Thirteen pages of creatures and plants I viewed at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida, on visits taken between July 2015 and September 2019: This page includes wild birds in the areas around the parking lots. Subsequent pages include wild birds on the zoo grounds, big cats, primates, reptiles and amphibians, River Valley Aviary birds, Emerald Forest Aviary birds, mammals, water-loving creatures, bird exhibits, garden plants, and butterflies, dragonflies and insects.
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The zoo website indicated there were bird watching opportunities in ponds around the parking lots. Nearly all the photos on this page were taken at the pond near the handicapped parking area which contained more baby birds than I thought possible to see at one time.

There is one anhinga youngster in this nest.
[One skinny neck with a bulbous head sticks its little beak in the air above a nest of sticks as a female anhinga looks down at it. The baby is all tan except for the dark eye and bill. The mother has a tan upper torso, neck, and head, and a black body. Her pointed bill is yellow.]

The older chicks in this nest are turned toward the adult male on the branch to the right in anticipation of a meal.
[At least three dark beaks on light-tan bodies in a nest of sticks are pointed to the right. Approximately six feet away and about two foot above the level of the nest is an adult male anhingha facing away from the camera. The adult has mostly black feathers except for tan on the tip of its tail and some white stripes on its wings which it has partially extended. This is a heavily treed area so the entire background is green with leaves.]

A closer view of the older chicks (Anhinga chicks fledge approximately six weeks after they hatch.)
[The head and beak of one chick is visible above a mass of tan down. It appears this chick may be holding out its wings, but the three chicks are so close together it is hard to tell.]

This juvenile tricolored heron was atop a tree.
[This heron with its long pointed beak faces the left. Its lower body and legs are covered by the tree greenery. Its white belly is visible. Its feathers are still mostly brown although some along the edges have begun turning blue-grey.]

The bird on the far left is an adult tricolored heron while the other four still have their rusty-maroon juvenile feathers.
[Against a background completely full of leaves, five herons stand on branches sticking out over the water (below the image). The heron on the far left with its wings stretched above its body is grey-blue with a white body and underwings and a white tuft on its head. Two of the other four birds have their wings stretched upward showing patches of maroon in with the grey both on the wings and on their necks. One bird with its bill open has a tuft of maroon feathers on its head. The fourth bird stands with its body facing the camera exposing the maroon stripe down the white underside of its neck.]

This young little blue heron was perched above one of the ponds and was one of at least 50 in the trees surrounding the pond.
[The all-white heron with skinny yellow legs is perched on a tree branch devoid of greenery. Some small feathers are visible sticking out from the top of its head.]

Here's one going airborne.
[Four all-white herons are perched atop an evergreen tree. One bird has its wings and head completely outstretched as it just departed the branch .]

The adult little blue heron is in the upper right looking down at the chicks in the nests.
[A dark blue-grey bird with a blue beak that has a black tip is perched in a tree above the nest looking down at it. The nest in the middle of the image has three chicks standing in it and one has its wings spread completely, but it doesn't look like the wings are full enough of feathers. Another nest on the left of the image has two chicks in it, one sitting and one standing.]

This nest looks a little small for this young blue heron.
[One all-white heron with a yellow section between its eye and its black bill is hunched in a twiggy nest which seems to barely fit the bird.]

This nest was tucked in the trees. These chicks are much younger than the others.
[Three all-white birds with fuzzy heads and bodies sit together in one nest. Two face to the left while the other faces to the right. Their bills are a light tan. Their eyes are dark. The trees in the foreground partially cover the view of the birds.]

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Some birds stop by the zoo grounds just because of the nice vegetation and water features. These herons are not part of the official zoo population.

Two different black-crowned night heron nests each with a youngster it it. The youngster on the left is tucked under the parent with just its head visible. The yellow eye of the one on the right is near the thick blade of vegetation.
[Two photos spliced together each with a nest tucked into tree limbs and greenery. The nests are created from lots of small twigs. On the left is the grey rimmed white underside of an adult bird with the small head and large triangular beak of a grey striped youngster. On the right is a youngster standing on the nest. Its body is partially obscured by a long thin blade of palm. Its eye is a black dot in a yellow ring. It's short grey down sticks out from its body as it stands on the nest. The white underside of the parent is off to the left side.]

This juvenile black-crowned night heron was high in the trees near the lions exhibit in 2019.
[Perched on a branch with its head bent down looking at something below it, the bird's neck is stretched showing the wavy brown and white lines of coloring of its head, neck, and stomach. The wings are brown with white specks. Its pointed bill appears to be grey and yellow. Its orange eye has a black center.]

These juvenile black-crowned night herons were on the back side of an exhibit in the Africa section of the zoo in 2017.
[Three young herons stand within a foot of each other all with their beaks facing to the right. Two are in shallow water and one in the mud. They are brown white and blue-grey with more brown than blue.]

This adult black-crowned night heron was snoozing near the wood storks in the Plains of Africa section of the zoo.
[The heron with relatively short yellow legs is perched on a tree trunk. Its grey eyelids are visible on its grey-topped white head. It has a white belly with grey wings topped with black feathers.]

Black-crowned night herons have red eyes.
[The heron stands on the leaf-strewn ground facing the right. It eye is open showing the red color with a black center. The top of its head and the upper layer on its back is nearly black. A layer below that on the back is grey and leads into the white neck and stomach of the bird.]

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All photos © S. M. Garver