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May 22, 2021. I'm thrilled to discover that my favorite couple has two babies in the nest! The leaves have created a beautiful backdrop without obscuring my view.

If you look carefully, you will find three young herons in this nest. Great Blue Heron fledglings leave the nest between 49-81 days. I've been watching the one on the left flapping and climbing around; I think he is ready to soar!

Seven juvenile herons...this is actually two, possibly three nests. I can't keep track of the chaos, but I remember there being three nests very close together when I shared (in part 1) photos of the nests in the bare trees. How in the world these loud, flapping creatures can be in such close quarters for two months is beyond me! (Like having a house full of teenagers, mom and dad are noticeably absent!)

May 24, 2021. I watched the heron (top right) land in the treetop and stay there for quite some time before I came to the conclusion he was a juvenile. You can see his siblings at the bottom left of the photo. The nest is almost completely hidden in the leaves. I've zoomed in so you can get a better look at the fledgling below.

"Once fledged, the young herons return to the nest to be fed for about another 3 weeks, following adults back from foraging grounds, and are likely to gradually disperse away from their original nest over the course of the ensuing winter. Young herons are not as successful at fish capture as adults, as strike rates are similar, but capture rates are about half that of adults during the first 2 months after fledging."*

I'll leave you with photos of my favorite heron family. In the first photo (above), the male has arrived to trade places with mom, giving her a much-needed break.

This story isn't over. I'm sure I will visit my Great Blue Heron colony again and again this summer until they are all grown and gone.

Discover. Paint. Love. Repeat.

*Wikipedia