Great Blue Heron in my front yard

[NFrameFred]

Because of the pond near my place we sometimes see more exotic birds than one might usually expect to see in West Virginia.

We have a perennial nesting pair of Canada Geese (**** farms in my opinion) and the female is currently sitting the nest while the male is 'on patrol'.
I heard a commotion this afternoon and saw the male tear across the surface of the water going after something unseen; I had seen a dog messing around the bank and figured it probably ventured too close to the clutch. Then it caught my eye - a young Great Blue Heron (known to eat small goslings) was being harassed by daddy goose. As I grabbed my camera and headed toward the pond mamma came off the nest to join the fray as poppa apparently wasn't intimidating the blue.

I managed to grab the 300mm lens but my approach still distracted the big bird and he became wary. The geese used the opportunity to withdraw to more dense cover.

I managed to snap several pics with the motor drive until the heron decided to decamp to an overwatch position in a tall pine . . . .

I gather he (she ?) is a young specimen as the 'crest' plumage hasn't yet developed.
We see egrets of different types at times as well as the owls and red hawks that call this their hunting ground.

 

[bigmtnman]

Great capture of in flight pics. I have enjoyed seeing them many times back in the Shenandoah Valley and out here in Colorado. They are always a treat !

 

[StrawHat]

Here in Ohio, the GBH is a common sight. In and near the flyways folks see the uncommon. Around us, not too many unusual ones.

Kevin

 

[JohnRippert]

We have a small lake at the end of our street, about 1/8 mile away. There is usually a great egret and coots there along with the ubiquitous domestic ducks. We also get green herons, great blue herons, yellow & black crowned night herons, cormorants, pied billed grebes and black bellied whistling ducks to name a few.

 

[Chuck24]

I have a great blue Thunderbird

 

[StrawHat]

We travel to Northern Illinois four times a year for business, we spend a total of two months up there. We stay near Fox Lake and the chain of lakes area. April, 2023 we are looking out and see about 1000 white birds landing in the lake outside the house we rent. Huge white birds! We looked at each others and said, “Pelicans?” Indeed, apparently, the birds migrate to Canada to mate and stop in the Fox Lake area. Cool, but certainly a bit of a surprise!

Kevin

 

[Kenna]

We travel to Northern Illinois four times a year for business, we spend a total of two months up there. We stay near Fox Lake and the chain of lakes area. April, 2023 we are looking out and see about 1000 white birds landing in the lake outside the house we rent. Huge white birds! We looked at each others and said, “Pelicans?” Indeed, apparently, the birds migrate to Canada to mate and stop in the Fox Lake area. Cool, but certainly a bit of a surprise!

Kevin

Saw the same Pelicans at about the same time you did. Private lake North Barrinton IL.Clients home. There was thousands!!!

 

[mckenney99]

I used to have an old farmer neighbor who also ran a family commercial fishery business. He had numerous small stock ponds all around the farm & the Blue Herons were always present from early summer on. He told me it was amazing how much damage they could inflict on his stock if left to their own ways. He also told me the strangest thing, when he found them on his stock ponds they had a tendency to spring leaks and then just topple over. He just assumed they had some sort of affliction.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

We get them over this way, mostly in the fall - winter.
I think they’re all gone now.
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I guess I'm spoiled. The land I hunt borders the Rainey Audubon sanctuary and we see blue herons, ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, countless shore birds like rail and gallinule, flocks of hawks (who sometimes snare a downed duck) the occasional pelican along with ducks. It truly is a birder's paradise

 

[lihpster]

We also have a pond. I once had one land about 15 feet from me, walk right by me within touching distance and go to the pond to hunt. As it went by me it looked at me like I owed it money.

 

[pharman]

Farm ponds with fish and frogs and blue herons do NOT mix!

Blue herons eat small fish and frogs...not good if you have a pond...I like the post #8 above from the farmer about them springing "leaks"...

 

[NFrameFred]

Blue herons eat small fish and frogs...not good if you have a pond...I like the post #8 above from the farmer about them springing "leaks"...

Fortunately (or not depending on your point of view) the location isn't conducive to such hanging around for long. The nasty Canada Geese on the other hand . . . .

 

[rwsmith]

A friend and I....

....were canoeing in the upper part of the Ashley river on a beautiful fall day and a Great Blue kept landing in the trees ahead of us. When we caught up with him he would take flight and move ahead a few dozen yards. He did this about 5 times untii he flew away. What a GORGEOUS sight!

Another story. Once when I was kind of hung over and headed to work the sun was shining in my eyes and I was squinting right into the sun. Ahead of me standing in the middle of the road was this 'thing' in the glare of the sun that stood over the height of my hood. I thought it was some kind of alien from outer space but when I got close to it, it spread its wings and flew off. Beautiful Blue Heron.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

The second weirdest Bird I ever saw at the Bosque del Apache was a Pelican.
Who was heard to say - I must have taken the wrong turn at Galveston!
The Top Guy - see this big white bird in the middle of the largest pond.
Ask when I leave , what is that?
It’s an Arctic Swan.
Our first one.
Me too!
Just checked, I do have a not very good pic.
He was a loong ways out!

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

I bought a GBH confidence decoy long ago. A couple of years later, I bought a decoy shaped identical painted white, like an egret. We hunted small potholes in the marsh we had to hike to. We would put our backs to the wind if we could. Decoys out in front of us scattered about. We had to wrap the white bird in burlap to keep the mud off. After building a makeshift blind, I would walk about 80 yards in front to our 10 o'clock
at the edge of the hole and place the
egret decoy on a small pole for a confidence decoy. We usually saw more egrets where we hunted than GBH.

One mid morning, a white egret cupped into the wind and lit about five to six feet to the decoy's side, all lined up like two were sitting there.
We watched Romeo sit there without even turning his head toward the decoy for about ten solid minutes. Never looking at the decoy, he started preening. He preened about five minutes then settled back motionless.
After about another five minutes, he very s l o w l y turned his head and neck for a quick glance. Next came a longer gaze.. He flew away after not getting any attention. We went back to watching for ducks. Where is a video cam when needed? It was quite the treat.

 

[walter o]

STRAW HAT, ST. MARYS Ohio HAS A LARGE FLOCK OF WHITE PELICANS IN GRAND LAKE ,ALSO A COUPLE OF BALD EAGLE NEST.

 

[JohnRippert]

I guess I'm spoiled. The land I hunt borders the Rainey Audubon sanctuary and we see blue herons, ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, countless shore birds like rail and gallinule, flocks of hawks (who sometimes snare a downed duck) the occasional pelican along with ducks. It truly is a birder's paradise

Brazos Bend State Park is about 25 miles south of us. Before Mom's dementia got so bad I used to go down there and hike around with my camera for a few hours a couple times a month. The last time I went there was a gaggle of baby alligators with Mom close by.

 

[bushmaster1313]

We get great blue herons in New Jersey

 

[Rudi]

They are wonderful birds, We called them "Goony Birds".