Great Blue Heron Flyover

While photographing the raccoons one evening, a great blue heron flew over. We have only had one heron ever stop by the Colvin Run Habitat for a visit.

On the Road in Texas: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons

I am on the road in Texas and thought that I would use this opportunity show some photos from a previous Texas visit.
These are Yellow-crowned Night-Herons that I stumbled across in San Antonio last spring.
While I am used to seeing heron fishing in ponds, streams, and even the Colvin Run Habitat, coming across them nesting in trees was a treat.
And whereyou find the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons nesting you will, most likely, find them nesting in a small colony. So imagine walking along. looking up, and finding two dozen of these herons working in pairs to prepare nests. I did not see any of them sitting on the nests, so I believe that no eggs had been laid.
The photos were taken in the late evening and I was surprised at how active they still were.
Although the tree tops provided very little gaps to see the sky, I managed to get this one photo of one of these magnificent birds in flight.
Remember to click on any photo to get an enlarged view.

The Texas Great Blue Heron

Yesterday’s post contained photos of a great blue heron taken in Newport News, Virginia. Less than a month earlier I ran into this great blue heron in a man-made stream in Lewisville, Texas (north of Dallas). I got this four photo sequence of him landing in the stream. His graceful in flight is certainly not matched by grace in landing. You would have to consider his landing almost comical.

More Heron Photos from Newport News

A previous post showed photos of a Great Blue Heron that visited the Habitat and photos of a Tri-colored Egret taken during a trip to Tampa. The last year has produced a bumper crop of heron and egret photos.

Let’s continue with photos of another great blue heron taken during a May trip to Newport News, Virginia. This fellow was found in a stream of about 15 feet in width located behind a hotel that we were staying in. Of course, I spotted him from the window of a third floor room – grab the camera and run.

Fortunately, by the time I got to the stream, the heron was just taking flight. I got these photos. What an amazingly majestic bird, even when only slightly off the ground (or water). He continued to fly higher and higher, eventually lost to me beyond a stand of pine trees.

Great Blue Heron Visits the Habitat

The most recent post showed a Louisiana (or Tri-colored) Egret that I photographed while in Tampa, Florida, last year. So, you might ask, has an egret ever visited the Colvin Run Habitat? Three years ago, on a bright sunlit morning, a Great Blue Heron arrived, clearly looking for ornamental fish that might be in the water tub. The heron that reside in Northern Virginia have learned that the suburban fad is to stock garden ponds with ornamental fish. Not your typical bird feeder, but the heron do appreciate the fish. Unfortunately for this specific heron, I do not stock the fish in this tub.

For reference, the top of the water pump is about 50” making this clearly a great blue heron. As soon as he saw me in the window he took off. The last photo shows the full wing span of this impressive bird.