Some of my readers expressed concern about my earlier post about the White Faced Herons. Well, a few days after my post both herons appeared and built their nest in the same spot as in previous years.
Great excitement for Don and I and we spent some happy weeks watching their coming and going with one at a time sitting and then going off to feed.
Here you can see one of them sitting just above the nest while hi mate is on the nest just below him to the right.
For several weeks life seemed to go smoothly for the herons, then one day we saw both of them feeding in the front paddock for about an hour - and then they were gone!!
There had been no time to build, lay, hatch and rear young, so we suspect that some disaster had occurred. We have had some extreme weather with very high winds, heavy rain and flooding. The currawongs have been sighted nearby as have a pair of Wedge-tail Eagles. Or they may have been a young pair trying out an old nest.
Who knows? But it looks as if we are going to have to wait and see if our lovely herons return next year to give it another try.
Liz Needle - linking with "Wild Bird Wednesday"
That a pity but perhaps they were just young Liz
ReplyDeleteHello!:) After the inicial excitement of seeing them, it must have been so disappointing. You will probably never know the reason for their sudden departure, but perhaps if the weather conditions weren't right, they will try again next year.
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