For Heaven's sake Baby Blue...get down and stay down.
It's windy out, and you're standing on the edge of the nest!
It looked like there were two babies in this nest, but as
the back baby settled down in the nest, two more chicks
popped up...four babies in one of the smaller nests.
I have no idea how Great Blue Heron babies fledge. I've never been able to witness it in past years because the leaves always come out in full force and obscure our views. Do they hop from branch to branch after climbing out of a nest? Do they jump and soar after mama? Tomorrow morning I'm heading back over to see if any of the babies are ready to leave the nest. Maybe I'll get to watch one fledge! I've read it usually takes three months from the start of incubation to fledging. In this past post, we can see that on March 6, 2009, four of our Great Blue Herons were sitting on eggs, so it won't be long now!
p.s. You may notice the photos are a little blurrier than usual. This is because the nonstop winds kept tossing me around too, making it hard to stand still and get a crisp shot. I guess on very windy days, a tripod would be much better than a monopod!
Poor papa. He no sooner landed in the nest than all
three babies popped up mobbing him (or her, maybe
it's mama) for food. They would thrust their bills high
and sometimes catch their parent's bill in theirs.
p.s. You may notice the photos are a little blurrier than usual. This is because the nonstop winds kept tossing me around too, making it hard to stand still and get a crisp shot. I guess on very windy days, a tripod would be much better than a monopod!
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20 comments:
I hope you get to see them fledge, Kelly.
Awesome post, I've never seen herons on a nest. I must try to find out where they nest; we have so many here in the city. (They fish side by side with the anglers in the canals)
That is an interesting find Kelly. Thanks for stopping by.
Wow! that is pretty neat.
It is amazing that they are so big in that nest! It would be interesting to see them fledge.
Wildlife...I hope I get to see them fledge. If I do you'll know. I'll post lots of photos.
yen...thank you!
Hip...thanks!!
Jayne...they must do a lot of snuggling. That's all I can think of! I hope I get to see something, but I have a feeling the leaves will prevent most of the views.
Wow..you are so much closer to your heron babies! The greeny trees make it a lot harder now, too. Great shots! I love that baby swan with the "spaghetti" head below! So cute!
It is amazing how they can stay on the nest Kelly, as they are very light birds.
3 months?! Wow! That seems a long time when I think how fast the songbirds hatch and fledge. And these babies are huge!
OH, well, what do we know? They seem to have it figured out!
Great! I hope you're around when they take the first leap into the unknown.
About using a tripod on a windy day... I've found that it makes no real difference. If the wind can blow you around, it can also shake the the tripod, even when you attach weight to the little loop at the bottom of the central shaft. Do I know this from experience? Unfortunately!
It is incredible how they all fit in that nest - those big babies! I hope you do get to witness them fledging and capturing some photos. I love these birds!
Certainly does make you wonder how they stay there in strong winds.
Hope you get to see them fledge; something I've never witnessed before.
That would be beyond cool to see them fledge- like huge planes taking off!
Awesome shots of them Kelly!! They sure grew fast!! But birds do I guess. My Cockatiel was flying at four weeks. Amazing! I love seeing all these photos of the baby birds now!! Thanks for going out there in the wind for us..Ha!
It doesn't seem like it has been that long. Where did the time go?
I really enjoyed your post, the big blues around here are not aclimated to people, so they are a little more difficult to photograph.
...thanks everyone! It's always great to read what everyone has to say! Today I saw them practicing...flapping wings and jump-flying to another branch!
OMG Kelly so sweet!!! They look so cute in the nest w/ their parents. Lucky you for getting shots as close as that. It reminds me I need to check up on mine!
Wow, no they are not babies anymore and they are almost ready to fly away from dad and mom. Gorgeous. I love thi story of the rookery. fascinating!
Good work in an interesting blog!
Regards
Kelly, this is amazing! I really love that shot where the parent bird just came in w/food and all the babies are scrambling to be the one fed. Wow, I thought our little Phoebes were crammed in their nest - these guys are really packed in there, and so big at that! I'm glad you were able to get a look at them before the leaves made it too difficult to see.
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