TONY JUDNICH @Tonyjnwfdn

OKALOOSA ISLAND — In recent weeks, the sky above the ponds, dunes, fields and trails at Veterans Park has resembled a busy airport for small pterodactyls.

That’s because the nesting season has taken flight for one of the roughly 17-acre park’s most common bird species, the great blue heron.

Male herons have been diligently gathering sticks and other materials on the ground and then delivering them to the top of tall long-leaf pine trees, where females assemble the nests.

The herons’ nesting season generally lasts from late January to around late August, said Walt Spence, a bird photographer from Niceville and the former president of the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society.

The nest-building ritual involves much affection between the heron parents, Spence said.

“You can see the female sitting on the nest. She gives a bunch of nice body language and display,” he said. Her mate “gets a big welcome and reward when he flies in. It’s like he’s coming home from Nesting Depot.”

Each female will usually lay three to five eggs, which are incubated by both parents for about a month, according to information at www.audubon.org. The hatchlings are able to fly after about two months.

Veterans Park, just east of the Emerald Coast Convention Center, opened in 2014. Spence remembers visiting the park site as a boy, when the property still contained a par-3 golf course and a driving range.

Today, the land south of the park’s main pond contains Wild Willy’s Adventure Zone. It’s being expanded to accommodate new attractions, such as two tracks for battery-operated go-carts. A landscape buffer that will include canopy trees, smaller trees and ground cover will stand between the expansion area and Veterans Park.

Spence remembers great blue herons nesting at the park site when it was a golf course.

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The birds “have been subjected to human activity the whole time,” he said. “They have a great tolerance for disturbances, other than fireworks and other loud noises. I think the county did a great thing to set aside almost 20 acres for us to enjoy” the birds and their activities.

While some great blue herons will leave Veterans Park for other areas after the season, many remain there year-round, Spence said.

In recent weeks, birds such as yellow-rumped warblers, American bitterns, hooded mergansers, great egrets, snowy egrets and a couple of great horned owls have been spotted, along with more commonly seen osprey, hawks, mockingbirds and great blue herons.

The park’s pine flatwoods, dunes and other ecosystems make it a great place for birding, Spence said.

“It’s a little oasis, and it’s in a strategic location with plenty of fresh water,” he said. “It makes a great place for migrating birds to stop on their way to and from the continents. It’s like the last gas station on the way to the Mojave Desert.”

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