Location, Location, Location and more art by Mark Cook

Some areas of the Everglades are more important than others for triggering and supporting large wading bird nesting events. One such area shown here is the Western Marl Prairies in Everglades National Park, which historically provided the critical foraging habitat for fueling large supercolonies of White Ibis along the nearby coast. For decades this area has been too dry to support foraging birds but this year’s relatively wet conditions resulted in increased crayfish populations, the preferred prey of the ibis, and optimum water depths for foraging throughout the breeding season. These conditions supported tens of thousands of foraging birds and ultimately led to the rare reoccurrence of a coastal supercolony event.