This past weekend I rode along with a photographer friend of mine, Robert Chaplin, who was scouting for his upcoming bird workshop. We took a trip up to Wakodahatchee Wetlands near Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida. Wakodahatchee Wetlands is an oasis in the middle of housing developments. Being so close to Everglades National Park and the abundant wildlife, I did not have high expectations of the Wakodahatchee Wetlands despite reading some good reports. I was pleasantly surprised. The Wakodahatchee Wetlands were as good as any location I have photographed in Everglades National Park and in some respects the Wakodahatchee Wetlands were better.
The Wakodahatchee Wetlands consists of an elevated boardwalk that leads you on a .5 mile round trip hike. Along the way are numerous trees with roosting Great Blue Herons and Anhingas. On this trip many already had chicks in the nests, others were still building nests. There were also Night Herons, Snowy Egrets, a wide variety of Ducks, Tri-color Herons, Little Blue Herons, Ibis and other wading birds. Alligators were also swimming in the shallow waters and sunning themselves on the shorelines. I got there early in the morning while the birds were still active flying two and from their nests and feeding in the shallow waters.
The highlight of this trip was a Great Blue Heron couple that were building a nest in a nearby tree off of the boardwalk. I was able to capture a few good shots of one of the Heron’s gathering nesting materials and flying to and from the nest.
I only spent about an hour at Wakodahatchee but it is definitely on my list of places to return to. Below are a few of the photos I captured on this trip.
