Florida: Another Breeding Season

Even as early as February 2013, the breeding season at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray was well under way.  The American Alligators (Alligator mississipiensis) still had a couple of months to go before getting down to business; this youngster hatched in an earlier spring.

The adults, far from being moved by thoughts of love (or its crocodilian equivalent), still seemed downright lethargic.

The Florida Red-bellied Turtles (Pseudemys nelsoni) seemed pretty quiet, too…

..And even this Florida Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris) seemed content to laze contentedly among the water weeds.

Over on the heron islets, though, the Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) were definitely restless, squabbling noisily and jostling for prime positions in their nesting trees.

They were already in breeding colour, sporting orange-buff chests and crowns and glowing red mandibles.

The arguing egrets disturbed some downy young Anhingas (Anhinga anhinga)…

… although before too long it seemed to be nap time for everyone.

Meanwhile, at the highest point in the nesting trees, a pair of Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) displayed to each other atop their own cluster of sticks…

… While in the next tree over a pair of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) stretched, balanced atop their perches, and tended to their nest site.

I  did not see any nesting activity among the Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), but the birds were already beginning to acquire their breeding-season trademark, a dark bar across the bill.

This bird has largely completed its transformation into breeding plumage (and billage, if that's a word).

The Purple Martins (Progne subis) were already in possession of their condos. The communal life of these birds gives rise to some fairly salacious behaviour. Older males, the first to arrive (perhaps the bird on the right is one of them), use a special call to attract younger males and, once they have taken up residence with their mates, copulate with the newly-arrived females.

Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are resident here, and almost every time I visit Wakodahatchee  I see males displaying their bright red shoulder patches to rivals. Further north, males arrived before females and use their colourful shoulders in bluff battles over territory. When the females arrive, they choose a male based not on his colours on the quality of the territory he has managed to secure.