As a nature photographer who has seen a lot of oddities throughout my travels, I never in a million years thought I would be taking pictures of great blue herons perched on the Farmington Bay heron rookery in late January, but that is exactly what I did yesterday, in fact.
As I pulled into the Eccles Wildlife Education Center parking lot, I noticed 3 great blue herons high up on the structure, each contently perched on a separate nest seemingly enjoying the sunshine almost as much as I was.
In years past, the great blue herons typically start to show up at the heron rookery very early in March.
But the past couple of years have been bucking that trend, however, with great blue herons arriving in late-to-mid February with last years’ group even showing up during the first few days of the month.
It was a much-welcomed sight to behold as I, personally, have been craving the sights and sounds once more of great blue herons tending to their yearly nesting duties once again on the rookery.
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Farmington Bay has a good number of great blue herons that live on its wetland and upland habitats.
And much of this can be attributed to the success of the man-made heron rookery at the education center.
Last year, in fact, Billy Fenimore, the manager at the visitors center counted 65 great blue heron chicks raised and fledged on the rookery.
Great blue herons prefer to nest in colonies high up off the ground to help avoid predators and these artificial structures not only provide a perfect spot for the herons to nest each year but also offer the public a great opportunity to come and watch the wonders of nature unfold right before their eyes each and every year.
I still think it is a bit early for the herons to start thinking about mating and breeding activities as this morning when I returned to the rookery it was empty.
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Maybe last night’s snow had something to do with that, once again reminding all of us winter is still here and will be for a few more months.
But either way, if recent history does repeat itself even if yesterday was just a fluke, it won’t be much longer, maybe a few days to a couple of weeks or so, the great blue herons will have to give in to their yearly instincts to return to the heron rookery once more for yet another breeding season.
If you’re as excited as I am about the great blue heron rookery inching its way closer to another great breeding season, head on over to our subscribe page and sign up for email notifications for future blog posts.
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