

times among the

adult egrets. The other things I noticed is when an adult got too close to a young egret, the young one would fuss and go after the

adult. Since this

was not a parent interaction, I suspect it's about territory and the young babies must defend their space just as much as the adults do.

I never saw a

cormorant and egret get into a squabble, interestingly enough. This seems so unlikely given the number of both species in the mangroves.

The cormorants

The babies no longer look like babies. Their

feathers

are adult-like and t

ir bodies are adult size. The one noticeable difference I found were the

eyes.

The babies were still getting fed by a parent and when I photographed this interaction, I saw that the young cormorant had bulging brown eyes in

contrast to the emerald eyes of the adult. There appeared to be no babies that were confined to a nest, rather, they seemed to get around on the

branches quite well. I believe many of them were flying and some were swimming. I did witness some adult cormorants coming in with nesting

material, so I believe the nests are occupied by some. It seems though that the island is loaded with several young cormorants that will soon be flying

and swimming on. Last year in August, I came upon a group of about 200 cormorants swimming in the bay just south of the channel. It was quite a

sight to see. A

nother

smaller group was spotted just on the east side of the rookery island and I suspect that these were all young cormorants. If I'm

right,

soon, the babies on this island will be leaving en masse and eventually finding their own territories.

Other players

As usual, I spot a blue heron here, a green heron there, a blackcrown nightheron, a couple ibises flying by and a female anhinga or two flying overhead

and landing in the island. At one point, 3 crows came flying in and seemed to take interest in the island for about 20 minutes, then they disappeared

again. I also spotted the ultra-fast least tern diving and flying near by.

Below are

some

photos from the day. None of these photos

spectacular, but they do demonstrate the experience of the rookery in the ways I

described above. For the most part, I had the sunlight working well for me, but on occasion there was cloud covering. I was happy to have my Minolta

prime lens today

but several times I wished I had the zoom lens.

I stayed at the rookery over 3 hours.

Time flies like the birds, it's unbelievable that one can spend that much time watching

these animals

. I headed

back toward

the launch site at 10:45 am and watched the storm system form over the Miami area. I would be driving in rain, but was never threatened

with it while

on the bay.

Back to HOME

June 22, 2008

Another hot one

True to form, this morning would be a heat challenge

. T

his became quite evident as the morning wore on and I sat behind the rookery island well

protected by the

south

easterly breezes. Low tide was at 7:15 am

(90% moon visibility)

, I was on the water by 6:45 am and

immediately

head

straight to

the rookery. The

sunrise was

spectacular with only a few small clouds above it. The large orange sun rose

bove the water line

as we got

our boats

loaded

the launch site. The temperature was already well into the 80s and would reach 90 in no time. There was little breeze to

speak of,

so typical

for this past week. Every day has been the same, calm mornings with little cloud cover, large clouds moving in from the southwest

by noon,

and

lightning storms and hard rain by 1-2 pm. Today, we would stay as long as possible before the rain. We were off the water by 11:30 am

and by

noon or

so, we were driving in rain. Two things really challenged me this morning. First, the paddle to the rookery. I really don't mind paddling,

in fact, I

love it.

But when you are anxious to get to your destination, it seems that it takes forever to travel 2 miles in a canoe.

tried

to be patient and enjoy the

time getting there. For the most part I did and in fact, took my time photographing

some

ants that were huddled on a large piece of driftwood

near the channel. The tide was at its lowest

with the near full moon

, revealing several

branches that allowed

several

cormorants to rest. The sun

offered a strong backlight and I thought the silhouette effect with the very calm water would

be a nice photo.

Eventually I got to the rookery, and by

then, the sun was casting a golden light on the surrounding mangroves that lined the channel

jetty.

The second challenge of the day was the heat. It didn't hit me until after a couple hours or so sitting on the

orth

side of the island, where there was

absolutely no breeze. It was terribly humid and it seemed that the funky smell of the island was stuck in my nose the entire day with the heaviness of

the air. The problem was

that

I let myself get too dehydrated, with only a 1/2 liter of water and

24 oz of soda, it was hardly enough. I was wearing my

heavy prescription sun glasses as well and in between getting steamed up, they just felt

uncomfortably hot. The dehydration made me a bit fatigued

and a little jittery after awhile (not conducive to bird photography!). I know enough about

dehydration to scold myself for not bringing enough water, but

also to know that I was OK and not in dire straights yet. I would leave the rookery

around 11 am and once I got around to the gulf side, the breeze was

instantly refreshing, making the paddle back a pleasant one.

