Tricolored Heron

From the wild wader rookery at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida.

The herons, egrets, spoonbills and storks have developed an odd if slightly uncomfortable relationship of mutual benefits and losses with the many alligators that swim underneath their nesting trees. The presence of alligators keeps predators such as raccoons and even snakes away from the area, thus allowing a relatively safe place for the birds to breed and hatch and raise their young. However, some of those young do fall or flutter from the nest to the waters below, where their erstwhile guardians are waiting. As the poet famously said, quis custodiet ipsos custodies?