Great Blue Herons - from mating to babies

Heading out to my wetlands most weekends over the past 5 months has allowed me to witness the arrival of the great blue herons to their seasonal nesting trees and locations, the meeting of their mates and mating process, building of their nests, incubating and watching the eggs, and finally, raising their young and keeping them fed. ; It's been a neat process to watch the same pairs of birds that you remember when they arrived and picked out a spot, and now see their chicks getting large and healthy and almost ready to fly. ; I figured I'd share some of the photos along the way, mostly taken with my 300mm F4 + 1.4x teleconverter:

In November, they started picking their trees and looking for mates:


Lots of calling out, and mating dances and poses:


By December, the mates have been picked, the herons have paired off, and they start sowing the seeds:


Which also brings on the nest-building, dutifully bringing sticks back to the spot:




Once the nests are built and eggs laid, they start bulking up and looking for food:


The nests need constant maintaining and upgrading:




Then the little fuzzy heads start to appear just above the nests:




Mom gets to deal with a fair amount of screaming and begging for food:




This squeaky wheel got the grease...or fish, in this case:


Children often argue over who gets the next bite to eat:


And bother mom for more:


She has the patience of a monk, and must have serious zen:

 

Excellent series Justin!

 

Great set Justin!

 

Thanks guys...all appreciated. ; It's a great privilege to have such bird life down here and to get to see the whole mating process each year.

 

Thank you Howie.