Showing posts with label Green Heron nestling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Heron nestling. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
101321 Summer and Fall 2021
052521 Green Heron Adult
060321 Green Heron Nestlings, Clutch 1
060521 Green Heron Nestlings Clutch 1, View 2
All we had was one clutch of young birds this year. If there were more, it could not be seen due to the thickness and height of the shrubbery around Heron Cove.
080321 Lark Sparrow
It was somewhat of a surprise to find a group of these sparrows, but it was a nice surprise.
091521 Franklin's Gull
091621 Mourning Dove
101021 Green-winged Teal
American Wigeon and others
Blue-Winged Teal
Blue-winged Teal
101121 American Avocets
These were the birds from the recent bad weather. The ducks were early and a big surprise was the Cinnamon Teal, though all of them weren't really expected yet. Birds are resilient and know what hazards bad weather can bring. They were safe on the water.
101221 Great Blue Heron
This heron was in the company of another, which is unusual as they are solitary birds unless they are breeding. It is very possible that the other bird was offspring, which would make sense at this time of year.
Sorry for waiting so long to post, but now everything is current.
Saturday, May 29, 2021
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Monday, July 29, 2019
Nature, Birds, and Mammals of Payne County and Boomer Lake in July 2019
Webworms
American Lotus
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
071319
0700-0744/79-81 degrees/partly cloudy/E-5/76-75% RH/29.99 Hg and steady
Webworm shot was taken in Perkins across the street from an old sandpit where were found a family of Killdeer and heard an American Bittern. We went to several locations to find a part of a heron colony, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (rain crow or storm crow as it is called in the South) trying to hide, and a wonderful pond in Perkins that may get a Wood Duck pair in the winter that only stay a day or two. This pond had several songbirds, including an Eastern Phoebe. We also discovered a portion of a Great Blue Heron and Egret Colony with several adult birds. A visit was also paid to Ghost Hollow for Indigo and Painted Buntings that were everywhere on our journey, as well as the Blue Grosbeak. What a day!
Green Heron and New Nestlings
072119
0716-0848/79-83 degrees (feels like 86)/partly cloudy/S-12/71-69% RH/29.91 Hg and rising
This was the first day that I noticed that the eggs had finally hatched and clutch 3 had tiny nestlings. At the time, it was unknown how many there were.
Green Heron (Below)
Nestlings in Nest (Above)
072219
0706-0840/77-78 degrees/variable clouds/N-12/77% RH/30.05-30.07 Hg and steady
This was the day that three Green Heron nestlings were observed at Boomer Lake's Heron Cove.
Green Heron Adult (Right)
with Nestlings (Left)
072319
0718-0809/69-72 degrees/clear/NNE-9/67-65% RH/30.24-30.21 H and rising
The following day, we observed the back of the adult and the pile of young behind.
Eastern Phoebe
072519
0719-0825/70-75 degrees/partly cloudy/S-6/65-63% RH/30.14 Hg and steady to 30.17 Hg and rising
Today we had both the adult and a juvenile Eastern Phoebe learning the ways of the world.
Baby Opossum #1
Baby Opossum #2
Three Green Heron Nestlings
Clutch 3
072619
0709-0807/72-74 degrees/partly cloudy/S-8/59-58% RH/30.13 Hg and rising to 30.12 Hg and steady
Melissa and her dog found three young opossums that she couldn't wait to show me. Upon our return, we found Tracy, who was standing guard with them, as she feared that they would wander in the road. Tracy brought them to the Perkins Road Veterinary Clinic at request of our local animal rehabilitator. It was thought that something happened to their mother, and they wandered from the nest due to hunger. The third little one appeared to be sick and hid by a telephone pole, but the others seemed quite healthy.
Two of the nestling Green Herons were standing on the nest with an adult not far away.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Day 18 with Young Green Herons and Cliff Swallows
Green Heron #1
Ditto
Green Heron #2
View 2
View 3
Second Youngest
Youngest Green Heron
Youngest (Top)
and Middle Green Heron (Below)
View 2
Middle Green Heron
Two Youngest Green Herons
View 2
Cliff Swallow Fledgling (Center)
Juvenile Cliff Swallows
Juvenile Cliff Swallow
Adult Cliff Swallow
Attending Nestling at Mud Nest
View 2
061119
0700-0837/63-69 F/partly cloudy/SE-6/74-66% RH/30.18 Hg and falling-30.23 Hg and steady
It appeared on this date that the two eldest Green Herons may have fledged, as they could not be located with the others. The helpers were also missing, which tells me that it was getting critical
that these birds begin to fly to start caring for themselves.
