Egret Chicks

Hi You'll,

Here's a few pics of egret chicks from my visit to the rookery. The egrets like to nest in areas with alligators because the gators keep other predators like raccoons from their nest. The Great Egrets will usually lay three eggs. The last one that hatches is the smallest and is usually killed and/or pushed out of the nest by the older two. The gators get a small reward for their protection. As I was shooting the chicks I kept flashing back to the raptors in the Jurassic Park movies.

 

Thanks Gordon. It was a fascinating place to visit.

 

Hey Don,

The Alligator Farm built a boardwalk through the rookery that's about 8-10 feet off the water. You can get very close to the birds and you are not on ground level. I could have reached in a taken a egg from a couple of the nests I saw. I started out shooting with my 300mm and 1.4 but had to switch to my 80-400. The first shot wasn't cropped at all, the 2 & 3 were cropped slightly and the last shot was probably a 30% crop. Here's a shot of the rookery at 80mm

 

Thaks Frank. It helps when the locals are kind enough to build a boardwalk through the rookery.  

 

Hey Frank,

Thanks so much for the kind words. I prefer my 300mm/f4 but there at times when the 80-400 is invaluable. Most of my shoots at the rookery were at less than 300mm. I came very close to selling the 80-400 after I got the 300mm but I am really glad that I held off.

 

Thanks Martin. It was a great opportunity to shoot. I can't wait until I get back there.

 

Hey Gale,

Glad you liked them. I don't know about the cute part though. They are mean little suckers.