Gatorland

Egret
Originally uploaded by bmthomas

Middleton Evans told me we should visit Gatorland this week while in Florida. Sure enough they had a “Dawn to Dusk” pass for around $30 that allowed entrance at 0730 in the morning well before the park opens at 0900 and we were able to stay until sunset well after the park closes. We spent most of the day in their rookery which is in the aligator breeding swamp area. Mike Godwin showed us around and really made us feel welcome. You can find his blog here. Turned out there are what seems like hundreds of Great White Egrets nesting there. At sunset thousands more fly in to roost including Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, White Ibis, and Snowy Egrets. Well worth a day and the money. There were also lots of aligators and a couple of endagered American Crocodiles. We got to photograph the crocodiles mating which is a farely rare site.  This was definitely worth a visit.