Return of the Great-blue heron

Great-Blues Return...

On this day I am happy to announce that the Great-Blue Herons  have arrived at one of my hiking areas. This particular nest is one of the smallest nests I've ever seen. I thought that it could of been abandoned and I was curious if the birds would return. As we hiked by the swamp earlier there was no sighting to report at the nest. On our return back through and to my surprise on such a cold wintry day...their they were!

Hikah and Gaige, 1st pass through by the pond and swamp

Great-Blue Herons (click on picture for larger view)

I usually don't hike back the same way we came because...we just came from there! Today I decided to go back the same way so that Hikah wouldn't have to break through 6" of crusted snow. Boring I thought to myself; until I was surprised by the Herons! I watched them through my binoculars for sometime.The Herons were working on building their nest.The male would fly off to a nearby tree and grab a stick and return to the nest presenting it to the female.The female would then accept the stick and place it in a spot she felt fit. It was quite interesting to watch.  One of the times after he presented the stick and after she laid it in "the spot", they mated.




I thought this spider was interesting crawling around on the snow on such a cold day, even more so that I spotted it (aka eagle-eye).

(click on pictures for a larger view)