Great Blue Herons on nests with nestlings

As noted in the previous post, there is an area in Fremont Co that is in the process of being turned into an enviro park for providing nature education. Since it is not open to the public and I don't have permission from the owners, I won't be providing that. I am conducting some Colo Breeding Bird Atlas-II surveys there and took a number of pics.

One of the major attractions of this location is the rookery in the dead cottonwoods between the Arkansas River and a wetland area. This has filled a void for a number of Great Blue Herons that were displaced from a rookery in Florence when a neighboring property was sold and the new owners built their house near the rookery. In May I counted 22 Great Blue Herons on nests (some were both birds in a pair so there were fewer than 22 nests). These pics were from last week. The first is of one of the parent herons. The bottom pic shows a parent with a nestling that fledgled within a few days of the photo. As I've noted before, I am not near as close as the pics appear as I have a 12X digital camera (equivalent of over 400mm in a 35 mm camera), and I crop the photos to push the enlargements. It is important not to disturb nesting birds. I took the photos from the doorway of my car, which served as a blind which I find less intrusive for birds.