Rookery Photos- Tripod/Flash Police be D@%&ed!!

[labmansid]

OK, so these shots aren't from the High Island rookery, so nobody gave me any flak over using my tripod or flash!! Last weekend a small group of us went out on a boat tour out of Aransas, a few miles out close to the refuge. There are some small islands out in the bay that are used by the birds as rookeries, and with a boat you can get very close to the action. I had never been to a GBH rookery, so that was particularly interesting. I had my doubts about doing this at first, when we got to the dock and the 20-30mph winds were whipping up whitecaps in the bay!! The ride out was quite bumpy until we got to the more protected waters, but once we got settled in it was all very worth it! The south winds actually probably helped with the flight shots, since the birds were flying right towards us into the light the whole time.

Typical nest building activity.






Gotta watch where you land!!



Some of the GBH chicks were already pretty big.





Spotted this odd looking scene.....





Always enjoy watching these guys.








Another white morph spotted. Never did see this one in the air.






Thanks for looking!!

[jfoureyes]

Outstanding series Sid!!!

[dtran]

Awesome, Sid! Thanks for sharing the info!

[bunnyfrogs]

Very nice set of shots. Would love to be able to get that close. Never seen a GBH chick. Love the little head poking up in the landing shot!

[preames]

Great shots Sid! I haven't seen shots of GBH chicks before - very primitive looking birds!

[houtex01]

Outstanding work on all of these Sid...thanks for sharing...

Ron

[rjsalinas]

Awesome shots

[justDave]

Well done, Sid. I've never seen any GBH chicks, thanks for sharing some nice shots. My favorite is the last in flight RE.

[scottbuckel]

Very nice job on these!

Scott

[sandboa]

That second Reddish Egret shot is spectacular!

I'm intrigued by the juvenile heron shot.....is that a Great White Heron in the nest?
Is it breeding with a Great Blue? There is some talk of making the separate species but this individual doesn't seem to understand that.

[lhdvies]

Fine series Sid!! Love the shot of the Heron nest activity!!

[labmansid]

Thanks for the comments, guys, I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by sandboa

I'm intrigued by the juvenile heron shot.....is that a Great White Heron in the nest?
Is it breeding with a Great Blue? There is some talk of making the separate species but this individual doesn't seem to understand that.

I saw this in my viewfinder and knew I had to get a few shots. I believe it is a "white morph" GBH, or possibly called a Great White Heron. A little research indicated they are more common in Florida, particularly the southern part. I think this next shot is a slightly different angle of the same nest. That would look like it has mated with a "normal" GBH.

[TxPhotoShooter]

Excellent series Sid and some outstanding shooting! I love that last bird in flight photo.

[scottbuckel]

I was talking to an old friend last night that lived in Florida for a number of years and she told me that it was not uncommon to fins the white morph of the Great Blue Heron nest with the more common blue morph. She thought that the blue morph was genetically dominant. Although she never saw a nest that had white chicks, so she is not absolutely sure about the genetics.

Scott

[Stargazer77517]

Spot on Sid, great series.