The Enterprise

and Superman have helped me along the way

As I approached the rookery, I noticed more cormorants in the water. As usual, there were cormorants flying to and from the island and they seem to

come into sight out of nowhere sometimes. They fly so fast and hover inches above the water

taking advantage of the compressed air beneath their

bodies,

that it is easy to miss them until they are right in front of

you. To help me with my cormorant flight shots, I believe I have

been able to draw

upon two important experiences in my life (warning: the following is

an attempt to be funny).

The first experience was the old Star Trek shows. When I

was growing up, we didn't have cable, so access to various TV

shows was scant in my rural area of Michigan. One show that I never watched unless I

was at someone else's house was Star Trek, so I probably

watched Star Trek episodes at a rate of about, oh, 1 every

five

years of my initial 18 years of

life. To this day, there is one aspect to that show that still

gives me nostalgic joy.

t's

the opening credits when the ship

appears out of nowhere

traveling through space. When I

first watched it,

I was amazed at how the Enterprise would

ll of a sudden appea

and flash

across the screen

. I would

try to

anticipate where it

would

come

from,

beginning as a tiny speck on the screen and growing quickly into a lightning fast

space ship. This amused

me for quite sometime and

made me learn

how to anticipate where the Enterprise would appear next. OK, not exactly field

experience with Arthur

Morris, but I have to believe that

it helps me

somewhere in my subconscious when I am shooting birds. My second experience

is more recent. Another

photography friend of mine sent

me a web

game (a movie advertisement) that came out with the

Superman film. The

game was to challenge you to

capture a snap shot of the

flying

Superman that would appear randomly on the screen and fly across in a split second. It

would progressively get more

difficult with each Superman

siting. I admit, I probably spent a few hours playing that

tupid

game, but I think it paid off.

will admit though, while

eaction time is definitely a component to success of a flight

shot,

accurately anticipat

ing

the bird

is more important

for

success

Hanging out at this

rookery on

several occasions has allowed me to identify certain flight

patterns. Star trek or no Star Trek, simply spending time here

has improved my

reflexes

greatly

and has taught me much about bird flight

Enough digression, the point is, photographing flying birds takes a certain amount of skill which mostly comes with experience and a lot of attempts. My

experience pales compared to so many others, but progress is showing. Spending time at this rookery this summer has already increased my skill level

for flight shots, although there are so many challenges and so many things that I don't know yet. In the meantime, I decided today to spend some time

staying on the

ast

side of the rookery which would give me fabulous lighting and an open view

the

cean

. This would provide me several

opportunities

to capture cormorants in flight as they came in from the

open waters

. From where I anchored my canoe, I could turn left and capture

cormorant

silhouettes

along with their reflections

n the water

or I could look forward and to the right

and

capture them coming into the island with a

beautiful front

light. There

is a large opening in the jetty where there are no mangrove reflections, the water is clear and blue. It was in this

area that I

attempted to

capture the

cormorants coming across the water. I also captured a beautiful great

white egret

fly into the

rookery island.

I had never seen

GWE on this island, but this one came in and landed on the bottom where he foraged

among the mangrove

roots for

some time.

The cormorants are learning to swim

After awhile, I paddled over to the

orth

east end of the island where I have spent the majority of my time. As soon as I rounded the corner, I came

onto

several young cormorants that had all just gotten into the water, jumping in from the low end of the mangrove branches hovering a foot or two

above

the water. There were about 8 of them and as soon as they spotted me, they skipped off to a distant spot on the water. This was a good sign

that the

large group I came across last year in the middle of

bay could very well have been cormorants born earlier that season. Today, I would

routinely

watch several cormorants get into the water and practice their swimming skills, sometimes in groups of 6 or more but more often 1 to 3 at a

time. I

suspect they are also learning to fly, but unfortunately, I did not watch for this closely enough. I do know that parents are still flying in to feed the

young

ones and bring in nesting material. I imagine they must keep having to reinforce their nests with the growing babies becoming quite hefty.

The

young

ones are pretty much indistinguishable from the adults except for the slightly lighter wing color. Their eyes as I mentioned from the other day

are

not the

brilliant aqua color either. I watched several young cormorants in the mangroves, but again, I am not certain if they have been flying in and

out

yet.

