Photographing the bird rookery in Biscayne Bay

A Photo Journal of a Bird Rookery in Biscayne Bay

This will be an on-going journal of my summer experiences with a bird rookery located in Biscayne Bay. I discovered this rookery in the summer of 2007 and
visited it twice in August and September of that year. During that time, the nests were unoccupied and the young birds that were born earlier in spring were
larger fledglings practicing their flying and fishing skills. The tree was loaded with young and adult birds, cormorants, cattle egrets, tricolor herons, green
herons, nightcrown herons, little blue herons, and anhingas. In January 2008 (this year), I went back and found nothing except for a handful of cormorants.
Apparently, none of the birds had begun nesting at that time.

If you've read any of my other journals you know that I spend a great amount of time in the summer on Biscayne Bay or Chokoloskee Bay in the Everglades
National Park. This year, I will likely spend more time on Biscayne and less time on Chokoloskee due to gas prices. I can be on the water in Biscayne within
20 minutes of my home; Chokoloskee requires a 75-mile drive. Rather than seeing this as a negative thing, I've decided to use my time getting to know
Biscayne Bay, particularly the bird rookery. This will be a study in bird behavior, photography techniques from a canoe, and tide and weather effects.

I've already included a journal for May 10th, but I'll give it a quick mention here. We launched just before low tide. I spent a couple hours near the launch site
photographing some wading birds in the shallows and didn't get to the rookery until 10 am. When I arrived there, I watched dozens of cormorants flying to
and from the tree island, some with nesting material, and it was clear that there were several cormorant nests in the branches. Likewise, cattle egrets were
everywhere. I noticed a few other suspects, a little blue heron, green heron and blackcrown nightheron. Clearly, the bird rookery was in full force and
unfortunately, I did not have time to stay. I left vowing to return several more times this summer.

May 18th

High tide at 9 am, SW winds at 5-10 knots, kicking up to 25 knots by 10 am. We are on the water by 7 am. I brought kayak paddles in addition to the

canoe paddle for the trip to the rookery. The kayak paddles can get me there faster, but I do have to keep the camera covered because of the water

spray

from the paddles. I didn't want to put the camera

back in the pelican case, once I have it out on my lap

. While paddling, flying birds are frequent

and I wanted to be ready for any photo opportunity. The

water was still calm at this time, so it was an easy paddle over to the rookery.

Plume Hunters

As I crossed the channel, I began to hear the 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

rookery

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

George

Cuthbert in

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

lake

(later

named after

him).

For Cuthbert, finding this rookery was an irresistible challenge, it was the Mt Everest 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 crackers.

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 recommend

the book to learn

about

the plume hunting, a lot of south Florida history and

Guy Bradley

quest to stop the

plume hunters.

I think of this story and I think about 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

. 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

it, 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 I believe that it is not only the

development boom

that is the

bird's

doom. I think that the 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. Of course human encroachment is the

reason, be it development or plume hunting,

that

the birds are barely

making

living

With all this in mind, I come to this rookery with a high reverence for these birds, 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 going on. 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

. I would

like to record it one day, but for now, each 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-like

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

I would be able to 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 make out the

babies. The cattle egret nests were more

difficult to spot.

The only way I could barely spot 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,

I did s

pot

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 would be

facing the birds and have 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 with this. The cormorants were quite active in flight and in the water, but I only spotted a bird with nesting

material on

3 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 make out 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 put for awhile, let the birds get use to you. That

is exactly what I did today, and I spent a good 3 hours pretty much 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, right there 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. Even at a shutter speed of 1/640,

images will blur.

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

11 am. This would be a

much easier paddle compared to last week when I had 25 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, why change things. 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 a bit more 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,

so she knows what she is doing. 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 the bird 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 I could find, which wasn't much, on the

nternet concerning 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 pretty much 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 to and fro. 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 near by 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 are 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.