Great Egret nest and trio of chicks at the Dallas City Rookery

Yes we do have a rookery near downtown Dallas, in the city surrounded by high raises and busy traffic. From late February to September, thousands of wading birds – white Ibis, anhinga, great egret, snowy egret, cattle egret, black-crowned night heron, tricolor heron and little blue heron come to breed right at the Memorial Garden area of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center between Mockingbird, Inwood, and I-35.

The bad news? No, the strong ammonia odor and massive dropping don’t bother me come peak season. The location however is terrible for photography. It’s one of the toughest rookery with thick vegetation and terrible lighting. Finding a good nest at eye level and reasonable background separation is not impossible, just take about 8 long years!

I’ve been visiting the rookery since 2006 during the weekend in searching for that one nest. It’s not much of a trouble if you are live 20 minutes away. Finally, there’s one this year though a small opening and come evening, the background would lit up nicely. The hard part was waited for the young chicks to elevate its heads higher than the nesting material. Better Beamer was used to light the foreground, just enough to balance the background.