The Little Blue Heron chicks that we've been watching are pretty much out on their own now. They are exploring all around this area, and seldom return to their nesting tree. Flight skills are looking pretty polished, and the "baby feather" wild hairdo's have mostly disappeared.
I occasionally see 3 together and wonder if they are our old friends - Huey, Dewey and Louie! But it REALLY is hard to tell them apart!
The Tri-Color Herons have mostly disappeared from the scene as well, very quickly, it seems. In the last 10 days, I have only seen one, and there's no telling if it's Mohawk Boy or Einstein!
The Great Blue Heron is now a loner. I haven't seen the family together in a while. He still returns to the nest, but doesn't spend a lot of time there.
Last time, I concluded with a photo of NEW side by side nests in a closer tree - one Anhinga and one Little Blue Heron. There are now hatchlings in both. The Anhingas hatched over a week ago and the growth has been truly amazing:
The Little Blue Heron had the first of the three eggs hatch yesterday, and I expect to see the other 2 pop in a day or two. The size of this chick is probably the smallest (and youngest) I've seen yet, but still pretty large when considering that it came out of one of those eggs!
I have had requests to follow baby gators - but those in the know have told me that none have been spotted around here so far. So, if that doesn't change, I will start to throw in some old photos of adolescents.
I'm curious to see if we will have yet another nesting cycle for the birds; there is LBH activity deep in some trees that I haven't been able to discern, so we'll see what the future holds!
Photos are available at my online store at RichCavanagh.picfair.com
Komen