The cattle egret families and their progress

The egrets are growing. Most of the babies that I can see are quite large and almost the size of adults. They still have the fuzzy crowns on their tops

and they just look completely awkward as they flap their wings and try to move around on the branches. I noticed something very interesting and this

was most evident with one family that was easy to spot. This particular family included 3 young ones and their was clearly a h

ier

archy among them.

One would be the boldest and get itself up on a high branch so it could survey its surroundings. In between standing tall and observing, it would flap its

wings several times. Then there was a second young one

that remained a bit more hidden, but seemed to interact with its bold sibling on several

occasions. This interaction appeared to be typical sibling rivalry. And then there was a less noticeable third sibling. I began to feel sorry for it as it

seemed to always be in the background when mom appeared with food. It would have to fight through its other two siblings to get any shot at a

morsel. When mom would leave again, the three would extend themselves as much as possible and the littlest one was always behind the other two,

hiding. I rarely saw it come out, except to see its head on occasion. I also watched anther family with one bold young one that actually chased its

parent across several branches when it was not content with its allotment of food.

I watched a parent egret come in to feed its babies on a few occasions and this was a difficult interaction to photograph well. The parent would almost

always be facing away from me and all I could capture was a messy scene of flapping wings. I managed a few shots that hopefully

demonstrate the

interaction of the birds. One photo below is of the three siblings described above and you can clearly see the pecking order.

seems that the egret babies are starting to warm up their wings and get them strong enough to begin flying. I would occasionally see one fly off

the

branches for a second or two and I thought I saw one or two fly out about 10 feet or so and fly back. Soon, the fledglings will take over this island

and

the adults will no longer be needed.

Other players

In addition to the great white egret, I spotted green herons a few times on the low branches, some ibises flying by, a tricolor heron flying in, a turkey

vulture that landed on the island but did not stay when I got too close, and a male and a female anhinga flying in on separate occasions.

June 29, 2008

eeding

an addiction

I have to admit, I couldn't wait to get back out here. My better judgement told me this was not a good day to be on the water, I had several home

projects that have been pushed aside lately. But I reasoned that I would not be back out here for a couple more weeks, so I better get out now while I

could. Today, we had slight windy conditions, 10-15 knots, calming down a bit to maybe 5-10 knots. High tide was at about 6:30 am with only 24%

moon visibility. We were on the water later than usual today, around 7:30 am. I headed straight for the rookery using my kayak paddles with a

relatively strong side wind coming in from the east. The sky was speckled with some small low clouds but the sun would be uncovered most of the

morning. As I headed toward the rookery, I didn't see any white birds flying above and only an occasional cormorant fishing in the water. The tide was

too high for the wading birds to be out there, so the paddle to the rookery was uneventful. I never bothered to take the camera out of the case until I

crossed the channel on the south end of the rookery island. By then, I was seeing plenty of birds flying and swimming in the area. I was finally at my

destination.

The cattle egrets are growing and learning fast

I decided to approach the island and head to my usual spot by going around the west side rather than the

ast

side. As I rounded the south end of the

island, I spotted two great blue herons fly off from the island, from the area I spend most of time photographing.

What were they doing there

wondered

because this was the first time I've seen great blue herons on this island.

I wished I had approached the island my usual way,

I might have

gotten a closer look at the birds. I got myself into a good position and anchored. I was protected form the easterly winds and the sun was casting a

good light. I noticed right away that the cattle egret babies were more visible in the trees, being pretty much adult size and now beginning to fly. I

could

still distinguish families, typically 3 young ones

and they would scoot around the area of their nests, venturing up to the high points of the

mangrove

branches. Sometimes, there would be several of them all perched high, standing

and all facing

away from the wind. Or perhaps they were

watching for

a parent

would occasionally fly in to feed them.

Almost immediately after

I was set up for shooting

, a parent flew in with some food and I would witness, once again, a family of 3 young ones being

fed. I figured

it was no coincidence that this particular family was quite actively being fed more

often

than others. I admit, they are in a location making

them more

noticeable, but I am thinking that these 3 young egrets are blessed with a parent or two who are very accomplished in their food gathering

skills. These

young birds seem a bit advanced compared to some other nesting families, perhaps because they have the good fortune of being born into

a more

industrious, affluent family. This may all be imagination, but why not? Why is

not possible that some birds do things better than others, just

humans? And some baby birds have better parents than other baby birds

Whatever the story is, this particular family has been fun to

photograph.

