
This photo shows a small section of the massive rookery at the Audubon Society’s Smith Oaks Sanctuary at High Island, Texas near the Gulf Coast. Every March, thousands of egrets, herons, cormorants and spoonbills converge here to find mates and nest. On this day a dense fog was rolling through the area. Note how the birds stratify their nests. The more aggressive egrets take positions higher in the trees than the more passive spoonbills which nest closer to the ground.