This is a 5 photograph series of a bird returning to the nest, most likely after hunting. Once a pair start building a nest one of them typically stands guard against thieves.

A few moments after this the bird standing guard left to feed.

These images were captured 2 days ago, 1/13/2018. The next day a group of Egrets arrived and one of the birds defended the site from them. Egrets and Great Blues are deadly enemies this time of year, anything can happen.

Click, or double tap, any image below to view images full size, in a slide show.

Great Blue Herons Taking Turns – click to enlarge

Great Blue Herons Taking Turns – click to enlarge

Great Blue Herons Taking Turns – click to enlarge

Great Blue Herons Taking Turns – click to enlarge

Great Blue Herons Taking Turns – click to enlarge

The action of a landing like this happens very fast. These images were taken, start to finish, in 1/2 second. The camera here was shooting at 10 frames a second.