UTSW Rookery images

[Maestro]

With all the talk of the rookery lately, I decided to check it out for myself. Here are just a few of the hundred or so photos I took there.

It is very difficult getting a nice photograph there because of the wooded thicket is, well, thick and currently there is much foliage as one would expect so many of my shots have leaves and branches obstructing views but it gives an idea of what you may see there. I really loved observing the birds there. I saw the White Ibises several times but each time they were just flying in or out of the rookery. The Ahingas were the same way, but I finally was able to capture one from a distance. My two favorites of the day were the Little Blue Heron who was very aggresive to the others, but he was so handsome and the juvenile Black Crowned Night Herons.

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Herons

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Black_crowned_juvenile6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Black_crowned_juveniles.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Black_crowned_juvenile7a.jpg

As has already been stated, the cattle egrets were everywhere.

Nest
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Cattle_egret_nest2.jpg

A poor guy that fell out of his nest obviously.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Cattle_egret_chick2.jpg

Great Egrets were there too. I had to go to the adjoining parking garage, third level, for these pics.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Great_Egret_1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Canopy_shot4.jpg

From the parking garage I did spy an ahinga preening. He was very far away about midway through the rookery at the top of the canopy.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Ahinga10.jpg

[betsy]

Good to see some rookery photos on the website again, Maestro! We had a bunch of 'em on the previous forum, but they were lost to us when it was hacked. Thanks for posting.

[Maestro]

Thanks Betsy. That is too bad that so many were lost. Here are a few more.

Juvenile Cattle Egrets (I think)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/Juvenile_cattle_egrets.jpg

Little Blue
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/maestros/Nature/Waterfowl/UTSW%20Rookery/LittleBlueHeron6.jpg

[danator]

Ya' got me excited for a little bit there, i thought there's a new rookery somewhere. I prefer the old SWMC's rookery we used to call them :)

I think the number is at least tripled compare to last year, the rain helps. The storm torn out part of the branches, more openings available for photography.

[Vern]

Looks like you got into the rookery birds pretty well, Maestro. I have not made it yet.

The first photo of the young Cattle Egrets has had me looking at my field guides. Sibley's shows that is what they could be. Then in the photo of the Great Egrets, there are some that appear to be ALMOST the same as in the first photo. Only one difference that I think I can see.(posture)

Gets to be a challenge for a newbie like me trying to ID young birds, molting, different color variations, etc;

Also, just recently, I have seen Cattle Egrets gathering material for nests. By the hundreds in southern Collin.Co.

[betsy]

All those youngsters are a challenge for us all, I think, Vern.

In the photo whose caption starts out "Great Egrets were there, too," I think what we see (from left to right) are a juvenile Great Egret (shorter bill than the adult), an adult Great Egret and a juvenile Cattle Egret (black bill). The juveniles of the Great Egrets should be pretty well grown by now, distinguishable from their parents chiefly by a slightly smaller size, and no remnants of breeding plumes.

In the photo below that, I think only the one on the right with the really long neck and the yellow bill is a Great Egret. All the other ones that are in focus are Cattle Egrets: adults if they have yellow bills, juveniles if they have black bills.

The really young birds in the nest below the last of the juvenile Black-crowned photos are Cattle Egrets, I think, based on the black color of their bills.

The unfortunate nestling on the ground could be either a Little Blue Heron or a Snowy Egret, since it appears that it has a somewhat two-toned bill, where the tip tends toward black. I can't tell which -- especially since the feet aren't showing (and apparently I'd need to see the soles of the feet at that).

[Song]

Great photos, Maestro! I have yet to make it to the rookery this summer--I really need to get down there. You've given me a bit more to look forward to!

[Maestro]

First, thanks to all for the nice comments. Secondly, Betsy and Vern are correct. The ID of these birds, especially the juvenilies and fledgelings is very difficult. Betsy is also correct in that in several shots there is a mixture of different birds with mainly cattle egrets mixing in with everyone else. The nest I photographed was in and amongst a bunch of cattle egrets so I just assumed that these nestlings were cattle egrets, but again it is hard to tell. I am going to head back soon. I still would like to get a good photo of the Ibises that are there.

Also, while there I am pretty positive that I saw the Little Blue Heron kill a small cattle egret nestling that had fallen from the nest. It had a broken wing and was obviously very weak. Out of the corner of my eye I the Little Blue walking off with the nestling in its mouth. Is this out of the ordinary or normal predation behavior for Little Blues?

[betsy]

Maestro, the Black-crowned Night-herons are notorious for chowing down on nestlings of other species. I don't believe the other species nesting there are so well-known for it, but they're probably opportunistic enough to grab an easy protein meal when one presents itself. An injured nestling on the ground or otherwise out of the nest would doubtless be considered fair game if it's still small enough to swallow.

[Maestro]

It very well could have been a juvenile BCNH. It happened very quickly. Although, I did see the little blue heron from my pics pounding on the head of a cattle egret in its nest but this "nestling" was more the size of a fledgling and much to big for it to eat. That is what got me thinking of the aggressiveness of the LBH.

[betsy]

Hmm. The juvenile BCNHs are mostly brown, while the Little Blues are, yep, mostly blue. I'd think you'd probably have noticed the color, even if the differences in shape didn't register for you. No?

Interesting about the one pounding the head of a nestling Cattle Egret that was in its nest. One would tend to presume that that sort of aggression meant the Little Blue had much smaller nestlings of its own nearby that it felt it needed to defend from the fledgling sized Cattle Egret for some reason, but one would have to have watched the Little Blue go back to its own nest to see if that was true. Too bad you didn't get a photo of that bit of behavior!

[Vern]

I thought I had found a juvenile Yellow-crowned at WRL a few mornings ago but appears to be a juvenile BCNH. Closest opportunity I have had for a photo of one.

Betsy...are you saying the juvenile Little Blue is mostly blue?

[Maestro]

My original quick view noted the blue and it quickly went into the deep thicket of the middle of the rookery so it most probably was a Little Blue that did it, but I only glanced over in that direction and then refocused my attention to to my viewfinder. :)

[betsy]

Betsy...are you saying the juvenile Little Blue is mostly blue?

No, No! It's white at first, and mottled white and blue (or dark gray) the following spring. But in this case, Maestro was talking about an adult Little Blue carrying off a fallen Cattle Egret nestling, then saying it might have been a juvenile BCNH. But I see he's back to going with what he saw. :)

The differences between juvie BCNHs and YCNHs are relatively subtle, though obvious enough once you've studied them in your photos and field guides. Sibley compares them nicely in his big guide.