Montaine Heron Rookery, May 2024

Great Blue Herons have a small rookery at the entrance of our neighborhood.  About a dozen appeared to have taken up residency there over the winter, then most seemed to leave a couple of months later.  The numbers looked like they had been growing again recently, so I decided to wander by and see what I could see.

And what I saw was babies!  At least seven nests with young ones.  Probably more, but that's all that had adults in them at the moment.  I assume others were out getting food.

An undoubtedly rare moment of tranquility for this adult.

Pretty impressed how this adult could sleep with three young in the nest.  But they seemed temporarily distracted by something.

One adult flew in...

...to a trio of hungry mouths...

...which she (Or he.  I'm no heron expert.) directly began feeding.

Capturing behavior like this is always rewarding.  I felt really fortunate to have been there to see it.

A great parting shot of a parent and child, and I felt like I'd seen what I came for.  What a treat to have this practically in my backyard!