Spring is definitely in the air. The weather is pleasant, my cats want to stay outside longer and we have heron chicks high up in one of our tall backyard trees. The Yellow-Crowned Night Herons nest in the trees around our neighborhood every year. They are back up there again this year right in the same nest they occupied last year.
About two weeks ago, we noticed the soft blue broken egg shells on the ground and garage rooftop. Some days before we noticed the eggshells, I had witnessed what I assumed was a male heron, feeding the female on the nest. She must have been sitting on her eggs. Recently, I saw a couple of gawky, fuzzy bird heads poke up above the nest a couple of times. They looked a lot like the one in the picture here. Since I can't really see inside the nest, I'm not for sure if there are two or three baby herons.
Last year there were three babies in the nest. My binoculars were close at hand as I reached for them daily to observe the babies' progress. I was fascinated as the baby herons gradually eased out on a limb, back to their nests and finally one day flew away. I wonder if the parent Yellow-Crowned Night Herons in our tree today are the same parents or the babies from last year?
The chicks will be in their nest for a month before they learn to fly. As they get older, I will see them stand up in their nest every day. Right now I can hear them chirp as they wait for the parent birds to bring food back to their open mouths. I look forward to the day when I may see one of the young birds awkwardly balance on a wire or fly down to the ground as they investigate the world around them.
Spring is here and my binoculars are out again and I'm enjoying a new family of Yellow-Crowned Night Herons. As the wind blows, they ride the swaying limbs like they are sitting on rippling waters. One of the adults fly back to the nest each day with food for the young birds. The Night Herons make a loud distinct squawking sound when they fly. So, when I hear their sound, I look to the sky and usually see one or two of God's creatures in flight. Sometimes they fly right into the nest high up in the tree in my own bac
kyard.And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” Genesis 1:20
3 comments:
Hey, neighbor--just came across your blog. We live in the old Manne house on N. Burnet, if you're familiar with that.
I didn't know the herons were nesting in plain sight in the neighborhood. We'd love to have them in our trees.
We put up an screech owl box and now have a nesting pair.
Hello to you, Neighbor.
That is pretty cool that you have screech owls.
Our little herons are getting big enough to walk out on a limb sometimes.
Nice to hear from someone in the neighborhood.
Thanks for reading the blog.
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