Watching a cattle egret parent feeding its young is an interesting display of patience on the part of the parent. Here's how the whole thing plays out.

The little ones seem to know when mom is coming in and you will see all of them looking in a specific direction while craning their necks. Then, all of a

sudden, mom swoops in next to the young ones who by now are frantically flapping their wings and jutting their heads in all directions with mouths wide

open. Mom jumps up on a nearby branch and hovers over the babies as they frantically peck at her beak, trying to get a morsel transferred into their

own mouth. All this is happening in a flurry of wing flapping and beak jabbing. Within about 5 seconds, mom jumps away about 3-5 feet, leaving the

young one

s begging relentlessly for more. After a minute or two, she goes back to them and repeats the feeding and then scurries away again.

Eventually, she gets further away and flies off to get more food leaving her young ones to fight among themselves.

Today, I vowed to get clear shots

showing the parent feeding the birds and I managed that. In fact, in some of the photos, I can actually see the foodstuff that is being fed to the birds.

It's a disgusting glob of what looks like regurgitated worms or grubs. In one shot, one baby has the remains scattered all over its beak. Bon Apetit, petit

oiseau!

The young cattle egrets were now beginning to look more like adults, some actually with yellowish beaks rather than the dark, dull looking beaks. Many

had already begun to fly

I would spot them one at a time fly

out of the mangroves about 10-30 feet. There was enough wind that the bird would

get

caught in a stream and its flight velocity would all of a sudden increase, just before the bird would make a turn and head back to the mangroves

facing

the wind. I saw this on several occasions and decided they were learning and perhaps had not perfected the use of the wind yet. They looked

pretty

good up there in the sky though as I had a difficult time capturing them with their quick turns and indecisive patterns of flight.

Some things you wish you didn't se

I was reminded today that nature can be a cruel display of survival of the fittest

or just

simple bad luck.

As it relates to humans, I have a difficult time

pinning down the concept of survival of the fittest. For a human, "fittest" could mean so many things, especially since the passing of human genes to

the next generation

s really independent of

survival of the fittest. But what does it mean for a bird? I witnessed some of it among siblings where

there

is clearly a dominant bird that gets the food first and probably the most food, and the weakest bird that seems to always have to wait while its

stronger

siblings eat and fight their way to the top of the mangrove canopy.

On the other hand

we attribute a lot of

uman

good and bad fortune to simple luck.

it not possible that animals also experience luck? Of course they do! Simply drive down a highway and you'll see the remains of some unlucky

animal. Today, within the little mangrove island, I witnessed the bad luck of

little bird that had fallen from

nest. Of course birds fall from their

nests,

some times they are pushed out by a brother or sister.

I've known this for a better part of my life, but why I never thought of it

here at this rookery

until

now, I have

no idea.

I watched a little egret scamper about, quite well I might add,

among the mangrove roots, well below the action above. Who

knows how long

its had been living down there, alone. It was quite young, half the size

of others I had been photographing earlier. I watched it for

awhile until it

disappeared into center of the island where it became well hidden.

My bleeding heart was breaking, but my brain was telling me that this

is all part of a

grander scheme of which I'll never completely understand.

t would be futile for me to try to go inside

the mangroves to

capture this bird.

And then what? If I euthanized it, I could be taking a life that

may

have survived and lived long enough to pass on

its genes.

Given

that cattle egret

don't normally eat fish and most other marine animals, I wondered if

bird

, and a few others I've spotted living in

the basement of

the mangrove

island

have a chance at survival.

Don't forget the cormorants

Within the trees, the cattle egrets are a much more photogenic bird than the

dark

cormorant that seems to get lost among the leaves and branches. I

did

watch some young ones get their ration of food from a parent, but they were quite hidden away. I saw the usual large number of cormorants flying

and from the island, many of them young birds that had recently learned to fly. Occasionally, I would see one or two get into the water and swim

around a bit, but not as many as the last time I was here.

That m

ight have something to do with wind and tide. I didn't think I

would

see any flying

birds with nesting material today but I did. I noticed a cormorant on a couple occasions fly out of the island with a branch or two

and fly

off into the

distant coastline with it. Now that was new. And then, I noticed a cormorant come out of the island with nesting branches, fly out

about 50

feet, turn

south toward the mangroves lining the

channel

, turn again and head back toward the island and come in to a different part of the

island with its

branches. I saw this again and decided this was a frequent pattern. Sure enough, I was able to track the bird doing this, with the same

precise pattern

of flight each time.

