Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Great Blue Heron Rises

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

Perched high above the bustling metropolis I sit and wait.  Armed with fancy electronic gear (where does he get these wonderful toys?) I watch.  I am the hero that Richmond deserves…
 Ok, maybe I’m not Batman; but it is fun to pretend.  (The mask and cape might have been a little much, though.)  I promised you some better pictures of the GBH nests, and I hope you will agree that I have delivered!
At about four weeks, mom and dad will start to leave the chicks alone in the nests while they go hunting.  We seem to be at that point right about now.  So counting back four weeks, it would appear that these chicks were born right around the beginning of April.  I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I rock!
So what do we have to look forward to?  In about three weeks the chicks should first start leaving the nests to hop around in the surrounding trees.  Give them another week and they should start taking to the air.  At twelve weeks old the parents are going to start leaving the heronry to return to their regularly scheduled solitary lives.  The babies will head out soon after to return next year and start this whole circle of life thing all over again.  (I have images of a monkey holding up a baby GBH while Elton John is singing now.)
If my predictions hold true, we have about another eight weeks of heronry updates ahead of us.  Also, flying cars…  (Hey, I can hope.)

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