We continued the second day of our Florida trip (see here) by spending the afternoon at the Venice Rookery in Venice, Florida. We made the 1.5 hour drive from Myakka River State Park, had lunch (at Brewburgers in Venice, Florida), and then went to the Rookery.
Venice Rookery is an interesting spot. It is very unassuming, but well known to birders around the country. It is run by the Venice Area Audubon Society. It is a large pond with a small island in the middle. The island is a nesting spot for Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorants, Black-crowned Night Heron, and probably others.
Great Blue Heron (GBH) and Great Egrets are common wherever we go, be it Arizona, California, Kansas, Oregon, etc. They are so common that I will often pass on taking a photo, kind of like sparrows and grackles. However, they are very photogenic, and easy to photograph (they are slow moving and often in open areas with good light), and I can never pass up a good shot with a nice setting. At the Venice Rookery I took oodles of pictures of GBH and Great Egrets! They were nesting, caring for chicks, building nests, doing mating dances, showing off plumage, in flight, and all kinds of bird behavior that makes photographs interesting. So, I apologize in advance for all of the pictures of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets!
I noticed that none of the wading birds were fishing in the pond while we were there. My guess is that they found fishing places close by (in the ocean or nearby rivers, marshes, and ponds). We were expecting the birds to come with fish for the chicks, but we didn’t see it while we were there.
The distance from the shore to the island is right on the edge of the reach of my photography rig. There were a lot of photographers there with very long lenses and super heavy duty tripods, and they get the killer shots. However, it was close enough for me to get some shots that I liked.
Venice Rookery turned out to be a great choice for a stop on our photography tour. Thanks to Mark for recommending it.
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[…] location we visited on the trip:Fort De Soto (this post)Circle B Bar ReserveMyakka River State ParkVenice RookeryManasota Key Beach (sunset)J.N. Ding Darling National ParkCorkscrew Swamp SanctuaryBunche […]