New visitors

Speaking of nesting material, I photographed a male anhinga coming into the island with a very large pine tree branch. I had seen one or two female

anhingas flying into the very top of the island, and maybe once have seen a male do the same. I never see them in the mangroves, except

occasionally when a female sticks its neck and head up high enough to see above the top canopies. They are up there, but hidden away from my

vantage point. Perhaps if I had a 20-ft ladder to stand on I might see more action in the trees. I saw the male come in with nesting

material. I

wondered about this because I don't see the anhingas around

here

much. In the Everglades on the Anhinga Trail, you can spot nests

scattered

about,

ome are set apart from the rest while many are located within a small area

. The other

thing that

strikes me as interesting is that nesting anhingas

prominent in January and February on the Anhinga Trail. I would logically

conclude that

nesting season for these birds is late winter. But here it is

almost July and I am photographing a male anhinga building a nest.

Another new member of the mangrove island is the white ibis. During other visits to the island, I have watched some adult white ibises fly overhead,

but today a flock of about 6 juvenile ibises birds flew above the island and then landed one by one. The ibises nest in areas that are mostly inaccessible

or hidden away so well, no one c

find them. I believe they are difficult to photograph and I

arely

see photograph

of nesting ibis

living wild

Florida. The fact that these young ibises decided to come into the island is interesting to me, especially after seeing the 2 great blue herons today and

the great white egret last Sunday. I wonder if now that the young fledglings of the island are starting to wean from their nests that other birds now see

the island as fair game, so to speak. Could this be a

respectful display of giving nesting birds their space? Doubtful that it has anything to do with

altruism

, but it must be related to food sources in some way. Maybe it has to do with protected space and now that the parents are no longer having to

defend their nesting areas so

vigilantly

, other birds can use the space for their own needs. This island rookery is a life-giving island that serves many

differen

kinds of birds throughout the year. This summer, I am witnessing a part of its life cycle with so many displays of bird behaviors. Every day

that I have been here has presented some new behavior or event.

In addition to the ibises and great blue herons, I watched a turkey vulture soar above the island for several minutes, but it never landed. It may have

been the same one I spotted last time. I also watched a couple tricolor herons fly into the island, but as always, I never see their nests or young ones, if

they do have them here. A couple little blue herons were also spotted coming into the island. Today, I saw no green herons.

I headed back to the launch site early

around 10 am, so it seemed like a very short visit for me. I noticed several cattle egrets flying across the

bay,

quite a bit more than I noticed paddling back last Sunday. I wonder if it has anything to do with the wind velocity. It seems I spot more flying birds

while paddling in choppy waters when I couldn't get a straight shot if I tried. I'm not sure when I will be back, it may be a couple of weeks. But in the

meantime, below are some photos from the day. The first three illustrate the cattle egret family at dinner time.

July 18, 2008

Great expectations

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last visit. I didn't know what to expect really, but what I hoped to see were dozens of young

ledglings

learning to

fly

and/or

swim. I thought I would see other species of herons and egrets as well. I wanted to get on the water as early as possible and arrived at the gate

promptly by

6 am. It was closed. Fortunately, dawn arrived shortly after 6 and the gate opener was there at 6:15 am.

I was on the water by 6:

30 am,

in time to see the

sun rising over the horizon

as I paddled toward the rookery

Earlier this morning, we had a large band of rain clouds pass over Miami

from east to west. By

the time I loaded my car at home, it had stopped, so I expected clear skies over the bay.

nstead,

there were several clouds in

the

easterly

horizon

that

covered the rising sun until almost 7 am, about the time I arrived at the rookery. Throughout the morning, t

he sky would

alternate between light clouds and

clear skies over the sun, while dark cumulus clouds would form continuously over

the southwesterly horizon. High

tide was scheduled around 10 am today, so

there would be no wading birds on my way to the rookery. It was a hot day as

usual, starting in the mid 80s

and ending in the low 90s by 10am, the time I left

the rookery. Winds were mostly southeasterly 0-5 knots increasing to a mild 5-

10 knots. Overall,

good conditions, but with a few things I would change for

perfection

, such as removing the clouds in the eastern sky

The island is changing

and is now under threat

I knew I would see more flying activity today as young cattle egrets and cormorants continued

to enroll in

flight school. I expected to see several young

cormorants

in the water too. Overall, I believed that the island would now be more of a launching pad than a home for these birds. I wondered what

the

adults would be

up to at this point given that their young were becoming more independent.

