Finally! For some reason it has taken almost 2 years to catch one again. Green Heron have no lips, that’s obvious. Which begs the question… why do they lick their lips.
I have caught them before but not recently. However, wait for it…
Not yet…
He’s getting ready…
And some lip lapping.
Enter Green Heron in the search box on this site and scroll through the articles. I never marked any text with the lapping thing, but just look. You’ll see they actually do this as a habit.
The road leaving the manor house at Magnolia Plantation passes a large garden pond. Being part swamp Cypress grow here, large cane, reeds, and of course flowers bloom along the edges.
There is a river and large marshlands behind the manor that is filled with wildlife. This pond is a great place for them to visit.
Herons walk and fish here often. The people touring this plantation get an extra treat at times.
Half the time people are so busy with the large birds they miss another local swim by.
The other visitor hiding under the water doesn’t want to bring any attention to themselves anyway.
This is a single photograph of a Heron ‘touch and go’ food drop. The juveniles were too aggressive so food delivery can be the only interaction the adult has now.
The reason for a single image here is focus and greenery. We have come to that time when the trees and branches have leafed out.
Even though I did have a clear shot grabbing focus is hard. For these in flight photos I use a 4 point focus setting.
If I can’t get the center exact the 4 surrounding focus points should work. Theory but usually right. Except when branches in the background are large or full.
Here focus was grabbing different pieces of the background. So, a single in flight photograph.
A young Great Blue, not ready to fly off, but wondering what’s out there.
Some in this rookery have taken the first steps of flying. At first they head straight for a large tree, someplace to quickly land. After a few test runs, they circle and spin seeming to have fun with the whole idea.
This little one was still considering it all.
I’m sure there is a logical reason for their theatrics, but they can be fun to watch.
This time of year the adults need a little ‘away’ time. Well, a lot of away time.
The young are almost full grown, demand constant food, are physically aggressive, on and on and on.
This Heron dropped off food, and flew to the tree line. Alone to just sit. I was there, but she was way too tired to care. She had a little ‘away’ time.
This scene gave my everything needed for a classic Heron image.
Spanish Moss is either a blessing or a curse. Blessed here, no wind.
Rules are changing now that both have young in their nests.
When a Heron lands in her nest the Egrets all flew off in the past. Now the Egret stands and goes eye to eye.
They will squawk and snap at each other, real attacks have stopped.
The day is filled with warnings about how close each can come to others piece of the tree.
As long as the line is not crossed it is all noise.
