Crooked Creek Rookery Gallery

Rookery in South Carolina

Nest Site Competition
Great Egrets compete for nest sites along the Crooked Creek in Bennetsville, South Carolina.
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Slider Turtle
This little beauty was hauled out for a sun bath and paid no attention to us, despite his reputation for "sliding" back into the water when disturbed.
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Mother Nature
I could not have imagined this beautiful view of a mother Great Egret tucked in among spring berries and flowers. South Carolina is known for it's trees, many of which thrive near water.
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Brooding Great Egrets
I was so surprised and thrilled to see this many waders and water birds nesting so close to home. These Great Egrets display their gorgeous breeding plummage as they sit on their nests.
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Nest Builder
The male Great Egret selects the nest site to do his display. He also starts the nest, then the pair finish it. The male might complete it himself. Look at the twig in the bird's mouth.
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Nesting Great Egret
Those stunning breeding plumes were once the cause of the demise of 95% of all Great Egrets in the US. They were killed for the feathers that were used to adorn women's hats in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. This practice was banned in 1910.
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Female Anhinga and Chicks
the Anhinga's white wing pattern is visible when she hangs her wings out to dry. She spears her food with her beak under water. Her neck and head are buff colored and her babies are covered in a velvety buff down.
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Great Egret Behavior
The Great Egret hunts in water and will eat fish, amphibians and shell fish. They often stalk their prey or stand still and wait for the prey to come to them.
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Great Egret & Chicks
I am always amazed at how closely our artists, designers and animators find their direct inspirations from nature. These wonderful Great Egret Chicks look like live muppets, although in fact these nestlings compete fiercely with one another for survival.
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Mother Great Egret and Nestlings
A female Great Egret will lay a brood of between one to six eggs. I have never seen more than 3 to 4 chicks. The babies will actually stab each other to death in their fight for survival.
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Great Egret
Great Egrets will nest with other water birds in colonies often over water, as in this case. They might go as high as 100 feet off the ground to the top of a shrub or tree.
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Alligator, Crooked Creek
Alligators were plentiful in Crooked Creek and environs. An American Alligator can weigh 750 lbs and grow to 14 feet long. The men in our group were very enthusiastic about how big the spotted alligators were, but to my eyes, for the most part, they did not look full grown. Although we saw one alligator swim purposefully into another alligator...turf wars?
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Great Egret Cooperation
Nest building is mutual activity with male and female Great Egrets. The nest can be upto 3 feet wide and one foot deep, lined with pliable material that will dry to a cup shape. The original nest platform is built with larger sticks by the male.
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Great Heron with Nest Twig
Both male and female Great Egrets grow beautiful long display feathers down their backs in breeding season. The male will shake his out and preen as part of his display to attract the female.
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Great Egret Display
I am guessing this is an example of a male Great Egret displaying for a female as he constructs a nest. When the Greats are mating the green on thier face turn almost an eclectric green.
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White Ibis Pair
I cannot know this for certain, but I like to think that these two birds are either about to mate or are a pair. When they are in breeding season their face and legs become a brilliant red color, instead of their normal orange and the bottom of their bills turn black. Ibis are are very social and have fascinating behavior. Like the Great Egrets they breed in a colony, but also forage, display and fly in a colony group. They have striking red faces and beaks, bright blue eyes and black wing tips.
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Helping a Chick Emerge
I was told that when a female is bent over her nest like this she might well be helping one of her babies emerge from it's shell. It is very touching to watch this behavior.
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Breeding Cattle Egrets
I've never given the Cattle Egret it's fair due. They deserve respect. Native to Africa they made their way to South America in 1877, to the northeast in 1941. They started breeding in the US in 1953 and are by now the most abundant egret in the New World. You can find them in Newfoundland! Breeding plummage is identified by the golden color on the head, neck and back.
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Rookery on Crooked Creek
We really lucked out timing wise for out float down Crooked Creek. From the water this was a typical view of the rookery, filled with egrets and ibis. Ibis nest on sweetwater because their chicks cannot tolerate too much salt in their diet.
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Three Cattle Egrets
This could be a triad of two females and a male. Occasionally males will mate with two females and the three will stay together.
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Great Egret
This is a "cool fact" from the Cornell "Allaboutbirds" website: The Great Egret is the symbol of the Audubon Society that was founded specifically to end the killing of these birds for their feathers.
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Cattle Egret Display
When the male Cattle Egret displays he fluffs out his back, neck and head feathers, all of which are a golden color. When not breeding this compact egret is pure white.
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The Great Egret Waiting
Great Egrets wade up to chest level to spear their prey or stand like this one and wait for trey to come to it before they jab it with their big yellow bill
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Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets are voracious eaters. Normally they stay with large mammals, like cattle, and eat the insects the bovines stir up, but they will also glean food from water's edge. This is from the Cornell Allaboutbirds website: "Grasshoppers and crickets are the biggest item on their menu, which also includes horse flies, owlet moths and their larvae, cicadas, wolf spiders, ticks, earthworms, crayfish, millipedes, centipedes, fish, frogs, mice, songbirds, eggs, and nestlings."
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Crooked Creek Rookery Gallery