My premise last time I was he

was that other bird

species

would be visiting this island more often now that the cattle egret and cormorant nests were becoming more unoccupied each day. My theory

was altered

somewhat today when I saw something that made me realize that this bird island is nothing more than a food source for many other

animals, potentially

including crocodiles. What I saw today was so totally unexpected, but as I spend more time around birds, fewer events become

unexpected.

As I crossed the channel

and could see a full view of the island, I noticed a large dark bird flying over it. As I paddled closer, it became evident that this

bird

was a bald eagle.

I had never seen a bald eagle on Biscayne Bay, nor would I have thought I ever would. I always believed that many of the bald

eagles left

south Florida to go north, like so many other birds. Osprey I see continuously when on Chokoloskee Bay, but I had never seen eagles after

the

month of May

or before October. But here was this bald eagle checking out my bird rookery. It flew off toward the shoreline with empty talons and

I gave it

little more

thought. I staked out on the

east

side of the island with the intention of catching some cormorants in flight. I noticed fewer birds in

the middle and

lower

sections of the mangroves, rather they all seemed to be up in the higher canopy section of the island. Most of them were the

usuals, young cattle

egrets and

cormorants. You could still distinguish

the locations

ere broods had nested as they would congregate in small groups,

interspersed around the mangroves

branches. I noticed the nesting anhinga pair toward the highest point, surrounded by young cattle egrets that didn't

seem to bother them.

After about 15 minutes, I decided to move over to the other side of the island. Just as I started to turn my boat around, I heard a loud ruckus coming

from the

island from the east side (where the sun was casting a warm glow that photographers crave) and

from where I was only about a 5-paddle

stroke distance.

Immediately, I saw a flurry of large dark feather

come flying out of the mangrove at about eye level with me. Along with the flapping

dark wings were large

white wings, apparently belonging to a cattle egret. I began shooting as quickly as I could just in time to see the eagle fly off with

an egret in its talons. About

100 feet or so away, it dropped the bird into the water and began swooping down several times. I

paddle

d frantically

closer until the

eagle

finally got hold of

the egret and flew another

feet or so away before dropping the egret into the water again, from about a 30

height. It

wooped down several times

as I

paddled to get closer. It finally got hold of its catch and flew off to a much farther distance, above the

shoreline canopy

and beyond. I never saw it again.

Why would I? It must have gotten its catch of the day and would have no need to come back.

Even more amazing, the

eagle had TWO egrets, not one. I

learned this after examining a couple of unfocused photos I managed to salvage. What a

greedy bird! I've heard of

opportunistic birds and other animals, but

this was too much. And even more I fear, this eagle has found the bird rookery,

grocery store extravanganza, and

no doubt, will be making daily visits. I

wonder if the egrets will catch on and decide that this island is no longer a safe

place for them and thus, will not return

next year. Is it possible too that the

fledglings are now easier targets than when they were confined to the nest

and watched over more closely by parents?

They are bigger now and they do not

hide so much. They haven't quite learned to fly completely and are

still constrained to a small area around the island, so

basically, they are vulnerable, sitting

birds. The parents are not hovering over them as much,

although I do see them coming in to feed the young and I still

see an occasional adult with a branch

seemingly adding support to a nest. So there they

are, easy pickings for the very large and powerful eagle.

Once over the shock

I stayed on until about 10 am. Cormorants were constant in the sky and water. The cattle egrets were practicing their flying skills with the usual circling

patterns around the island. Several adults were coming in and out of the island. The nesting female anhinga flew out of the island on a few occasions,

made

a large circle around the island and came back. I watched one pair of young cormorants being fed by a parent, the same I witnessed with a cattle

egret

family. The sun was behind me and on the other side of the island were the southwesterly dark rain clouds that had formed earlier in the morning.

At one

point, a full rainbow appeared, coming out of the top of the island. The dark clouds provided a very nice background as the sun lit the white

feathers of the

flying birds. On occasion, I would see a great white egret fly from the island and at some point it must have come back because later I

would see it fly away

again. Today, I noticed 2 young tricolor herons somewhat hidden in the mangroves and watched the adult come in to feed the

little ones. I did not see any

ibises today, nor did I see a green heron in the mangroves, although I saw one fly over my head at one point.

