The sun was rising on a juvenile Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork and Little Blue Heron standing in a shallow pond.
The Ibis got the signal to go!
I love these reflections, especially the upside down Ibis.
Wading Bird Reflections
Tag Archives: Little Blue Heron
Little Blue In The Blue
A Little Blue Heron plodded in the shallow water of a pond right in front of me.
He was very deliberate in his steps.
His forward motion hardly made the water ripple.
2/25/2019 Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
What Is That?
Wading birds usually don’t pay any attention to what the other creatures around them are doing. This one, however, was intrigued by something moving at the pond’s surface.
The water was thickly covered with duck weed and fallen leaves, and there is a thick tangle of other pond vegetation.
At first I thought it might be an Alligator and wondered about the Little Blue’s wisdom in checking it out as it thrashed a bit.
I never saw a head stick up and I now think it might have been a turtle.
The Little Blue Heron didn’t provoke a reaction and kept on moving in his search for lunch.
Little Blue Heron Signal
Searching for dinner
A Little Blue Heron sends
A ripple signal
Newly Opened Dike
These images were taken in a section of the wildlife management area that I don’t visit often. Until recently you had to climb over fallen trees to get there and the dike is lower, which puts the photographer closer to the water which is good and bad.
Getting a lower prospective and Alligator reflection is good. Being closer to unseen Alligators can scare the &#!% out of a photographer if they move!
Being lower also means less breeze, which much of the year means more mosquitoes. Last week was cooler so there wasn’t much insect activity.
This White Ibis was enjoying the sun and along came a Little Blue Heron.
The Little Blue Heron slowly encroached on the Ibis’Â space.
Little Blue Heron at Sunrise
A Little Blue Heron was inspecting the shore line just after sunrise; he was just plodding along slowly.
The drying grasses behind him caught the early golden light beautifully.
Juvenile Little Blue Heron
This juvenile Little Blue Heron was on his own, just hanging around on a dead tree trunk. There was a small group at the other end of the big pond but most of his siblings and cousins have moved on. There are no adult Little Blues around the swamp either.
Birds with nothing else to do default to preening, and this fellow was no different.
Check your toes.
Then under your wings.
Lining the Banks
Wading birds and alligators gathered along this marsh inlet as the tide was going out.
The Snowy Egrets changed position frequently, they seem happiest when flapping around. The other egrets and herons tended to stick to their claimed spot, even as the alligators passed by.
Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis shared the banks.
Little Blue Heron Teaching Flying
Adult Little Blue Herons actively teach their young how to fly, encouraging them to take off by demonstrating and often tempting them to the end of branches with food. This adult and the juvenile on the right had their legs intertwined so I thought for sure the juvenile would launch.
The juvenile of this trio on the left had at least a short hop down as he arrived from a nearby tree after I started taking these images. The adult took off.
None of the three juveniles followed the parent.
After a little squabble the three settled down to wait for the adult to return for another try.
7/10/2018
Little Blue Heron
Last summer the trees around this small pond had a dozen or more Little Blue Heron nests. This year not a single pair nested here, but a few come around to look, including this one who was having a tree top view.
Below he dropped down to some new debris in the water, part of some limbs that got tossed around during a severe storm last week. The pond has been cleared of invasive cattails and other reed vegetation and there is much speculation among regular human visitors here that it was too much change for the herons.
