Wakodahatchee

     What is Boynton Beach, Florida? Well it's close to Palm Beach, a stone's throw away from Delray Beach-- but I think of the whole trip it had some of the best birding. My favorite place was 20 minutes of a drive from our Airbnb, Wakodahatchee Wetlands. It was perfect for a walk, its an easy to walk boardwalk, with Gazebos along it for shade. The trail snakes you through each wetland, an old utility site, and some wet forest. It was perfect for bird viewing and the perfect amount for any folks traveling with you who are more into seeing gators, iguanas, and not staying out too long.
     Also, did you know Florida is full of bird signs?! Capturing my eyes with its swallow-atiled kite emblem, arrows point you in the direction of the Great Florida Birding Trail. This is on the South portion of the trail, that snakes along the Atlantic Coast for those birds traveling by way of the Atlantic Flyway, this trail highlights places along that route.
     So anyway, I rate Wakodahatchee as my favorite spot for the trip....

The sight of this bird startled me. So electric in the sun! This is a grey-headed swamphen and holy crap!
It's like 3 times the size of the common gallinule.  It was damn beautiful. And of course, Florida-- it's an introduced species.
It was disturbed by a common gallinule. This was one of a pair, and it came out of the reeds to size up the minuscule disturbance.

And then when I finally get it in focus, it was gone.
In the same family as rails, coots, and gallinules, it is originally from the Middle East, India and Southern Asia.

A bird I really like, mainly because they are just so weird (and hard to pronounce), the Anhinga!
Also known as the snake bird or, delightfully, the water turkey.

A beak for stabbing and securing a good meal of fish.

The trees sprouting from the pools of water hosted little rookeries of herons, egrets, and cormorants.
These are cattle egret youngsters. You could tell who were the youngsters as they had a few stray downy feathers dangling off their noggins.

Here is a fresh fledged little blue heron. Little, but still needs to mature to earn that blue!

Love that downy fuzz!

If you love herons, then you'll love Florida. Because they are everywhere, all the time.
Here a great blue atop a nest.

Also, if you love iguanas, you'll love Florida, they are everywhere.
(I LOVE iguanas)

To the point, these invasive exotics earned exterminator rights.
As we drove south bound, I saw a sign, "Got iguanas?" A big stupid smile crept across my face as I made my excited gasp sound that while driving usually terrifies Tim because he thinks something awful happened/is about to happen. And then I frowned and made a sad noise as I continued reading the phone number and "Iguana extermination, call today!"

A bird I missed last year in Brooklyn! A Least Bittern! So little and so handsome!

The one gator we spied in this walk. Just hanging with a group of white ibis, presumably escaping the heat by seeking refuge in the shade and on the grass that's probably more refreshing than the water.
Also hanging around were iguanas. ANd I didn't note the big guy in the background until I reviewed my photos! Looks Spike-worthy in size (Spike was my late iguana of 15 years).

Anhinga in allllll it's glory!

On this visit we also got to see black-bellied whistling ducks, tricolored heron, green heron, white-winged doves, glossy & white ibis, cattle, great, and snowy egrets, belted kingfisher, and never-ending common gallinules.