The air was below freezing at 7:30 this morning, and so still. The small birds tweeted now and again, but the herons were generally silent.
I carried my cup of coffee and my little binoculars to the edge of the ravine and peered. A few herons were perched high atop some maples along the west edge, others were tucked into branches below them and others were in nests. There was some preening going on, and one moment I just happened to catch a pair of the big birds briefly “in the act”.
The air was so sweet and the birds so charming; I realized that I could linger longer in the morning light, and I walked over to the pedestrian bridge to check things out from that vantage.
I’d only ever used my naked-eyes to check out the herons from the bridge, and it was wonderful to have some binoculars. I could finally see so much more of the structure of the rookery–very much like the photo above (except our trees are not green yet). Indeed, I started thinking of some of the sets of nests as “condos”.
I watched for a long time, observing the shapes of the birds, and the preening, and the array of feathers and colors. For the most part the birds were sedate, although there was one short instance of squawking and big flying–I surmised it to be a tussle for territory or a mate.
And then, out of nowhere, the birds rose in unison to the sky, and circled. I did not discern what provoked them, but I have seen them do this often–a sudden soaring up and away, and circling back.
This morning from my new vantage point I saw new elements of this pattern. The sentinels in the treetops had not left their posts, even while all the others soared off. And when the herons did return to the trees, many more landed in the treetops and lingered there. The rest that landed stayed in the branches; no one went straight-away to their nest.
I don’t know much about bird behavior. But I am imagining that they stayed away from the nests because it could actually be easier to defend the nests from a perch above them, where it would be easier to take flight, and to dive. Do herons fight with their beaks or their feet? Do they fight at all? I don’t know. I know that later in the season the eagles will come and harvest the hatchlings. But by then the trees will have leafed out and it will not easy to see the heron activity.
But today was a great day for watching.
Photo by Rick Leche and I am grateful to use it under Creative Commons licensing.
