January 6, 2022
Great Blue Heron Standing Guard
Tag Archives: Skinny Tree
Meanwhile, Level 2 of the Skinny Tree
Or, The Challenge
I know you are down there!
And I want you to leave!
Not going!
Says who?
Oh, I think you are!
The Great Blue Heron won this round when the Great Egret took off but it was less then ten minutes and he came back.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
March 15, 2022
Great Blue Heron Family in the Skinny Tree
The “Skinny Tree” still stands and this breeding season a Great Blue Heron pair is raising a family here. Three chicks hatched and two have succumbed.
Somehow, the GBH on the nest knew the mate was about to land.
The Great Blues give each other the showiest greetings when one returns.
All that taken care of, it’s time to feed junior.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
March 15, 2022
Great Blue Heron Sentinel
A Great Blue Heron looking snazzy and with possession of one of the prime nesting spots at the rookery,
A different view a few days later.
There are now three chicks in this nest, although they didn’t show themselves while I was looking.
The Skinny Tree, Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
February 24, 2022
Holding The Spot
Looking quite dapper with his breeding plumage flowing in the breeze a Great Blue Heron was claiming possession of the skinny tree nesting spot.
December 23, 2021
Ravenswood Pond, October Morning
The sun had been up about an hour when I reached Ravenswood Pond on this October morning. There wasn’t any bird activity; the pond was choked with vegetation, so the reflections I hoped for were not to be had, either.
There were some rising tendrils of pond smoke.
There is an Anhinga drying his wings at the top of the Skinny Tree, but he blends right in.
Ravenswood Pond, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
October 18, 2021
Skinny Tree at Rest
I would never be surprised to find the Skinny Tree had succumbed to the elements and fallen into the pond. Happily, it made it through another wading bird nesting season, providing a start to one Great Blue Heron chick in the top nest and five or six Great Egret chicks in at least two nests lower down.
All sorts of birds will use the tree as a perch for the next several months for fleeting moments. Come December the cycle will start again again when the Great Blue Herons start staking out nest sites and hopefully this tree will be around to participate.
It appears that the duck box has no bottom, so any Wood Ducks looking for a nesting spot will have to find another location.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
July 23, 2021
Great Egret Triplets With Parent
The triplets were having a stretch while the parent stood watch.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston SC
May 8, 2021
Waiting
The top deck of the skinny tree has been occupied by a Great Blue Heron for several weeks. Some “nestoration” had been completed when I took this at the end of December.
Compare the nest to this image from December 14, before this nest site was claimed and a few orange leaves were still hanging on.
Great Blue Heron Stick Gathering
Another nesting season has begun for the Great Blue Herons and this male was on a mission to find some nest material.
You can see from looking at the stick selection on the ground around him that he should have considered going a bit further from the nest.
He eventually found a small stick.
The route to his nest in the skinny tree was into the sun so this isn’t much of an image but gives you the idea of the action. And that the skinny tree is still standing.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
January 4, 2021