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I fortunate to have a breeding colony/ rookery of great blue herons about 10 minutes from the house. Unfortunately they are a little too far for Canon 100-400mm lens, so cropping is involved in most shots.

Wow!

Nice pics, the rookery near my house (100 yds.) is still a bunch of nests sitting in leafless trees waiting for the Herons and Spring.

They are usually back before the leaves come out on the cottonwoods. Any day now!

Ken

I think your Blue Herons are a little more colorful than mine.

I will try to get a picture when they all arrive. Two pics same area. Almost in town on the Yellowstone R.

Great Heron pics Captain Ron. You live in such a great area even if you have to crop...

My birds start showing up the middle of January and wind up around the end of May. Last year we had 21 nesting pairs...haven't counted this year.

Good job there. Neat birds we've not be able to capture colored up in the spring. Here's one of Cookie's fall shots.


Seems like only one out of maybe 200 attempts will sit for a photo.

The Fall birds don't have near the color of the spring time breeding birds. I suspect you've got some breeders around you.

Be on the lookout for herons flying with sticks in their beaks and triangulate on where they're headed. Google earth can be a big help once you see a few toting nest materials.