Dinosaurs Across the Cove

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They're back.

Again this year a short trip by kayak across the cove gives you a visual and auditory treat. The pair of Great Blue Herons who nested at the top of a pine tree on the island across the cove from our cabin have returned this spring and, from the looks of it, they have hatched a second brood of chicks.

You hear them first when you go out in the morning. Its an unmistakable, almost prehistoric, cackling of multiple voices. The sound draws your attention to a bank of tall pine trees on the shore of the island. Then you see the adults flying in and landing in the same spot high above and the cackle subsides while a feeding takes place. 

The nest is near the peak of the tallest tree, at least three stories in the air. In a kayak, you can get within yards of the tree base and, finding the right viewing spot, you can catch a few nearly very young heron sticking their heads up from the nest in anticipation between feedings. Around the nest, flying in wide circles and landing nearby are several older but still immature herons, apparently from an earlier nest.

They gather on a nearby nest to beg for food. Their calls were enthusiastic, lots of raucous caws and awks. When joined by the chicks in the first nest, their cacophony fills the air. Our ten year-old neighbor Zander says they sound awful. "It's like having dinosaurs across the cove."

Photo and text copyright Clinton Richardson. The image is actually from our Wild Atlanta gallery at TrekPic.com in the Close to Home collection and was taken several weeks ago along Cochran Shoals. I did not take a camera with me on the day I first spied the herons but did later on as discribed in future posts.

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