Visitors 15
Modified 10-Oct-25
Created 10-Oct-25
43 photos
Evolutionary cousins*, Great Egret and Great Blue Heron, share a perch before the heron flies off carrying a bare branch. He lands in the lake, waterskiing to a stop, still carrying the branch. Is this nest material? Does he really think to build a nest here, in shallow water in the lake? I’m afraid a nest there would not keep the chicks safe until fledging!
Later, standing in the calm shallow water, the heron fishes. He picks up a fish, holds it a while, then drops it – again and again. Catch and release? The shallow lake provides ample nourishment for these great birds, and there might be time for play. Ripples turn the surface of the lake into a muted tapestry.
* Great Egrets (Ardea alba) and Great Blue Herons (A. herodias) are more closely related to each other than either is to other local “herons” and “egrets”; they are different species in the same genus, Ardea. Other local herons include the Green Heron (Butorides virescens) and the Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax); other egrets, the Snowy Egret (Egretta thula).
Later, standing in the calm shallow water, the heron fishes. He picks up a fish, holds it a while, then drops it – again and again. Catch and release? The shallow lake provides ample nourishment for these great birds, and there might be time for play. Ripples turn the surface of the lake into a muted tapestry.
* Great Egrets (Ardea alba) and Great Blue Herons (A. herodias) are more closely related to each other than either is to other local “herons” and “egrets”; they are different species in the same genus, Ardea. Other local herons include the Green Heron (Butorides virescens) and the Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax); other egrets, the Snowy Egret (Egretta thula).
Dan Quinn