On my way to the Chalk Festival in Venice, I stopped off at the Venice Rookery just to see what activity there was.  One pair of Great Blue Herons was nest building but there wasn’t much other activity.  Things will be picking up in another month or so.

I did see some Common Gallinules that were acting very uncommonly.  These little birds of the Rail family are generally seen swimming along quite placidly or sometimes walking on thick vegetation with their odd feet.  During mating season they will quibble with each other and it always looks like they are running on top of the water with long splashy strides.

You can see here the trail left by the one on the right as he attacked another suitor for the local glamor girl.  Outside of this they seldom do much.  But, a while ago I found one that decided it would perch in a tree like the other birds.  Unusual and it gives a great view of their unusual foot structure.

At the rookery this day I saw something even more unusual.  A Moorhen (sorry, the birders changed the name) Common Gallinule actually flying.