I visited a Blue Heron rookery today.

[shilala]

I've been watching this group of nests for a couple months now. The pic is just a small portion of the 50 or so nests in this rookery.
Here's a close shot of the nests.
Here's some birds in said nests.
Here's a little closer shot on those birds.
My wife and daughter went out with me to see these birds. When we got in on them about 30 birds took flight at once. It was something to behold.
I didn't have time to set up properly and the distance is beyond my camera's limits, but when I get back there I should be able to get some decent shots even if I have to climb a tree.
Last but not least...
Here's a mama goose who felt the need to hide from me. I've never seen a goose strike a sneak pose like that. She stayed that way for 5 minutes while I set up. I couldn't get a decent shot, but I captured it as good as I could. The reflection of the water was killing me and I was too far away. If I'd had a few more minutes I could have moved and got a really nice shot.
I looked for her nest in the brush behind her but couldn't find it. (I did find what was left of a Ruffed Grouse that something snacked on.) If she's there later I'll take more time looking for it. Her male hung right in while she was hiding, but he was awful calm to be watching a nest.

 

[MustISO]

Cool pics. Fix that last link.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: MustISO
Cool pics. Fix that last link.

Workin on it already Fixed.

 

[pancho619]

Nice pix, I especially like the one of the goose hiding

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

We have those all over around here in western NY. Haven't seen them nesting before.

Good find!

 

[Wallydraigle]

That's pretty cool. I've never looked hard enough to find any nests. Congrats!

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: Wallydraigle
That's pretty cool. I've never looked hard enough to find any nests. Congrats!

The nests are easy to see from the highway, actually. You just need to be in the right spot. My brother and I trapped this creek bed extensively when we were growing up. Herons were an ever-present nuisance. They could pick all the salmon or sardines out from under a trap pan and never set it off. We'd check traps every morning and half the line would be bait-free.
In order to combat them, we started canning salmon that we'd catch at Lake Erie. The fish from that lake aren't fit for human consumption, but the Herons didn't seem to mind.

 

[loup garou]

Cool! Herons are beautiful birds. :thumbsup:

 

[sniperruff]

i read "blue HEROIN ROCKIE"

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
i read "blue HEROIN ROCKIE"

That hurts.

 

[squirrel dog]

We have wild ones living in the bayou that runs along our second home . One is about 4~5' tall and has a little beard growing from his chest . Awesome looking birds , they 'honk' at you as they fly by , if you attempt to 'talk' to them .

 

[meltdown75]

Hey neat. There's a bunch around here too. Actually behind the treeline at the rear of our lot, there's a sh!tload of Canada Geese and all sorts of ducks. Quacky times.

edit: btw yesterday i spotted a male cardinal in my backyard. got pics too but they're at home. i must be getting old b/c birding seems interesting to me.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
Hey neat. There's a bunch around here too. Actually behind the treeline at the rear of our lot, there's a sh!tload of Canada Geese and all sorts of ducks. Quacky times.

edit: btw yesterday i spotted a male cardinal in my backyard. got pics too but they're at home. i must be getting old b/c birding seems interesting to me.

I've always loved birds. They fascinated me since I was a little kid. Well, birds, dinosaurs, whales, and anything in the water, actually.
I studied birds every spare waking moment for years. It was a nice tie-in/extension to the dinosaur fetish.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
i read "blue HEROIN ROCKIE"

Likely would have helped if rookery were spelled correctly.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: sniperruff
i read "blue HEROIN ROCKIE"

Likely would have helped if rookery were spelled correctly.

That's the way I learned it. I even Googled it to check my spelling. I obviously missed "did you mean define rookery?".
I stand corrected. I'll get on the edit.
Thanks ActuaryTm.

 

[Sentinel]

I'm suprised you could get so close! Nice pictures.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: shilala
Thanks ActuaryTm.

We all make mistakes. Even actuaries - though we refer to it "margin of error" (or "confidence interval", if one wanted to be technically accurate).

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
i read "blue HEROIN ROCKIE"

tee-hee :laugh:

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: shilala
Thanks ActuaryTm.

We all make mistakes. Even actuaries - though we refer to it "margin of error" (or "confidence interval", if one wanted to be technically accurate).

Confidence Interval. I like that
I'm about as spelling-anal as they come. I'm also punctuation challenged.
It's nice to get called on a botched spelling here at the forum because in my little world no one can spell for shyt. My wife just showed me how to use a spell checker a few days ago when I couldn't iron out "quintessential".