Mangroves also serve as excellent rookeries for birds. Wading birds, such as roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja), egrets, and tricolored herons (Egretta tricolor) use the mangroves as a nursery, due to the proximity of food sources and the protection offered from most prey. Thousands of birds can nest in the mangroves at once, making a noisy and messy colony, but their droppings fertilize the mangrove trees.[72] Shorebirds like rails, terns and gulls; diving birds such as pelicans and grebes; and birds of prey such as ospreys, hawks and vultures are among the more than 100 species of birds that use Everglades mangrove trees to raise their young.