Today Kevin & I were determined to get to Manitou Lake early enough to photograph the osprey fishing, so we were at the gate at 6:00 a.m. as the park opened. A couple of great blue heron caught us by surprise on the shoreline and took off before we could get much shooting in. Once we were sure there were no more heron in the water, we moved over to the east side of the lake to achieve the best lighting situation, took up a position and waited.
Unfortunately, no osprey showed up and we had to occupy ourselves with shooting the heron as they flew back and forth. Eventually the fly by’s became less frequent and we decided to go investigating. We have been wondering where they have been going to and fro…
So we hiked along the lake and then upstream where the water passes under a road bridge, on the other side is a marsh where we were suspicious they might be nesting. As we stood there watching a strange sound greeted us… It sounded like a cross between bird and machine… we aimed our long lenses at the source of the noise and much to our amazement was a large colony of blue heron, nesting in the tops of the tall pine trees.
I had no idea heron nested in trees… but there it was before us… the source of all the chatter. A large colony of heron can make quite a racket! So now we know the source of the heron flights. Perhaps some day that information will come in handy!
What a great find. Herons nest more often in threes. Not so far from Antwerp there are two places that are real hotspots for Heron lovers. On both places they nest in trees.