Part of the Great Blue Heron mating ritual is building the nest. The male brings sticks to the nest and they both arrange and re-arrange. Here he has just returned with a stick that was well received. I have seen sticks get rejected and the male take it to a different female.

I caught this pair from a bad light angle as he flew back and forth to a nearby tree line for branches. I moved into a better position and he flew off again.

I waited from this better spot,  watching her work on the nest, but he didn’t return in the twenty minutes I stood there.

Heron Rookery, Magnolia Plantation Audubon Swamp, 2/1/2017.

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