I believe the next time I come out here it will be low tide. I would like to set myself up in the water so that I may capture some cormorant water activity

water level. I'm thinking of bringing a plastic step stool and plant it in about 1 foot of water and sit there. I've also thought about bringing a step

ladder,

planting it in the ground and getting up higher so as to be more at eye level with the nesting birds. And last, another new experience I hope to

have on my

next visit is a TTL flash unit. I haven't used the zoom lens during any of my visits because of my extreme disappointment with the

performance of the Sigma

lens and 2X teleconverter. For now, I will stick with the fast Minolta prime lens, it's done good so far. Here are a few photos

from the day, including a badly

focused shot of the eagle.

July 24, 2008

Two more photographers

Today

was

different from others, two photographer friends joined me on this trip. Both accomplished photographers,

Lorraine

and

Daniel

(please check

out

their wonderful galleries) would be paddling in Lorraine's double canoe while I would be in mine. Daniel had been here once with me last year, but

this would

be a first-time trip for Lorraine. Naturally, I wanted it to be a wildlife and bird festival for these two so they could capture some of the scenes

on display at the

bird island. For this trip, we could not have asked for a nicer day. We arrived at the launch site before 6:30 am and witnessed one of

the most spectacular

sunrises I have seen from these shorelines. It was amazingly colorful. Fortunately, one of us thought to bring his wide angle lens

and was able to capture the

rising sun as the yellows, reds and oranges spread out across the horizon. The water was incredibly calm, as it would be

the remainder of the morning. We

would have a low tide at 9 am and little wind coming from the southwest. Perfect in every way. After getting our

boats ready (while Daniel continued to

capture the sunrise), I watched a lone kayaker head out toward the gulf, silhouetted by the sunrise. The water

was covered with orange reflection and as I

watched the kayaker, I noticed his direction of paddle would place him in front of the glowing orange ball

within 15-20 seconds. I pulled out the telephoto

(420mm) and captured some shots as he passed by the sunrise.

Great white heron and a slow start

Compared to all other days that I have come here, the island seemed very quiet. At first, as we approached we could see several birds on the west

side of

the island (the lowest li

ght

area) and would see fewer and fewer as we paddled over to the east side, or well lit side. There, I would usually see

at least a

dozen

egrets in the mangroves, but today there were none. Could the eagle have really caused that much damage to this rookery

staked out the boats

and

Lorraine and Daniel got into the water. I got out for awhile and quickly turned my attention to a

white morph great blue

heron

that was wading in the flats to the north

the island, about

yd away. We had noticed this unusual bird standing on the jetty at the opening that

passes between the channel and the bird island.

actually paddled quite close to it before it decided to fly off toward the flats where it was now

fishing. I inched closer to the bird to get some shots.

It was

mostly inactive, but still quite beautiful with the warm light on its beautiful white feathers

and a golden glow on the mangrove-reflected water

; m

favorite

scene on Biscayne Bay

The bird eventually flew off to a farther point, closer to the

shoreline. I walked back to my boat as the others continued to

watch for

flying birds. The cormorants were quite active and occasionally, an egret or

two would fly in. I felt disappointed and thought I should apologize to

photographer friends who probably had high expectations given the history of

this island. I decided to paddle behind them a ways and capture some

photos of

them working the field.

I spoke to

soon, the island comes alive again

After awhile of sitting and not taking photos, I decided to paddle closer to the

white morph heron

. I'm glad I did, as I got to witness the bird capture a

large fish. Lorraine and Daniel remained near the bird

island so I paddled back over to them. By now, the island had come alive. Where were these

birds 30 minutes ago? Several young cattle egrets and

cormorants speckled the mangroves in their usual fashion. Many of the young egrets huddled

close to the top where it was difficult to see them in full view.

Fortunately for us, they were also practicing their flying skills on a regular basis, so lots of

flight shot opportunities would come from this.

oth adult and young

cormorants and cattle egrets

were fly to and from the island. On occasion, we

noticed an adult egret or cormorant leaving the island

with a branch or two, heading somewhere beyond the shoreline.

