Roseate Spoonbills at the Alligator Farm
May 25, 2015 - An early May visit to the Alligator Farm yielded lots of Roseate Spoonbills, including a very persistent juvenile on the nest with Mom!
Alligator Farm
 | Description | The St. Augustine Alligator Farm is an alligator zoo with a boardwalk into a wading bird rookery. The alligators rest below the bird nests, protecting the birds from predators like raccoons. The Alligator Farm caters to bird photographers, clipping tree branches so that visitors can look directly into bird nests. It’s not unusual to see baby birds hatching! My favorite part about this place is that you can see Roseate Spoonbills nesting. |
| Photography Advice | Long lenses and intermediate telephotos are both good here. A flash will provide useful fill light on cloudy days and for flight shots. Consider joining the Photography Program for early entry onto the boardwalk. |
| When to Go | February through June |
| Species Photographed (7) | Cattle Egret, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Great Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Wood Stork |
| Website | https://www.alligatorfarm.com |
| eBird | https://ebird.org/hotspot/L614750 |
| Google Map | Click here to view Google Map |
| Trail Map | None |
A Morning at the Farm
May 15, 2012 - After visiting with the Least Terns a week ago, Michael and I stopped by the St. Augustine Alligator Farm to check out the rookery. I can’t believe this is my first visit to a rookery this spring! Last spring I practically lived in them. It’s prime nesting season at the rookery now. The Great Egret […]
"Really Cool and Far Out"
May 12, 2012 - (Rich picked the title. I hope you agree with him.) This is a Fractalized image of two Tricolored Heron babies taken last weekend at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. The nest was at waist-level and so close to the boardwalk that I had to add an extension tube to the Beast to be able to […]
Alligator Farm Winning Photo!!
August 25, 2011 - I got some good news a few days ago…one of my pictures was selected as a winner in the St. Augustine Alligator Farm annual photo contest! I received a letter about a week ago, but they didn’t tell me at that time which was my winning photo (I submitted several). So I had to wait […]
Cloudy Morning at the Alligator Farm
June 25, 2011 - After a sunrise with the Least Terns, Michael and I headed up to the Alligator Farm for another few hours of photographing. For once I was happy that it was cloudy. It kept the temperature cooler and let me take shots that are usually very backlit in the mornings. The rookery is definitely starting to […]
Birds and Babies Everywhere at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm
May 31, 2011 - I drove up to St. Augustine this morning to visit the St. Augustine Alligator farm rookery. There are babies everywhere! I didn’t spend much time on flight shots today, instead concentrating on making good images of babies. It’s hard to do that, with all the sticks and branches and nesting material everywhere. Next time I […]
Incredible Morning at the Alligator Farm Rookery
May 14, 2011 - I drove up to St. Augustine to spend my off-Friday at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm‘s bird rookery. It’s right at peak season and the rookery, and the activity is awesome! Some Great Egrets are still building nests, others have tiny babies, and still more have fledglings who know how to leave the nest but […]
St. Augustine Alligator Farm…A Preview of Coming Distractions!
May 13, 2011 - I spent the morning at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm photographing the baby birds at the rookery. There are chicks of all kinds now, and the rookery is bursting with activity. The baby birds are not altogether unlike humans. For example, these two Snowy Egret chicks clearly weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on who should get to […]
First Trip of the Spring to the Alligator Farm Rookery
April 1, 2011 - I couldn’t take it any more…after seeing picture after picture on the new Alligator Farm Rookery blog, I had to make the trip up to St. Augustine! My best shot of the morning was this Roseate Spoonbill in flight. He flew into the “sweet spot” of open sky with perfect sun, and the light glistening […]
Editing Experiment
June 19, 2010 - I went to print one of my favorite rookery pictures from this spring, and it bothered me that the background clutter detracted so much from the portrait of the mother and baby Tricolored Heron. I love the way the baby is peeking out from under Mama, but it was easy to miss him altogether in […]
Baby Roseate Spoonbills at the Alligator Farm
June 11, 2010 - The St. Augustine Alligator Farm’s bird rookery had a record-breaking four Roseate Spoonbill nests this spring. Two sets of chicks hatched a few weeks ago, but they are not visible from the boardwalk. The other two nests hatched last weekend, and the little guys are so cute! Dyeyo and I watched and waited for […]
Spoonbills and baby birds at St. Augustine Rookery
May 8, 2010 - After hearing about all the roosting roseate spoonbills at the St. Augustine Farm Bird Rookery, Dyeyo and I decided that it would be worth the three hour drive to go see the spoonbill nests. When you first enter the rookery, you are on a boardwalk in between several large oak trees. In the tops of […]
Baby Birds at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Bird Rookery
May 1, 2009 - I read about the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in a photography magazine. It’s an alligator farm, but wild marsh birds regularly make their nests in the “alligator swamp” each spring. The alligators keep their natural predators away while they raise their young. So Rich and I drove up to St. Augustine to take some pictures…and […]