Memorial Day weekend nest update

We got an early start on our trip to see the nests this morning, so that we could get ahead of the heat. I’m so amazed at how much the Anhinga chicks have grown in just 3 weeks. If you look back at my blog from May 4th, titled “Anhinga Chick”, you’ll see that one had probably just hatched. Here they are just 3 weeks later, looking almost ready to fly! It should be another 2 to 3 weeks before they fledge the nest, though.

It was fun to watch them interact.

All 4 of the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron chicks had hatched. If you look really close, the 4th chick can almost been seen behind/near the right eye of the chick to the far right. I LOVE their Einstein hair!

The one on the right looks as if it is yelling at its sibling. I wonder what it is saying? Maybe - “Get off my foot!!” or “I call dibs on going first at the next meal. I’m starving!”

At first, the 3 Green Heron chicks were all in a pile asleep. So, I walked over to take the Anhinga photos. When I came back, the nest was empty. The chicks were flitting around the branches going completely out of site. I was so surprised that they were already that agile. One came back to the nest, so I only got the one pic below. I read that they start to fly at 21 to 23 days old, so it won’t be long.

We didn’t see the parents of the Green Heron chicks. We did get a very close look at a couple of juvenile Green Heron chicks, though. They still had some of the little wild hairs on their head. They were probably siblings from a nearby nest. They sat together in a tree beside the boardwalk while several people walked by and took photos of them.

Today, I learned that the Green Heron is one of the few tool-using birds. It commonly drops bait onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted. It uses a variety of baits and lures, including insects, earthworms, twigs, or feathers.

I love this look, especially with the little wild hairs.

The juvenile Green Heron below flew onto a branch down near the water. I’m not sure if it is one of the two Green Herons above, but I think it is. The colors look completely different in the shade, if it is the same one.

The Ospreys in the nest at the end of the boardwalk were squawking like crazy. I looked up and the Osprey below was flying nearby.

The Osprey baby (orange eyes on the left) looks like it is close to being big enough to fledge the nest.