Some other characters showing up

When we first arrived, we noticed an adult blackcrown nightheron lurking about the roots of the trees. Later, we noticed a second one. Never did they

appear

out of the shadows unfortunately. Green herons were also spotted, a couple times flying at eye level (one came so close to Daniel I thought it

would crash

into him) and once walking among the mangrove roots. In the canopy, I noticed the young tricolor herons again. Today, they would be

much more noticeable

as a parent came in to feed them. In between feedings, the little (not so little now) tricolors would chase the parent around until

it couldn't stand it any more

and would

away. I've noticed with all these birds

;

cormorants, cattle egrets and tricolor herons, the young are extremely

aggressive with the parent.

You can really witness the competition and sibling rivalry that goes on. I've heard that it even goes further than that with

some birds. White pelican babies

compete so hard with each other that the more dominant bird will push the other out of the nest or even worse,

harass it so much it cannot possibly get fed

and eventually dies of starvation. Nature is beautiful but it can be wicked and very difficult to watch. I

figure these birds got it right, survival of the fittest. If

this theory holds true, then birds and all other wildlife when left without human encroachment are

getting fitter all the time.

On the other

hand, it is true that

they must also adapt to a

continually

changing environment

and are sometimes thrown a

curve ball

. Sometimes something so extreme and devastating

comes along that they are left totally unprepared

for it. Think about the effects of

plume hunting on egrets and herons or the effects of DDT on brown

pelicans. Animals do become extinct for various reasons,

and unfortunately, we

are often the cause.

But I digress...

Animals may have emotions and why I never ventured farther into animal research

Today, we witnessed several family meals taking place. The pair of tricolor herons were fed on a few occasions by a parent, we watched a little blue

heron

feeding a young one, and the cattle egrets and cormorants are still be

ing

fed by mom or dad. It's interesting to watch a cormorant adult come in,

feed the young

one that later will take off and fly somewhere far or get into the water to swim. I wondered when mom and dad give up on feeding their

families and leave

them to become independent. As we left the island, I approached the east side of the jetty where several adult cormorants were

hanging out on some rocks.

I imagined that these were parents that

ere

now enjoying some free time away from the kids. They looked proud,

knowing that they have passed on their

cormorant genes to another generation. Yes, I am

shamelessly

projecting human feelings towards these

animals

As a graduate student at the University of Arizona, I spent a semester working in an immunology lab for credit. I did this for two reasons; at the time I

was

most interested in studying the mechanisms behind athletic amenorrhea and this lab provided me a great opportunity to look into it, and also, I

wanted to find

out if I could stomach animal research. Instead of humans, I would now be working with lab mice.

The lab technician, Carolyn, taught

me everything in that

lab and had the patience of a saint. Even when I broke the centrifuge she shrugged it off. Soon after beginning my lab

experience, Carolyn took me to the

mouse house, where the research animals lived. There were two rooms of interest, the one that contained cages

of mice, usually 3 or 4 to a cage, and

second room.

Carolyn picked one of the cages and brought it to the second room. She was going to

demonstrate how the mice were sacrificed. This was a

crucial step in my education because without the sacrifice, there are no measurements.

Without measurements, there

ere

no data. Without data, you've

wasted your entire time

and someone else's money

. She reached into the cage

and took one of the mice, closed the cage door and placed the chosen mouse on

top of another cage.

She had hold of the tail, so the mouse would

grab a bar while she gently pulled the tail in the opposite direction to where the animal was trying to go. Carolyn

skillfully

demonstrated

the sacrifice

technique and it was over before you knew it. The animal did not flinch, it was too quick before it could feel it. As she was

preparing to perform this

event, I told her I couldn't help but think that the other mice in the cage, which was only a foot away, must know what is happening

and are feeling

intense fear right now. Her response was blunt, but still empathetic to my thoughts. She told me that I cannot project human feelings into the

animals

or I will never do animal research.

Long story short, that was the last of my animal research experiment. I had to know

firsthand

and gratefully and with much appreciation to Carolyn, I

learned that I

cannot be a part of it. As much as I respect research, as much as I respect good fishermen and hunters, I can never do what they do.

So here I am,

studying a live bird rookery, witnessing birth and death and

nature taking care of its own. But I still cannot help projecting human feelings

into these animals.

you observe them long enough, you begin recognizi

them as individuals

. I may be observing through human eyes, but

ow I

see them is how I want to

present them in photos.

So to this end, I post

photos in tribute to this great bird rookery and hope that I will continue to

watch it for years.