There were lots of deer flies, horse flies and woodticks, but all these “undesirables” were worth the annoyance yesterday.  I hiked into the Great Blue Heron Rookery in the Canosia State Wildlife Area and had a grand time. This year’s crop of young are getting big, and that means all the Moms and Dads were busy feeding their HUGE youngsters. The Great Blue Heron Chicks almost devoured their parent. It must have been tasty fish.

• Video links for email subscribers: One | Two | Three

And some still images. Parents get no respect!

A Baltimore Oriole got into the spirit of feeding. I saw it over ten times. In this photograph it has caught a waterbug which it will soon take back to its nest for hungry young.

Like always, it’s important to not be fixated on the sky (birds) when I am out in the wild because I would have missed seeing this Otter Feeding. I will admit I could not figure out what was on the menu for lunch. I’ve included a close-up of the otter’s mouth … looks like some kind of plant and not fish?? (video link of the otter feeding for email subscribers). I actually was privileged to watch the otter finding its lunch for over ten minutes from a distance of only 30 yards.

And some stills, plus the close-up of the choppers!

The chicks are starting to hatch at the Canosia State Wildlife Preserve rookery (and the mosquitoes and flies). Yesterday morning after visiting with my owls, I hiked into the rookery. Most of the nests are still being incubated, but a few have chicks. I’ll have to visit again in about seven days.

Family Portraits

A Flock of Chicks! (video link for email subscribers)

40 years ago while I was in graduate school and dating Molly (now my wife now of 37 years) she asked this outdoorsy guy who loved sports: “Would you want to attend a Broadway musical that was touring the country?”She was afraid I would not enjoy some “culture”. I naturally responded: “What musical”. Her answer was The King and I; Yul Brenner was making his last appearance and would die of lung cancer just five years later. I enthusiastically exclaimed: “Yes!”.  Yul Brenner was the ultimate in terms of being both coll and macho. I loved attending the musical, and for some reason this morning as these two Great Blue Herons danced their love at the Canosia Wildlife Preserve, all I could think of was the song … Shall We Dance from The King and I!!!

I’m not sure I ever danced this well when courting Molly, but we had fun! Their dance also reminds me of Snoopy who Dances for Joy because its spring!

Here is the Great Blue Heron Dance!

Here is Yul Brenner … Shall We Dance! (video link for email subscribers)

A few more images from this morning at the Rookery including a pair of Trumpeter Swans

And some videos from my visit.

The Beaver Dam and Rookery (video link for email subscribers)

The Beaver! (video link for email subscribers)

Green-Winged Teal (video link for email subscribers)

Trumpeter Swans (video link for email subscribers)

As you can tell it is a fantastic place to visit, but requires a 2/3 mile hike to get to the best rookery … no trail, just wood ticks!

FYI … I have downgraded the image quality of these photographs a tiny bit for this post. There are so many photos I do not want the content to take eons to load.