Young'uns growing up quickly

© 2011 Lydia Hinshaw

Young anhinga shows off new feathers April 2. . .

. . .and the same nest March 20

Great blue babies April 2. . .

. . .same nest March 20

VIERA, FL --  It's nearly 90 miles away, but we are drawn to the Viera Wetlands here because of the great opportunities to photograph birds.

Saturday we left well before daylight to check on some of the nesting birds we'd observed just 13 days ago.  The kids are growing quickly, which is both good and bad for their parents.  Bad because of the amount of work involved in providing enough nutrition to support a growing family, and good because the kids do grow up and leave the nest in just a few months, rather than raiding your refrigerator for 20 years or more.

At least in bird families both parents participate in child-rearing.  We watched the anhinga daddy arrive home and feed his children, while mom took the opportunity to fly off on her own.  The great blue heron parents also switched off, though they look so much alike, we couldn't tell who was mom and who was dad.

On a sad note, the anhinga nest only had two youngsters in it Saturday.  Two weeks ago there were three, so one of the siblings was lost somehow.

Thanks to the Internet, we no longer have to  hit the road to birdwatch.  Lately I've become addicted to the eagle cam from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens in Virginia.  Here's the link.