This evening I watch the herons landing in the big leaf maple near the house. Their nests are on the other side of the ravine, so I deduce that the ones on this side are either being shoved out of the main colony, or are here to gather sticks for building nests.
I soon see that nest-building it is.
So I don another warm jacket and settle into a chair under the cherry tree to watch. The herons circle and then land, one after another, in the bare branches at the top of the tree. They walk upon the branches like they are walking on a sandy shore, all upright and placing one twiggy leg in front of the other. Very spooky almost, like, “how can they do that?”
The branch harvesting is very careful and methodical. Each heron spends many minutes eyeing one branch after another; I am reminded of myself at the supermarket earlier today shopping for broccoli. “Ah, here’s a possibility. Nope. Oh, perhaps this one. Nope. Next one. Not that one, either.”
Finally, a branch is selected, the huge, pointy beak grasps it, and CRACK, off it comes. Then the heron opens his wings and flies off across the ravine.
Photo by Mike Baird used under Creative Commons license
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luellaanne Thanks for the 17 March 2009 Creative Commons use note at the Great Blue Heron. Your Ordinary Beauty Blog rocks.