Jefferson Island: The End

Well, not 'the end' forever. Certainly I'll be back to Jefferson Island at some point in the near future. Right now it is just too hot and humid to survive the sub-tropical elements. These are some stragglers from my June 7th outing. Hope you enjoy and have a great week!

Cattle egret

Roseate spoonbill and female anhinga

Breeding Louisiana heron (aka tri-colored heron)

Roseate spoonbill

Breeding Louisiana heron

Cattle egret

Nesting (L-R): cattle egret, white ibis, roseate spoonbill with chicks

View of nesting area, called Rip's Rookery

Sharing with I'd Rather B Birdin', Camera Critters, and Our World Tuesday.

Jefferson Island: The Spoonbill Babies

Standing at the forest's edge with the western sun setting behind me, I was thrilled to see the roseate spoonbill chicks being cared for by their doting parents. It is truly a marvel.

Ah, relief at last.

So nice that the parents take turns.

Enjoy your weekend! As usual I will take weekends off to play, shoot, and bird. See you on Monday!

Sharing with Saturday's Critters! Thank you, Eileen! Please visit other fun critters from around the world.

Jefferson Island: The Flying Spoonbills

Capturing birds in flight is not my strong suit, but I had plenty of practice this day. One thing I knew was to set my 100-400mm lens on Shooting Mode 2 (panning) and make sure Image Stabilization was enabled. Unfortunately, the IS button broke off last year and I can't seem to part with the lens to get it repaired. I had hoped it was still in the "on" position. Based on these photos it appears to be engaged, at least to a degree.

Although this one and the next are rather soft, I liked the wing spread.

Going on an impromptu fishing trip with my dad today and tomorrow. Will catch back up with everyone on Thursday!

Ring Around The Roseates

What can I say? I'm running out of clever titles. *groan*

The roseate spoonbill is one of the more animated birds I've encountered on my birding adventures. They are difficult to photograph because they're constantly in motion and nest far away. These were taken at Rip's Rookery near Jefferson Island, an hour-and-a-half south of Baton Rouge.

Someone's falling down on the bathroom cleaning duties!

On yesterday's post a few people asked about the metal band on the indigo bunting's leg. Here is a link to the bird banding program at our local nature center if you'd like to know more. Sometimes I forget that not all people visiting my blog are birders. Sorry for that, and I have since amended the post. Also, I like to answer questions personally by email since it's not likely you'll come back here to get your answer; however, some of you don't have an email address enabled in your profile. Thank you for your comments AND questions! I love both!

Rip's Rookery

Jefferson Island in New Iberia, LA is a beautiful place for birding, dining and boating. Outside the entrance is a large rookery with mostly Roseate Spoonbills, Cattle Egrets, White Ibises, and ALLIGATORS. The area is mowed to encourage hiking and photography around the rookery except for thick vegetation close to the water, home to insectivorous birds and nesting gators.

Walking along I suddenly heard a loud plunge which stopped me dead in my tracks. Gazing out over the water I spied a baby alligator. Oh no. Babies. That means mama is close. Using my tripod as a barrier I walked slowly and carefully noticing more and more babies in the water. What to do??? I needed to get closer to the Roseates...would I let this new discovery stop me? Double D finally caught up to me and after a brief discussion decided we would both walk the path to get nearer the roseates. I prayed out loud; I really did. I was truly spooked. We successfully birded the rookery without incident, thank God.

Here are just a few teasers. I have so many roseate spoonbill shots to share, it's unreal.

Baby gator or possibly an adolescent. Only his head was visible.

First time I've seen a roseate spoonbill sitting on the nest.

Cattle egrets

White Ibis

Cattle egret gathering sticks

One of several baby gators.

Rookery Action

Instead of having this post scheduled days in advance like I normally would, it's 4:00AM and I'm just getting started. Sometimes insomnia works to my advantage. Since Friday night it's been a whirlwind of activity, highly unusual for us homebodies. My house is filthy, the laundry is piling up, and photos to document the weekend have barely had a glance. There may be enough images to make a post every day this week, but maybe not; I saw some stinkers in the bunch.

In between laundry loads today I will be checking in on my favorite blogs to see what you've been up to! Have a great week, y'all!

More images from the rookery at Lake Martin on March 22nd.

Sharing with Eileen's Saturday Critters. Thank you for hosting!!

Lake Martin Hodge Podge

Miscellaneous images around Lake Martin, LA. on 3/22/2014.

Early morning view

Pied-billed grebe

Pileated woodpecker. No amount of coaxing would get her to come out of the nest.

Snowy egret in breeding mode

Snowy egret

Roseate spoonbill

Black-bellied whistling duck
I thought of TexWisGirl while shooting these. My hat's off to her photography on these guys.
They were lined up so wonderfully on three different branches of one particular tree;
I'm certain Tex would have gotten the perfect composition from it.