Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Photo a Day 49 - Nesting Herons


Last Spring we were lucky enough to have a pair of white faced herons nesting in the pine trees in our front paddock - probably 40 metres from our front veranda. The nest was probably 10 metres up, well away from foxes, though the little ravens did cause a few problems. Don spent hours watching the nesting pair and calling me when there was any movement.  To our great delight we were there to see the babies emerge and roost on a nearby branch and learn to flap their wings to strengthen them.

We laughed at the antics of the parents trying to get the nestlings to fly. One of the parents would sit next to the baby, then flutter off to another branch, repeating this several times in the hope that the little ones would follow.  I guess they did eventually, but we were not there to see the first flight. 





I love the fuzzy heads on these babies.




Liz Needle  -  linking with "Wild Bird Wednesday" and "Outdoor Wednesday".

8 comments:

  1. We thought so too. It was quite sad when they finally left us. Hopefully they will nest nearby this coming year too.

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  2. I think what Tex said is right on, they are goofy looking.. Great sighting and photos.

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  3. They are just too cute for words...

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  4. This is such a lovely post. I really enjoyed it. It made me feel warm inside. Thanks for that.

    Have a nice day.

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  5. How wonderful! What an awesome experience!

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  6. Nice-looking bird, never seen it.

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