UTSW Rookery

Spring 2016 I started visiting the bird rookery at UTSW Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. It was my first time to see a rookery. In this gallery I am attempting to document what takes place in a rookery for each species of aquatic bird that comes here. It has been an amazing journey that I am sharing here. There are 8 species that nest here and I will divide them by species in the order that they show up.

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War Paint

The 8th and final species at the rookery is the cattle egret. They are last to arrive but they equal the great egrets in numbers once they do arrive. Normally they are white all over with yellow eyes and legs. But, in breeding season they put on their war paint.
Cattle Egret in breeding colors (Bubulcus ibis)
UT Southwest Medical Center Rookery

Bubulcus ibis cattle egret breeding season breeding plumage breeding colors breeding plumes yellow and orange beak red eyes rookery utsw rookery ut southwest medical center dallas texas aquatic bird aquatic water fowl waders egret white egret