Friday was Mother’s Day
. . . at Green Cay Wetlands. We took advantage of a break in the humidity and high temps to make an early morning visit with our friend, Kar. We were hoping to see some babies and we were not disappointed. Add to that some quality time with a young American Bittern and you get one of our best birding days in months.
The photo at right is a newly hatched Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) snuggled up against its mother. One of the cutest things I have ever seen. Fun fact: Gallinule chicks can walk shortly after birth, but they are not able to feed themselves for several weeks.
Following are pictures of a few more babies with and without their moms. The Common Gallinule is not nearly as cute as his Purple cousin. This was the first time I have seen baby stilts. Mom was keeping an eye on them from a short distance. Click on the arrows to scroll through the images.
A few more of my favorites. The Least Bittern was a young one (and a lifer for Kar). He/she was doing a great job hunting for breakfast, snagging a meal on two out of three tries. Mom trained him well.
