Once we were finished birding at Green Cay Nature Center in Boynton Beach, FL, we figured we might as well make a quick side trip to the Wakodahatchee Wetlands since it was only about 10 minutes away. To our surprise there were several trees hosting nesting Wood Storks, Double-crested Cormorants and Great Blue Herons. All of these birds nest in "rookeries" or communal nesting sights. Given that they are all large birds - the cormorants are about 27" in length, the storks between 32-46" and the heron 28-54" - you can imagine how crowded these trees are! I have seen Great Blue Heron rookeries and Neotropic Cormorant rookeries, but never a rookery of multiple species.
(The storks are trying to steal the twigs from the cormorant's nest.)
Also, I now understand the breeding colors of the female Double-crested Cormorant a little better after seeing the buffy chick in the nest above.
And one last species that we found in the trees, much to our suprise!
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