Jungle Gardens Store marks the entrance to the Gardens on Avery Island.

Jungle Gardens, today a 170-acre park located on Avery Island, Louisiana, was originally the home of E.A. McIlhenny, the third president of McIlhenny Company, and a well known naturalist. Jungle Gardens is known for its majestic Southern Live Oaks, often draped with Spanish Moss or Resurrection Fern, and for its Azaleas, Camellias, Alligators, migratory birds, and many other unique species.

These Southern Live Oaks in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens, photographed the morning after a July rainstorm, are draped with Spanish Moss and Resurrection Fern. Resurrection Fern is so named because it can survive long periods of drought, during which it curls up, turns brown and dry, and looks dead. But within 24 hours of one good rain it can revive to the lush green shown here.

Azaleas at the base of a Southern Live Oak in Jungle Gardens.

Misty morning in Jungle Gardens.

E. A. McIlhenny first planted "Elegance" Azaleas like these in Jungle Gardens in 1932. They are difficult to purchase commercially today.

A spot to rest and enjoy the beautiful Southern Live Oaks and the blooming Azaleas.

Azalea in Jungle Gardens.

Azaleas framed by Southern Live Oak draped with Spanish Moss in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Azaleas blooming in a cathedral of Southern Live Oaks in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Bridge in Asian Garden that surrounds the Buddha in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

In the late 1800's Snowy Egrets, with their distinctive black legs and yellow feet, were hunted nearly to extinction because their lacy plumes were in such demand as decorations for ladies' hats. In those days an ounce of egret feathers sold for twice the price of gold.

Around 1895, E. A. McIlhenny helped save the Snowy Egrets by going out into the marsh, finding eight young egrets, and raising them in captivity in a flying cage he built over an area he called Willow Pond. McIlhenny described Willow Pond as follows: "Where Bird City is now was a wet area known as the Willow Pond. The spot was covered with buttonwood trees, willows and marsh grasses and a few green herons nested there each spring. I built a small dam around a spring in the middle of the wet spot over which I built a cage fifty feet square covered with poultry netting." In the fall he released the grown Snowy Egrets from the flying cage, and they flew south across the Gulf of Mexico. The following spring the birds returned to Avery Island with others of their species -- a migration that continues to this day. Theodore Roosevelt, the father of American conservationism, called Bird City, "the most noteworthy reserve in the country." See http://www.TABASCO.com and http://www.junglegardens.org and The History of Jungle Gardens by Lisa B. Osborn, Shane K. Bernard, and Scott Carroll.

E. A. McIlhenny also co-produced a 1913 silent film titled "The Snowy Egret and its Extermination," which influenced Congress to pass conservation bills outlawing the harvest of bird plumage. McIlhenny said of showing the film on Capital Hill, "We just ran out and brought the members of Congress in as we could catch them. Once they saw that film, they were with us." This was possibly the first conservation film, and is still used at orientation for new National Audubon Society employees. Source: The History of Jungle Gardens by Lisa B. Osborn, Shane K. Bernard, and Scott Carroll

The Egrets feel safe nesting over the water at Bird City, partly because the alligators swimming in the swamp below keep predators, like raccoons, away.

Snowy Egret wtih chicks on Avery Island.

Alligators that swim in the water below the nests protect the egrets at Bird City from predators.

Alligator patrolling at Bird City in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Alligators have the strongest laboratory-measured bite of any animal--equivalent to the force of a medium sized sedan falling on someone.

Green Herons inhabited the wet area originally called Willow Pond, and now known as Bird City, even before E. A. McIlhenny brought the first 8 Snowy Egrets there to raise. Green Herons are considered among the world's most intelligent birds, because they sometimes drop food or insects on the water's surface to attract fish, making them one of the few species to use tools. They are generally nocturnal, and are not very tolerant of other birds. This Green Heron was photographed perched in the Buttonwood tree to the right of Bird City's observation platform, in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

The Great Egret is the largest of the egrets, and has a yellow bill, with black legs and feet. Like Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets were hunted nearly to extinction during the late 1800's. According to National Geographic, their population declined by 95 percent. Fortunately, they have since recovered. The Great Egret in flight is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, an organization that was formed partly to keep more birds from being killed for their feathers.

Great Egret preparing to land at Avery Island's Bird City.

Great Egret announcing his arrival and preparing to land at Bird City.

March brings mating season for the Great Egrets, who are the first Egrets to migrate back to Bird City each spring.

Great Egrets are monogamous, and both parents incubate their eggs.

Snowy Egret with several light blue eggs in its nest.

Great Egret eggs are pale blue.

By late March, Great Egret chicks appear in the nests at Bird CIty.

Who hasn't wanted to do this at one time or another?

Much of the time Great Egrets pick small minnows from the lagoons where they fish, but occasionally one spears a larger catch, like this perch.

Fresh crabs are another delicacy.

Spider Lily in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Anhinga flying over Bird City in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Female and male Anhingas on their next. The female has a brown head, neck, and chest, while the male has much more black coloring.

Juvenile Anhingas still in the nest at Bird City in Jungle Gardens.

Entrance to the Garden surrounding the Buddha Temple in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

In 1936, a year after Jungle Gardens opened to the public, two of E.A. McIlhenny's friends discovered a magnificent Buddha statue in a Manhattan warehouse. It had apparently been in storage for some time, and its provenance was uncertain. The two friends presented the relic to McIlhenny, hoping it would find a suitable home among the Asian flora of his gardens. Indeed, he built a small Asian temple for the Buddha, and surrounded it with a very special garden. Today, the garden serves as an active place of worship for local Buddhists. See The History of Jungle Gardens by Lisa B. Osborn, Shane K. Bernard, and Scott Carroll

The Buddha Temple in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Buddha's Garden blooming in spring.

Buddha's Garden blooming in spring on Avery Island.

Side entrance to Buddha's Garden in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Cypres Swamp bordering Buddha's Garden in Jungle Gardens.

Wisteria Arch in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.

Wisteria in Jungle Gardens.

Jungle Gardens Azaleas beneath an Oak reflected in the small pond.The Oak branch is covered in Resurrection Fern.

Mirror Image in a lagoon in Avery Island's Jungle Gardens.