European Starling
First Green Heron Nestling, Clutch 5
072917
Black-crowned Night Heron Subadult
Two Green Heron Nestlings, Clutch #5
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Black-crowned Night-Heron
Green Heron Parent For Clutch 5
Green Heron Nestlings
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Ditto 080517
Black-crowned Night-Heron
07-25 through 08-05-17
This was a longer stretch than usual, but most of these days got hot very quickly. With both black metal camera and tripod, it was difficult to keep sweat out of the eyes and any kind of comfort level. Now that I have a few photos, I am proud to announce that we have another clutch of young.
It is unknown what happened with clutch 4, which I never saw. I had a bird on its nest, but no young were produced. It appeared to me that one of the Green Herons was a little young, so I am assuming that the male was not yet reproductively mature. It was also possible that there was a malady or perhaps the nest was infested with something malicious. Since we will never know, let us be grateful that we have young that I was able to capture at a very early age.
The first photo with clutch #5 was on Saturday, 07-29, nine days ago. I could only see one bird at the time, and I am almost certain that we now have three nestlings, some of whom are now sitting on the rim of the nest, just itching to escape. In order to obtained the photos that you see here, I have to have at least 12 mph wind gusts, enough to move both leaves and branches out of the way in order to view the youngsters. Luck gave me a few shots over the past nine days.
I also believe that I missed seeing the subadult Black-crowned Night-Heron every day, but I don't think it ever left the area. Going to the west side of Heron Cove each day has sometimes afforded me the opportunity to see the bird perched in a tree. The photos tell the story, and I am grateful that this bird is allowed to co-exist in the area of the Green Herons. If it returns as an adult in 2018, we'll see
if they are willing to allow it nesting space.
Even though it has been a terrifically hot summer in this part of the country, it appears that we'll see a reprieve in August. Perhaps we can all get in some long overdue birding. If the month is cooler, we might even see an earlier migration, as the days are shortening slightly. Perhaps the cooler month will give us a push with a few early birds in the area. I saw three Forster's Terns cruising the lake on Saturday, so we'll see what is in store for us this season.
Dr. Deb
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