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It
was mid afternoon when we reached our destination during this last
full week of March 2012. As per usual upon our arrival in Rockport/Fulton
we re-fill our gas tank. This ritual is a precaution rather than any
of the usual considerations of when to purchase gas. While pumping
the gas at a HEB on Hwy 35N we noticed the bird activity across the
street. The shuttle of birds back and forth overhead was immediately
recognized as herons mating and building nests. We realized this was
an ideal location to photograph this event. (Photos) |
Nesting Heron
in Flight
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Knowing
how frantic bird activity can be near sundown we hurried to our
bay house and unloaded. Back to our gas station to photograph the
activity I set up my equipment for an hour or more shoot. For that
I use a battery powered inverter to connect to my camera’s ac power
supply. A continuous supply of power allows you to concentrate on
photography without worry that the camera would time out.
The nests are in the very top of these 70 foot tall trees. This
makes selecting the magnification of the lens simply the same for
the nest and incoming bird altitude. I choose a shutter speed of
1/2000 and let the camera choose the aperture for proper exposure.
These selections make interesting flying heron photos relatively
easy.
We shot photos until I saw the
red light of sundown say –“Enough”. The only unexpected events were
the people who walk up and either wants to ask what is happening
or to tell you facts they know. Most people want to know what kind
of bird this is, but one person wanted to tell us the herons have
nested in these trees for three years now.
We
had tried to photograph nesting herons at Paradise Pond at Port
Aransas maybe five years ago. This was one of the last years
that the Pond had water in it. We don’t know what has caused the
Pond water to dry up. The visitor’s board walkway was level with
the bird nests at Paradise Pond, but the lighting made good photos
difficult. Frankly I have never got a heron photo worthy of publishing
at this site which is only about 10 flying miles from Rockport.
But if it is dragonflies and turtles you are interested in – this
WAS the place. But without water there is little of interest.
Nests are of interest to other birds such as sea gulls and hawks
which can be circling overhead. They look for opportunities to rob
eggs or take other advantage. All this heron activity is relatively
quiet. Only a few squawks are heard when some discord occurs. Just
because a male bird brings nest building material does not mean
the female bird will accept it. In that case the male does not just
drop the material. Often I have seen them approach other nests which
usually reject him and the material too.
A typical heron stands four feet high with a six foot wing span.
When they land in the top of a pine tree folding their wings looks
as awkward as a person folding an umbrella getting in a car. Here
the nest building material comes from inland. The female bird also
needs to be fed since they will not leave the nest. Food in this
case would come from Little Bay. Once the egg(s) are in the nest
one of the birds will sit on the nest to protect the eggs continuously.
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Flight with
the neck in an “S” curve
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Flight with
the neck straight
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Flight with the
neck modified for nest material
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Flight with the
neck in the conventional fold
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Breeding pair
in nest
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Egg fertilizing
while billing and cooing
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Nesting Profile
View
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Nesting
Frontal View
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Folding wings
can look awkward
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Folding wings
can look graceful
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
Why are you late?
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
A semi-rarely
used signal
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, March 2012 |
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