I couldn’t ask for better shots for comparing Black-crowned Night Herons.
The bird on top, furthest away, is a juvenile bird. He is about half way to adult plumage. First year youngsters are all brown with stripes.
The closest bird is a full adult, breeding age. Very different than the younger one.
And just to show a little more, the adult did a stretch for us.
A little house keeping in a rookery.
Great Blue Herons.
These photographs capture the standard flight style of a Great Blue in a rookery. Basically it’s come in low, then pull up fast for the approach to the nest.
I can’t figure out why they use this method. My best guess is the angle must make it easier to navigate through the hanging branches.
Now I need to remember my theory for when the Great Egrets nest here. It will be interesting to see if they use the same path. I don’t remember from previous years
BTW, It’s a spectacular show.
A Heron hunkered up against the cold wind.
I know 32 degrees (0 Celsius) is not cold to many people, even with the 15 mph wind. It wasn’t cold to me once either.
Well, we are in the ‘warmer climes’ and to both the Great Blue and me it was pretty cold. February here is true winter.
Another shot taken in old Magnolia Cemetery. The Night Herons here are shy as usual but a few spots give an open view to their roosts.
When they all come together as a flock there may be up to thirty Herons. That’s more than I have ever seen anywhere else.
I had seen this Great Blue going over the right side of the dike. There are always small food critters on the waters edge.
He was not gone long though.
The bird came strolling out standing tall. I assume he had been watching me the whole time. Me, I had almost forgotten about him.
Above you can see he took a few steps and went right into the quick escape pose.
In milliseconds he went from standing to airborne.
He moved so fast I just followed with him and shot high speed until the buffer was filled. Above, I almost moved the camera faster than he was going.
He leaned a little in my direction after this, he needed to clear some reeds, and I lost him in the view finder. Cut him in half and no focus LOL.
After being driven away a few times the young fool came back for more. (if you have not seen the previous articles links are included at the end).
The nesting female is the Heron in the back of this shot. It’s taken from a different angle. You can see her standing to confront the new comer…again.
This time she must have hurt more than his feelings. He backed up quick and bailed out into the air. The female was still following him.
Birds show expression with wings, posturing, and feathers. Above everything says this is one very angry Great Blue.
It’s obvious she has had enough of the fool. The uninvited male kept flying this time. I watched him move to the far end of the rookery and land in a large island.
There has been more confrontations, different nests and trees, it may or may not have been the fool. But this happens all the time.
Links;
The first encounter… click here.
The second encounter… click here
Not the usual shy response, like leaving right away.
Black-crowned Night Heron.
Still a juvenile though he looks to be close to adult changes. His eye color is getting that vivid red.
