Roseates are back, making Orlando Wetlands more colorful
Roger Simmons,
I’m happy to report that a large number of Roseate Spoonbills have returned to the Orlando Wetlands for the winter.
Last year, there were Roseates everywhere at the Wetlands in January and February – but I had not seen nearly as many this year.
After not visiting the Wetlands for a couple of weeks, I went on Sunday, Feb. 11 and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of Roseates. There still aren’t as many as last year, but there’s a good number of them — and hopefully they will start nesting there soon.
While the Roseates are one of the most colorful birds at the Wetlands, there were some others that were showing off their colors, too.
The Lake Eola swans have been iconic symbols of downtown Orlando’s central park for more than 100 years. Last weekend I went to the park to photograph the swans, which prompted me to learn more about them.
I visited near sunset on Tuesday and ended up seeing three sets of youngsters – baby Roseate Spoonbills, baby Great Egrets and, of course, Sandhill Crane colts.