The Rookery

So, exactly where is this young anhinga, anyway?  This great huge refuge known as the Venice Rookery?  Where one can go and see so many birds, all different kinds?  What is this place really like?

Well, here it is.  Right in the middle of town, just off “the trail” (U.S. 41), next door to a trailer park is this small pond/lake with the island you see here in the middle.  That’s it!  Not particularly big by any means, but still loaded with all kinds of birds, most nesting and raising a family.  If you look closely you can see great blue herons, great egrets, anhingas but also many more tucked inside the trees where you can’t see them.  Snowy regrets, black crowned night herons, little blue herons, glossy and white ibis.  If you get there before the sun rises, all theses green trees and bushes look like they have a million white flowers on them.  In fact, they’re mostly ibis and egrets just waking up.  As the sun rises they take off in bunches until all that’s left is what you see here.  As evening rolls around they all make their way back for the night.  Really an interesting place to visit and in all the three or four times I’ve been there never been disappointed.  It’s always an adventure.