A nice way to start the day.

Most of the time the big wading birds collect old dead sticks. They wander around on the ground searching for the perfect one.
Once in a while a fresh, soft, stick must be needed. These birds are not master builders so they may not have any particular reason why.
However, when they go for a new stick it’s a really big production.
Even with two hands it’s not easy to break off a stick. One beak twisting and tugging can take forever.
This was the second sighting of the day for this hawk. He was moving along the far edge of this swamp, searching for frogs. It’s a favorite spot and we’ve seen them hunt here often.
He didn’t stay very long.
The small hawks here tend to just fall to the side when taking off. Doesn’t make for great shots but you take what you can.
A small series here of a Great Blue leaving one of the favorite stick spots, without a treasure.
He didn’t go very far though. The edge of the swamp meets some forest here. There should be a full years worth of dead branches laying around. Each year this is the first place picked clean for nesting materials.
We know they will start collecting here, so we the photographer’s are as predictable as the herons and egrets. This is the first spot we go.