The second nest has been attended for a couple of weeks, so it is suspected that there will soon
be more young in the colony that will need exercise/flight attention in ten days to two weeks so another nest can be started.
This was also a good day to hang off the side of the hill at the Lakeview Road Bridge to get more
photos of Cliff Swallows, as more birds are fledging from the nest.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Green Herons Study and Learn Though Their Surroundings
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallows
060919
0700-0730/74-75 F/mostly cloudy/NNW-4/77-79% RH/29.99-30. Hg and rising
This was a good day to observe all swallows, as many had finally fledged from their gourd-shaped mud nests along Lakeview Road Bridge. The two swallows that breed regularly in Oklahoma are Cliff, Northern Rough-winged, and Barn Swallows. Cave Swallows have been observed as far south as Manitou in 2015 and photos have been obtained for breeding birds at the Wichita Mountain NWR in 2012 with earlier breeding individuals unproven since 201l. They may have made it as far north as Lake Thunderbird in Norman in 2017. Non-breeders are also seen regularly this year along the Red River, and there could be breeding birds at Red Slough.
No doubt that within the next decade they will be breeding in Stillwater, as well, possibly at Boomer Lake. The higher likelihood could be at Lake Carl Blackwell for Payne County.
Adult Green Heron departs The Cove, as
immature Green Herons await a morsel.
Hopeful Green Herons for slurry
A Parent of Clutch 1
Young Green Herons Explore Home Base
Immature Green Herons Enticed by Other
Species in Flight
Several teen Heron Chicks
Exercise Those Wings
Getting the Right Idea By Watching Others
Rapt Attention On a Passing Great-tailed Grackle
Plenty of Stimulation For Young Minds In Area
Not Missing Anything
Young Green Heron Seeks Flight Instruction
Is Food On the Wing?
Dinner Is Served, But It Won't wait Long
Can You Hear Us Now?
Feeding Frenzy Is About to Begin
Helpers Are Here For Feeding Chores
Moving Around Faster Helps Muscles Grow
Wings and Legs Get Experience
Where's the Fish?
Helpers Make Youngsters Work
For Their Meals
Waiting Nets Nothing
Using Wings For Balance
On the Lookout
Brown Thrasher In Nest
Adults Take a Break
Waiting to Turn Fish to Slurry
061019
0719-0837/64-69 F/clear/N-11/70-64% RH/30.41-30.46 Hg and rising
It's hard work being a Green Heron, unless one is a lazy Green Heron, and like any other bird, survival means work. The young will lollygag for as long as they can, unless they are pushed by family, and sometimes they have to be pushed hard. Observing other species is important and sometimes the basis for flight is learned in that manner, but it must be done quickly in order to survive.
Birds have an accelerated growth rate. They don't live as long as humans and there's a big difference between a two-month-old human and a two month old bird, as they have to migrate during the same year. Hatching in May and heading south on the bird's own power in October is not a lot of time to grow up as a migratory species. This is part of the reason why only half the young make it to their destination for the winter (our winter), and half of those return as helpers the following year.
It is true that the adult males migrate first in many species to set up a territory. The adult female will then follow a couple of weeks later. They then build a nest and get right to business shortly after their arrival in the northern hemisphere to breed. There is no time to waste.
If they arrive when it is too cold, there may be no food in some cases. They may have to wait, and if they arrive too late, some will miss their opportunity for the season. Global warming or climate change waits for no bird.
As time progresses, the cycle may come together for many birds, but there will always be a few that continue to delay, and if that is the case, the species will not survive to prosper. However, birds have been around longer than we have, so they may realize that they must persevere through adjustments.
This will be a learning experience for them and for us. If we choose to negate the data, that is on us, but birds have very real criteria to handle, and their DNA pushes them forward.
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