On a recent trip to east Texas, I had the great fortune to visit a huge rookery that hosted at least 10,000 birds, including 700 nests with eggs. Yes, 10,000 birds (!) and as you might imagine, the experience was nothing short of spectacular.
Just one part of that huge rookery!
Some of the baby egrets in the rookery.
The rookery could only be accessed by boat, so I bought a paddle, borrowed a boat, and set sail for several hours of discovery! The vast majority of birds were Cattle Egrets.
A Cattle Egret in breeding plumage.
A closer look at this pretty bird.
The Cattle Egret is actually native to Africa but came to South America by boat sometime during the past 100 years and has expanded north ever since then.
There were also many Little Blue Herons.
A beautiful Little Blue Heron in breeding plumage.
The Little Blue Heron is actually more closely related to the Snowy Egret than the Great Blue Heron.
Anhingas nested in the rookery too.
This is what a newborn Anhinga looks like!
Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, White Ibises, Green Herons, Snowy Egrets were also present along with one Great Blue Heron nest. I also saw a few families of Wood Ducks.
Baby Wood Ducks are as cute as can be.
Here are a few observations from that memorable visit:
- The noise was incredible.! It seemed as if every one of those 10,000 birds was squawking, grunting, or making other odd noises.
- The level of activity was phenomenal with birds coming and going at all times.
There is always something going on in a rookery!
- There were no birds feeding at the marsh, so this rookery was only for nesting.
A young and fuzzy Cattle Egret.
- Alligators love rookeries.
An American Alligator on the prowl.
- I can’t wait to go back next year!