Great Blue Heron Rookery

[mclawson]

I noticed a blue heron rookery less than a mile from my house (as the heron flies) a few weeks ago, and today was the first time I had a chance to go photograph there when it wasn't foggy, cloudy, or raining. I'd estimate there are between 50-75 nests, but there might be a few more than that in the back. The rookery is just down the road from the yacht club and behind an elementary school and backs up to a rather large pasture. I went as many places as I could without hopping the fence, but good, clear shots were few and far between. I'm going to contact the land owner and see if I can get access to shoot from the field since there are other interesting critters out that way too. Here are some of the ones that were decent.

Nests in trees. They were pretty densely packed.


One watching, one building.


Hi neighbor.


Preening while waiting on partner to return.


Lookouts.



Hey down there, shaddup!


This guy got pretty close. I actually had to back up a bit.


The 7D tracks pretty darn well.


They would search the field for twigs and sticks and straw and return back to the nests constantly.


Other critters were all over as well. Flock of white pelicans with two unknown hawks in the trees.


I need to hit that field a lot more often. I saw ~20 deer, a few woodpeckers of various specie, mockingbirds, dove, ducks, and a dozen others.

[Shadow]

Very nice! Hadn't heard about this spot before.

[bunnyfrogs]

Wow, very nice series! Is this in Montgomery?

[lhdvies]

That's quite a find!!! Never seen a Heron Rokery that crowded with nest before!

[houtex01]

Great find Michael...nice series of photos...hope the landowner will give you permission...keep us posted...

Ron

[mclawson]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Very nice! Hadn't heard about this spot before.

I hadn't either, but I don't know any other birders in the area. It's pretty obvious once you see it.

[mclawson]

Consolidating...

Originally Posted by bunnyfrogs

Wow, very nice series! Is this in Montgomery?

Yes! It's in Walden, right down the road from the yacht club.

Originally Posted by lhdvies

That's quite a find!!! Never seen a Heron Rokery that crowded with nest before!

It really is pretty neat and yeah, that's a very high density nesting site. Looking forward to getting back out there.

Originally Posted by houtex01

Great find Michael...nice series of photos...hope the landowner will give you permission...keep us posted...

Thanks! I'm hoping so too. From what I've heard it's a nice family and they shouldn't have any issues with it as long as I don't tip cows or anything. The crazy does snorting at me are a bit scary though. ;)

[preames]

Thats quite the location! Looking forward to some more shots from there. These are pretty cool so far, especially the shot of the gbh carrying the nest materials!