A Great Morning With Great Blue Herons

(and there were a Great many of them)

I took part in a recent Tucson Audubon field trip to Christopher Columbus Park. This is an urban park that features an off-leash dog park, a radio-controlled airfield and boating pond, ballfields, and a large lake stocked with fish. Located across the Santa Cruz River from Sweetwater Wetlands, it is a good place to bird, especially in the winter. The lake at the park also features a large population of Great Blue Herons with a small rookery in the middle of the lake.

That morning, the Great Blue Herons were very active, flying all over. These large herons look particularly prehistoric.

It seemed as if wherever we turned, a Great Blue Heron could be seen.

The herons were perched everywhere. This one was on a huge dirt berm across the Santa Cruz River at the Agua Nueva Water Reclamation Facility. Great Blue Herons can stand four feet tall or more.

Another one perched on a nearby electrical tower.

At one point, a Great Blue Heron flew from a lakeside tree snag.

It landed on a small reed island and immediately began to interact with another Heron that was already there.

Can you see that the newly arrived Great Blue Heron (on the left) has a very white head while the Heron that was already on the island does not have white in its head?

That tells us that the Heron that flew in is an adult and the Heron being confronted is a youngster. We are approaching breeding season and what I witnessed is likely an older, adult Great Blue Heron encouraging a younger one to "move on". It doesn't want the younger Heron to be competing with him for food or attention this season.

The discussion continues with the younger bird eventually pushing back

In the end, the older Great Blue Heron prevailed and the other bird moved to the back of the island and before flying off.

The final photo in this series was a surprise. I saw a Great Blue Heron at the top of a tall tree across the lake and took its photo. When I got home and processed the photo, I realized there was a second Heron in the tree (at the lower right).

There were just so many Great Blue Herons around that I couldn't keep track of all of them. For fun, listen to this Birdnote story on Great Blue Herons, just one of several they did on this special bird: https://birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/regal-great-blue-heron