Great Egrets steal nest building materials from other nests, even when there appears to be plenty of unclaimed sticks scattered all around. This one made quite a production of showing off before reaching for a stick at the edge of a Great Blue Heron nest.
Great Egret
I was surprised that the Great Blue Heron wasn’t moved to action as the stretch was on.
Great Egret
Got it.
Great Egret
After all that, the stick didn’t measure up and the Great Egret dropped it. It was the Great Egret in the upper nest that finally stood up and drove the interloper off.
Yes, there are four Great Blue Heron chicks in this nest. We watched a successful nest of three last year, and wondered if the smallest one was going to make it. He did. But four!
Great Blue Heron Family – click image for larger view. There are two directly under the adult, one just to the left of the adult’s tail, and the last one is a little further left in the shadow.
Birds don’t worry about how their brood will get fed, but as these chicks grow the adults will really have to work hard to bring enough food. The adults don’t monitor who gets what; he who is pushiest gets the food.
Great Blue Heron Adult looking back at nest
This is the same nest taken four days later. The chicks are standing up.
It was nearly dark when the Great Blue Heron returned to his nest to find the feisty Great Egrets from neighboring nests interfering with his landing plans. His mate stood up to welcome him and gave the Egrets a stern look.
Great Blue Heron Pair and Great Egrets
After looping around the tree, his second attempt to land was successful.
Great Blue Heron Pair and Great Egrets
The Great Blue Herons greeted each other in the usual fashion touching beaks and head feathers on display, undaunted by the Great Egrets.
Great Blue Heron Pair and Great Egrets
The image below was taken earlier in the day about a week ago, at a 90 degree angle from those above. There are at least six Great Egrets nests, one Great Blue Heron nest, and at least one Anhinga nest a little lower down on the left. The Great Egret in the lower right is poaching twigs from the Great Blue Heron’s nest.
The “Skinny Tree” so named because for its single trunk. I would never be surprised to get to the rookery and find out it had fallen over.
Great Blue Heron with Two Chicks
This season a Great Blue Heron pair is raising a family here.
Great Blue Heron with Two Chicks
These chicks are not yet four weeks old and the parents are already leaving them alone for hours. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by Great Egrets and birds of prey.
This is one of the nests I featured a few days ago that is in a more protected location of the Heron rookery. The trees are rapidly leafing out, those images were taken on the 11th and today’s were taken on the 26th.
Great Blue Heron with Chick – click image for larger view
I thought I saw two chick fuzz heads here last week, but if so only one survived. The chicks rest a lot the first few weeks, and their first maneuvers include stretching the lengths of their bodies and using their beaks. If there are multiple chicks they chew on each other, otherwise mom and dad get it all!
Great Blue Heron with Chick – click image for larger view
After awhile the adult did its best to ignore the chick. He was probably hoping its mate would soon return with food for the chick and an opportunity to go off and feed itself.
Great Blue Heron with Chick – click image for larger view
I take more photographs of the Great Blue Heron nests in trees with little protection because you can see what is going on, but many of the pairs put their nests in more secluded spots. These nests are much higher off the ground and have more branches impeding the view.
Great Blue Heron on Nest
When the eggs hatch the chicks will be evident from their chirping, not because they are visible from the pathway. It is likely that by the time the young are tall enough to be seen leaves on the trees will obstruct them from view.
Coming in feet first, a male Great Blue Heron brings a stick to the nest. The female knew he was approaching.
Great Blue Herons Stick Exchange
She stopped watching but he executed a graceful touch down.
Great Blue Herons Stick Exchange
The female promptly takes the stick before the male has completely landed.
Great Blue Herons Stick Exchange
My gender assignments are based on behavior, not visible identification. The male is almost always the mate that fetches the sticks and the female arranges the nest.
Florida’s Vierra Wetlands is a man-made water reclamation facility that “polishes reclaimed water for irrigation or overflow into the adjacent Four-mile Canal” per the Brevard County website.
The 200 acre site hosts a wide variety of local wildlife and migrating and nesting birds, including Great Blue Herons.
Florida’s nesting birds are at least a month ahead of those here in South Carolina. We are just starting to see hatchlings at the local rookeries and these images were taken almost three weeks ago, when we saw some chicks that were close to a month old.
Great Blue Heron Chick Peeking Up
It was quite windy this day, and with the chicks standing you can see there isn’t much to hold them in the nest and there is no protection from the weather.
Great Blue Heron and Chicks
The placement of the nest on a palm tree top provides some security from predators climbing up, particularly raccoons. Many of the chosen nest trees are also standing in water which means alligators patrol below for potential nest raiders.
Great Blue Heron and Chick – just the fuzz visable
The road around the impoundments is elevated from the water giving a direct view into some of the nests.
Vierra Wetlands, Great Blue Heron nest, several Anhinga perched on shorter tree stumps
Click on any image for larger view.
Vierra Wetlands, Brevard County, Florida, 2/21/2018.
Several pairs of Great Blue Herons are working on nests around the pond, gathering and arranging sticks in a labor intensive effort.
Great Blue Heron
There does not seem to be any sense of urgency to get the nests completed. The males tend to take long breaks between stick trips, taking time to look around and show off their breeding plumes.
Great Blue Heron
The female below appears to be laying on eggs and didn’t get up when her mate brought this nest contribution. Their nest looks pretty substantial already and she did take the stick and found a spot for it.
