Looking up, we saw one of North America’s largest urban colonies of Pacific Great Blue Herons. Herons have long been one of our favourite birds, so elegant and graceful, we really enjoy seeing them. Here, in this unlikely location, was a mass of maybe one hundred nests in just a few trees, all populated with these huge, magnificent birds and to our delight, with courtship behaviours and nest-building skills on display.
The birds were actively flying back and forth and landing very gently on the flimsy branches and then hopping over to the nest. The males apparently bring sticks to the female so she can build the nest.
It's early days yet. The birds are still courting and nest building. Eggs won't be laid until May followed by a twenty-eight day incubation. June is chick-rearing and July is fledging. About 175 birds fledged here in 2015.
Of course, we aren't the only ones to have noticed this colony and it's been attracting quite a bit of attention for the sixteen years it's been in existence. The fun part is that a webcam was installed last year and you can watch all the activity for yourself. Visit http://www.vancouver.ca/heroncam. This site even allows you to control the camera and point it where you want!
Other birds in the area, like this woodpecker, were also interesting.
Some of you may have noticed that I now have a much improved zoom capability. None of the bird shots in this post would have been possible without it. I traded in my excellent, but only 3x zoom, Sony RXIII, for a Canon SX60 with 65x zoom. I'm still finding my way around the camera, but, am amazed with its capability.
This is a photo taken from our solarium. Note the top rightmost corner of the closest building.
Now look at the zoomed in image, no tripod used, with a reasonably clear photo of the eagle perched there. Wow I'm impressed!
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