ST. AUGUSTINE ALLIGATOR FARM ROOKERY

I spent several hours on Wednesday at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery. It is a paradise for bird watchers and bird photographers.
Breeding and nesting season is at it's peak, and the rookery offers a chance to see and photograph Florida wading birds from up close.
I can't praise the gator farm enough, it is a fine zoological park.
The birds aren't captive, they're wild and free. The rookery provides an ideal place for nesting, and significantly increases our bird population.

FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW

The annual flower and garden show is coming up next weekend. I visited the St. John's County Arboretum yesterday and it is looking great. There are many volunteer hours invested in the arboretum, the gardeners deserve a lot of credit.
I'll try to catch some of the beauty with my cameras, and share it here.

Changing With the Seasons

The young Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea, is often mistaken for a Snowy Egret or Cattle Egret, until the blue/gray plumage starts coming in. The beak, eye and leg colors are the clues to look for.
I'm seeing a lot of the young birds now, the adults are nesting and the young ones are out on their own, getting used to the world.

COURTSHIP RITUALS

If you're a bird, it's time for romance! The male Boat tail Grackles are courting now, the females are gathering nest material, but pretending they aren't impressed by all the posturing.

TIME AND TIDES

I took my lunch down to the saltmarsh and ate it there. I saw that it was only a little after noon, so I leaned back for a nap, I knew rhe birds wouldn't be there for a while. At a little past 1:30 PM a Great Egret came sailing in, then a Snowy Egret, and then a Great Blue Heron. I expected them, that was when the tide was going to start to rise. The tide is the clock the shore birds run their lives by, they know, somehow, where to be, and when. It's an accurate clock, but it changes every day. The birds still keep track of it. The rising tide brings food with it.
I keep track of it too, but I have to look at my watch.

NEW CAMERA

I've made the jump to a DSLR, a SONY A-200. I love my Panasonic FZ30 and old Olympus C2100UZ, but I'm ready to expand the limits. There will still be times when one of the older cameras will be just what I want to use, they are both fine tools.
I've neglected this blog lately, I'm trying to adjust to prescribed meds I have to take, and one of the side effects is that you feel sleepy. I sure can't have that, it's no kind of life at all! I need to get outside and move!
We've had some wonderful rains, the ponds are brimming, everything is greening up, flowers appearing everywhere, and the birds building nests or already raising chicks.
Pictures will be anywhere you look, just be there with a camera, springtime will provide the rest!