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Avery Island's Jungle Gardens

Pam and Edmund McIlhenny's photographs of Avery Island's Jungle Gardens, which was originally the home of E. A. McIlhenny, the third president of McIlhenny Company, and a well known naturalist. Around 1895 he helped save the Snowy Egrets from extinction, by establishing a rookery that became known as Bird City. Over time he continued to build his home into a 170-acre park filled with hundreds of varieties of Azaleas, Camellias, and other species nestled among the majestic Southern Live Oaks. Jungle Gardens was opened to the public in 1935, and has remained so ever since. The Jungle Gardens website, www.junglegardens.org, has more information as well as directions and hours of operation, and www.TABASCO.com also outlines the history of this beautiful garden. A more detailed history can be found in The History of Jungle Gardens by Lisa B. Osborn, Shane K. Bernard, and Scott Carroll. Jungle Gardens is a lovely place to take photographs. We hope you enjoy our collection, which is always a work in progress. Warmest regards, Pam and Edmund McIlhenny
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    2016_0319_Jungle_Gardens_Avery_Island-54.jpg
    Great Blue Heron showing off its impressive wingspan upon landing along the lagoons in Jungle Gardens on Avery Island.
    There are 93 species of Kingfishers, and this is the most common one found in the U.S., the Belted Kingfisher.  They live along streams, lakes, ponds, rivers, and calm marine waters, because they mostly eat fish and crustaceans, like crawfish.  Kingfishers have been around for a long time--Pleastocene fossils of Belted Kingfishers, 600,000 years old, have been found along the U.S. southern coast.  The oldest known Kingfisher fossil, found in Florida, dates back 2 million years!  Their nests are usually burrows in a dirt bank near water.  The male an female take turns digging the burrow, that slopes up from 3 to 6 feet into the bank, probably to keep water out, ending in an unlined chamber that serves as the nest. The Beslted Kingfisher is one of the few species in which the female is more brightly colored than the male--she has a copper stripe across her chest.  Source:  All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Orinthology.