The 7th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ALLIGATOR FARM

I always preach to photographers to plan ahead for a photo shoot, and then I go and do something stupid like this.  I'm known for that....doing something stupid that is.  On Wednesday last, I entered the arena of the rookery with a bare head full of anticipation of finding just the right shot.  Apparently, I have done way to many of these shoots in super heated sunlight and what few brain cells that hadn't been fried were quickly catching the flame.

The key to the above comment is "Bare head".  It was around two in the afternoon when I arrived and the sun of course was at it's zenith.  Apex!  Brightest and about 6,798 Florida degrees.................you get the picture.  Within five minutes the last three cups of Starbucks were boiling off my forehead and running into my eyes.  I didn't know there was that much salt in coffee.  Now, I have about three or four ball caps from the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, but where were they?  At home.  So some sixteen dollars later I get the above over priced advertising logo to at least shade my head somewhat.

I worked these birds for a good half hour, trying to get them in sync. 

The odd man out on the left never did turn around so I could get all three in a row, but that was what I was looking for.  These are immature,  (that's young for you public school students) Great Egret's.  The look beautiful preening their feathers and cleaning themselves.  But let the mother or father show up with a beak full of food and it's every man, woman, and child for themselves.  Each of them try to grab the parents bills in order to be fed.  The twisting of necks and stabbing with bills is mayhem in the understatement.

The feeding of the Louisiana Heron chick below looks like attempted murder.  It is so rough that you have to see it to believe it.  Two other chicks are in the wings on the right, ready to step right in and try to break their parents neck until the food is forth coming.  Interestingly enough all this tangle is happening on top of the "Gator Food" box.  Of which all the players in this drama could easily become.

 

That's the mother's head the chick has in it's bill.  This ain't your ordinary mother's breast feeding technique!

You can double click on any of these images to see screen size photos.