THE FIFTH DAY OF THE 7th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

AND YOUR POINT IS?

The St. Augustine Alligator Farm's rookery is overflowing with fledglings! Here is the chick count as of July 1st:

Wood Stork= 140
Great Egret= 157 (beginning to leave)
Snowy Egret= 168 (beginning to leave)
Cattle Egret= 68 (beginning to leave, but some nests still have smaller chicks)
Tri-colored Heron= 137
Little Blue Heron= 29 (leaving)
Green Heron= 3 (new nests by Education Building and in Gharial exhibit)
Roseate Spoonbill= 12 (2 chicks in each of the 2 nests closest to the boardwalk, perfect size for photographing) This is an historic first time for any of the spoonbills.

Once again, this is only the CHICK count. Adults are everywhere, feeding young and doing fly-bys. The last fledglings will be gone by mid-August, but we do have plenty of birds roosting in the rookery throughout the year.

And if you haven't checked the Osprey chicks up in Maryland, they are getting pretty big.

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Hope you all had a great Fourth.  Got to thank Phillip and his wife for a great boat ride to the fireworks on Lake Murray.  We were so close we were playing catcher.  That's a baseball term for all you who attended the government public schools.