I have visited 100's of birding hotspots, but this is the most amazing place I have ever seen. It would be interesting to see it in the non-breeding season, but at this point in time, it is an incredibly active area with 1000's of nesting birds. The predominant nesting species are Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Anhinga, Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Common Gallinule, Purple Gallinule, Least Bittern, Grackle and Alligators. The area is owned by the city, and is part of their water management. They built a boardwalk to allow visitors to view the birds without disturbing them. Their efforts were wildly successful.

First, the Wood Storks, very funny looking adults and chicks!      Chicks are very sturdy looking.   Second, the Anhinga, known for their amazing fish tossing ability.         They are very beautiful birds in the right light.     The babies are very odd looking with a pouch under their bills.    Tricolored Heron have an amazing method of fishing. The birds dance across the water, while intermittently dragging their bills in the water. Another photographer described it as a ballet. It was beautiful to watch.   It is amazing to me that this method is efficient enough to catch fish, but apparently it works.   There was a Tricolored Heron nest right by the walkway, giving us very good views of the chicks. There was just one spot to stand where you could see the chicks well. In the audio, you can here a woman stating to me that I had the best spot (sub text, she wanted me to move). We ended up rotating giving each person a chance to see the chicks.    I loved this view of the Purple Gallinule in the purple flowers.    This Purple Gallinule was determined to reach the tasty seeds at the end of this flower stalk.   He munched on the seeds and flowers for a long time.     The more numerous type of Gallinule is the Common Gallinule. What is interesting about this next photo is that I think there are two generations of chicks here. The gray bird on the left looks to be a several month old chick, but was very actively helping to feed the few day old chicks. I LOVE the coloration of the chicks!  The Least Bittern was the biggest surprise for me. They are tiny birds, maybe half the size of a Green Heron, very secretive, but I kept seeing them over and over. Here he was hunting. I will be writing up a whole separate blog post about this tiny Bittern.      Last but not least, The Alligators. There was one HUGE male alligator named Big George. Much to my surprise, a small female approached him to show him her affections. It was a very graceful dance she did aound him. Fascinating to watch.    I would love to go back to Wakodahatchee many more times to see it in different seasons.