“Sixteen different species of wading birds live in the Everglades. All have long legs for wading into the water to catch their food. The white ibis is the most common wading bird found here “(http://www.everglades.national-park.com/bird.htm#bird).
(Ardea herodias)
- Family - Ardeidae
- Identification – The Great Blue Heron has long legs and a long neck which during rest and flight is held in an “S” shape. Its back, belly and wings are blue-grey in color.
- Food - Frogs, small fish, salamanders, lizards, snakes, and crawfish
- Nest - commonly found on channel markers, in trees, and radio towers near water. Uses twigs and small branches for the nest.
(Ajaia ajaja)
- Family - Threskiornithidae
- Identification – Pink and white body with a few red feathers and a white neck. The long beak looks somewhat like a spoon, with the flat curvature at tip. The tail feathers as well as some feathers at the bottom of the neck are yellow.
- Food - crustaceans, insects, mollusks, amphibians, plants, small fish, shellfish, and shrimp.
- Nest - They build their nests in the trees out of branches, leaves, and grass.
(Egretta thula)
- Family - Ardeidae
- Identification – Mostly white with a black bill, black legs, and yellow feet. There is some yellow color between the eyes and beak.
- Food - Small fish
- Nest - are made of twigs and are found in the trees.
Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus rubber
Family—Phoenicopteridae
Identification—Mostly pinkish-white plumage with red
wing converts and black secondary flight feathers. It has pink legs and a turned down pink bill with a black tip.
Food—blue-gree
n algae, crustaceans, mollusks and other invertebrates
Nest—dried mud
Green-backed Heron Butorides striatus
Identification— It is dusty in color with a chestnut colored neck, a whitish chin and a stripe down the center of its neck. Their wings are greenish and along its back, wings and scapulars there is green plumage. Rarely will the Green-backed Heron extend its neck. Its feet are yellowish, except for males during breeding season, when they turn orange-ish in color.
Food— Small fish, amphibians, re
ptiles, crustaceans, leeches, spiders, insects, and mollusks.
Nest— They nest in shrubs and small trees.
Identification— The Little Blue Heron is a medium-large wading bird with long legs, and a long pointed, bluish beak with a black tip. Their head and neck feathers are dark blue and their legs and feet are a lighter shade of blue. Young birds are mostly white with dark tips on their wings and yellowish legs.
Food— fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects, and small rodents
Nest— platforms of sticks,
trees and shrubs
Family— Ardeidae
Identification— Tricolored herons have a blue-grey head, neck, back and upperwings, with a white line along the neck and a white belly.
Food— fish, crustaceans, reptiles and insects
Nest— on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs
Family— Ardeidae
Identification— Night herons have a whiteish-gray body with a black crown and back. Their eyes are red and their legs are short and yellow.
Food—Small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, small mammals, small birds
Family— Ardeidae
Identification— They look very similar to the Black-crowned Night-Heron other than a white stripe below their eyes and a whitish-yellow crown and back.
Food— crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, aquatic insects and small fish
Nest—platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs overhanging water
Family—Ardeidae
Identification— They have a grey body, red forehead, white cheeks and a long pointed bill. Their necks are long and legs are dark.
Food—insects, aquatic plants and animals, rodents, seeds and berries
Family—Gruidae
Identification— They have white bodies with black wingtips, which are exposed in flight. Their long, slender, curved beaks and legs are reddish in color.
Food—fish, frogs, insects, small reptiles, crayfish
Nest— stick nest in trees, bushed or near water
Family—Threskiornithidae
Identification— The body of a wood stork is white with black wing tips exposed during flight. It has black legs with pink feet and a black beak. Their heads are dark brown and bald while their faces are black with thick, long, curved down, dusky yellow beaks.
Food—fish, frogs, large insects, lizards, rodents
Nest— large, made of sticks and found in forest trees, with up to 25 nests in one tree
Family—Ciconiidae
Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
Identification— They have reddish bodies and dark green wings, their bill is brownish in color with a dark face bordered by grey-blue. Breeding birds have shinier plumage and a cobalt blue color around their faces.
Food— fish, frogs, insects, other water creatures
Nest— It nests colonial in trees, commonly with Herons.
Family—Threskiornithidae
Bibliography
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw139
http://www.nps.gov/ever/naturescience/birdspecieslist.htm
http://animals.about.com/od/birds/p/greaterflamingo.htm
http://home.sou.edu/~rible/wildlife/greenheron.html
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_green_heron.aspx?menuitem=14375
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nice job jacqueline. Gets me excited to see all those beautiful birds!!!!
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