St Augustine Alligator Farm - The Gators

Posted on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 6:15 PM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

No blog entry about a visit to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm would be complete without saying a little something about the gators.  Even though it was the nesting birds that lured me there, it was hard not to be impressed by the gators!

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We got there early in the day and was fortunate to be treated to the 'morning roaring' of the gators.  I have never seen anything like this in my life!  First, we heard the noise - not unlike lions roaring.  Then we noticed people heading over to the largest gator pen - filled with at least 20 of the great big boys!

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We followed the crowd and ended up on a little bridge near the edge of the pen.  We stopped to watch....and it was totally amazing!  The gators were ROARING!  All of them!  And it was loud!

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They flex their heads....

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....and their tails out of the water - then they sorta hum...and then ROAR!  When there are 20-25 gators doing that all at the same time, it's a little scary!

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When we first walked onto the little bridge, I didn't realize there was a gator underneath us.  The bridge started to rumble - I thought it was an earthquake!  Then came the loud roar!  The whole bridge shook!!!  After he did it a couple of time, my fear eased....the bridge was not going to collapse and I was not going to be gator food!!  It really was great! 

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The roaring was reall cool....but it was the humming I found interesting!  You can see in the picture above the ripples in the water caused by the humming!  Their whole throats seemed to vibrate!

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And after all the humming and vibrating came the body-jarring roar!  Your whole body seemed to shake from the sound of the roar!

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It was quite an event to be able to witness and I hope to be able to see it again when I visit again next year!  Really quite impressive!!!

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This ends my pictures from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm!  If you should happen to find yourself in St. Augustine, FL, I highly recommend a visit to the Farm.  You'll see some wonderful faces!

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More Alligator Farm - Great Egret!

Posted on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 8:56 PM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

As things go, I got busy and haven't had time to finish the pictures from the St. Augustine Alligator Park. We come to one of my favorites - yes, well...I know I've said that about all of them, but that's only because my favorite bird is whichever one I happen to be looking at!  On to the Great Egrets!

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I took more pictures of the Great Egrets than I did all of the others.  These babies were so ugly - it made them adorable!  My daughter says they look like little, old men!  I apologize to any little, old men out there...but I think I agree with her!

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There were Great Egret babies is all different sizes!  From very, very small.....

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.....to small.....

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......to medium-sized.....(and these guys got fed with I was watching!)

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.....and bigger! 

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They truly are a beautiful bird! 

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Trying to pick out just a few pictures was quite a challenge - I hope you've enjoyed them!  This is the end of the Birds from the Alligator Park - just one entry left! 

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Coming soon.....The Alligators!!

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St. Augustine Alligator Farm - Cattle Egret

Posted on Sunday, June 3, 2007 at 6:50 PM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

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The Cattle Egret moms all seem to have built their nests further off the walkway, back in the trees.  This is the only picture of a Cattle Egret nest I was able to get.

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But Cattle Egrets are such beautiful little birds when they have their Spring Colors on - I couldn't resist getting a few shots of them!

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Males have the beautifully colored beaks.

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Females have less color, but they are just a beautiful!

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Like many of the egrets and herons, when something is bothering them, they tend to fluff their feathers!

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Fluffed or not, they are beautiful little birds!

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There were several trees filled with Wood Storks.  They had just started nest-building.

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I was fortunate to be near where one of the storks landed to hunt for a piece of nesting material.

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After checking this side....

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...and that,

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She found the perfect piece!

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Next Entry - Great Egrets

Alligator Farm - Snowy Egret Babies

Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 6:53 PM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

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Snowy Mamas can be as fussy as some of the dads!

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But when your babies are this small and precious - it's okay to be fussy!!

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This mama was a little more serene...

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...but her babies were a little bit older - and they were taking their afternoon nap!

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You can see this mama's feet in this picture.  Snowys have long black legs....and big yellow feet!

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Feed us, mama!!!

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Please!!!

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This beautiful black Swan kept a careful eye on her precious baby!

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Next entry.....Cattle Egrets!!

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St. Augustine Alligator Farm - Snowy Egrets

Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 11:44 AM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

The Snowy Egret is one of my favorite birds!  Not only are they beautiful, they seem to have much more personality than many of the other Egrets and Herons!  They are very vocal, very fussy and are a great deal of fun to watch - especially during mating season!

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This is the time of year when the hormones are raging and Snowy Egrets will fuss about everything!  Who gets the female - who gets the best branch to sit on - who's the most handsome!  Fuss, fuss, fuss!

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As you can see, when they fuss, they get all ruffled up!

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They also put on their best 'mean' faces!  I can almost hear them say...."I'm badder than you!"

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I think they even fuss about who can ruffle thier feathers the best!

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And the fussier they get - the more they ruffle!

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This guy was the fussiest of all! 

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Fussy or not....it's a gorgeous bird!!

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Of the hundreds of pictures I took that day....this by far, is my most favorite!

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Next entry....Snowy Egret moms and babies!

Alligator Farm - Part 2 Tri-Colored Babies

Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:52 PM - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

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I heard someone say..."It sure is an ugly little thing!"  I thought to myself...yes, that's probably a face only a mother could love - and since I'm a mom - I LOVE IT!

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There were mamas and nests and babies everywhere.  Some were very close to the walkway, but unfortunately, because the nests are in trees - there were branches always in the way!  LOL!  Between the people and the branches - getting a clear shot was almost impossible, but I did manage to get a few.

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One of the first nests we came across was this one with the Tri-Colored Heron mama sitting.  She stood up...then laid back down.  When she stood, we were able to see she had one baby and two eggs.  She stood and laid back down several times and the last time she stood, she starting throwing egg shells out of the nest!  The second baby had hatched!!

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There were so many people crowded around to watch, I missed getting pictures of her throwing out the egg.  People kept bumping me and the pictures didn't come out.  After she threw out the egg, she laid back down.  Then she stood back up, messed with the egg some more, then laid back down.

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When she stood up again, the third egg was beginning to hatch.  By this time, the crowd was larger and trying to shoot anything was pointless...besides, there were many more nests to check!

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Just a very short distance away from the first nest - where the crowd was still gathered, we came across this good Tri-Colored Heron mama.  She had her wings spread and we think it was probably to shade her babies.  When she stood up...

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....I got a clear shot at this precious little thing!

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Just a short distance away were the only three nesting Little Blue Herons I saw that day.  One had three eggs...

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...one had small babies...

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...and the last had bigger babies!

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Next entry coming soon.....Snowy Egrets!

St. Augustine Alligator Farm - Tri-colored Herons

Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 8:43 PM - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

My visit to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm the first weekend in May happened to be right in the middle of baby bird season.  Many Florida breeders fly to the farm to make their nests over the alligator exhibit.  Some people may think that's a silly thing to do, but really, those birds are pretty smart.  Making your nest over an alligator habitat insures that your eggs and babies won't fall prey to other predators...like coons and foxes!  It's become so popular, hundreds of birds fly in - and photographers, professional and amateur alike,  flock in to take advantage of being able to get up close and personal with these birds!

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I took so many pictures that weekend, I've been overwhelmed with trying to sort through them all, pick the ones that are best, and find a way to present them.  I finally decided to break it down by bird.  First up, the Tri-Colored Heron - one of my very favorite birds!  The birds were in all stages of nesting...some still with mating colors, some still building nest, some sitting on eggs, and some with hatchlings!  This entry is just the adults....the next entry will be baby Tri-coloreds!

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I am not going to clutter this entry with any more words.....I think the beauty of the birds speaks for itself!

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