Rare bird

There's a small pond behind the building I work in that runs into a "creek" of sorts that flows into several larger ponds behind some nearby restaurants. There is a large cattle egret that has taken up permanent residence that I see every day, but I was surprised to see a great blue heron Saturday.


This is the best shot I could get from around 20 yards away


Got too close before this shot and it moved about 30 yards off

Both of those images were cropped to 180x240 from 2048x1536. Looks like I need better zoom capability on my camera.

Does anyone know if great blue herons are still listed as endangered? I see them so rarely and evidently there's a bit of a stir at the local Audubon Society every time one is spotted.

call the audobon society! they will be interested, and may even have folks who want to come see it. and see your pics, too.

the thread title reminded me of this recent news item:

hawaii bird story

I see blue herons every so often here in michian, I knew they where protected but not as rare as some belive, maby thats due to the habitat here in michigan.

i was gonna say the same thing as Draco. you'd never suspect that it's a protected species around here. @ least they're not an endangered species.

there's an old blue heron that lived in a river behind my first apartment that i swear had a freaking 10-foot wingspan!

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BlindedByTheLite said:
i was gonna say the same thing as Draco. you'd never suspect that it's a protected species around here. @ least they're not an endangered species.

there's an old blue heron that lived in a river behind my first apartment that i swear had a freaking 10-foot wingspan!

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they fly over my hose frequently...they stay at the Marriott on Ford lake.

well, they stay in the little park which is part of the Marriott grounds!

pretty birds, and quite large.
i like to watch them skillfully hunt in the shallows.

Bob

I had no idea that the Great Blue Heron was an endangered species. I see them all the time here is SW Florida. But then again, I see things everyday that lots of people get all worked up about-- the two most common being wild dolphins and alligators.

Peter

See'm almost every day around here in NYC of all places - I live 1/2 mile from a large wetlands - in the summer it's not odd to see 20-30 in one place

They ain't exactly unheard of around here.

A couple of them stalk a ditch along Hwy 3 south of the beltway.

I tried to get pics too, and them critters is skittish!

Yep, lots of them in the Ozarks. Saw a lesser blue heron (still big) in front of my office this morning. The Great Blues are awesome looking when flying, just huge. And that beautiful call: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWK!!! Like a dying dinosaur!

I've seen a great blue heron that lives in one of the larger parks in this town with a ~15 acre lake, and it's amazingly tolerant of people walking by on the paved walk around the lake.

I wonder if there's some adaptation going on with succeding generations not being so skittish as an adaptation to life in the (sub)urban jungle?

There is one that lives in the big pond that is in the middle of the roundabout here by the entrance to the housing development here. It's beautiful. There are plenty of smaller white birds that look very similar. I guess they are some other kinds of herons? They seem to ignore us walking around pretty much, but they aren't tame by any means. You can't get close to them, but they don't mind you walking by them fairly closely.

Funny thing about the Great Blues. On the Buffalo River in the southern Ozarks, they are everywhere. While you float down the river in a canoe, they will fly away when you get too close. They only fly downstream about 500 yards, and then when you get close again they fly again. They will do this for hours, can't figure out why they keep doing it, but they always do.

I saw a blue heron fairly close-up earlier this year, the first time I've ever seen one in person, outside of a zoo. What a treat!

I used to see them fairly frequently in Michigan. My parents' neighbor in California used to chase them away from his koi pond. He lost some nice fish to blue herons.

I had read a couple previous stories about these particular hawks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
hawks nest destroyed

a famous red-tailed hawk known as Pale Male who built his nest above a cornice of an apartment building overlooking Central Park and was the subject of a documentary movie -- was evicted.

The nest where Pale Male and his companions had resided since 1993 was removed along with the metal spikes that provided support for the nest and protected it from the wind.

.....

Pale Male's unusual decision to take up residence in Manhattan and raise his young 12 stories above the park captivated bird watchers and inspired a book and a documentary film.

On Wednesday, Pale Male and Lola, his female companion, could be seen circling the building and bringing back twigs to try to rebuild the nest, which bird watchers said would be futile without the metal spikes to support it.

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PlayboyJoeShmoe said:
They ain't exactly unheard of around here.

A couple of them stalk a ditch along Hwy 3 south of the beltway.

I tried to get pics too, and them critters is skittish!

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They like my favorite golf gourse here in Austin. They do seem to be somewhat unaware of my propensity to slice...badly.

-F

I lived in SE Florida for many years. Once on a nature walk in Loxahatchee State Park, my wife and I were walking along a levee watching allagators and a Great Blue came in for a landing. It came from our blind side at about chest level and two feet in front of us. It scared the crap out of me. Those birds are big.

LitFuse. Do you ever go Manatee watching?

The news reported this evening that the co-op board of the building where the hawks lived are supposed to meet with the NY Audobon Society this week. Hopefully they'll correct the problem for the hawks.

We were greeted by this visitor this morning, a Red Headed Woodpecker :