Great Blue Heron cam

[Lizbit]

Lizbit, what question did you ask yesterday and what was the answer?

I asked Mr. Dr. Director if the growth rate of heron chicks remained the same from hatching to fledging, or if they had growth spurts along the way. He said that the younger and smaller the chick, the slower the growth. The growth rate increases as the chicks get bigger until they are nearly full-sized. For me that explains why the Big Guy twins got so much bigger than Fivie so quickly. Now, everybody is growing big feet and long legs like crazy. It's getting harder to pick the littlest one out of the crowd, or to tell 4 from 5 at all.

[christie1111]

Lizbit, what question did you ask yesterday and what was the answer?

I asked Mr. Dr. Director if the growth rate of heron chicks remained the same from hatching to fledging, or if they had growth spurts along the way. He said that the younger and smaller the chick, the slower the growth. The growth rate increases as the chicks get bigger until they are nearly full-sized. For me that explains why the Big Guy twins got so much bigger than Fivie so quickly. Now, everybody is growing big feet and long legs like crazy. It's getting harder to pick the littlest one out of the crowd, or to tell 4 from 5 at all.

Very good!

Yes, and now people don't spend as much time calling Five the 'runt' of the litter which I think was very mean. He was just the youngest and doing fine all along.

[MarleysGh0st]

Lizbit, I missed a lot of the chat conversation, I guess. Why did "pugs" think there was a platform under the nest?

[Lizbit]

Lizbit, I missed a lot of the chat conversation, I guess. Why did "pugs" think there was a platform under the nest?

Iluvpugs saw a close-up of the very bottom of the bowl of the nest, which is white and level where the babies all slept when they were little. So, reasonable 2-footers realize that this is where all the chick poo has come to rest and solidified. She (instead of he, my mistake) thought that it looked like wood, so she thinks there's a square of plywood or something that formed a base for the herons to build on. As if.

I'm kind of wondering if pugs might be an actual pug -- a 4-footer pretending to be a 2-footer. I mean, how would a reasonable human person "luv" a pug more than somebody who looks like me? Pugs don't even have big enough tongues to give good foot therapy.

[MarleysGh0st]

I'm kind of wondering if pugs might be an actual pug -- a 4-footer pretending to be a 2-footer. I mean, how would a reasonable human person "luv" a pug more than somebody who looks like me? Pugs don't even have big enough tongues to give good foot therapy.

You may be right, Lizbit!

[MarleysGh0st]

The thing is, they'd never had a heron nest at Sapsucker Woods before 2009 (at least as far as their "institutional memory" goes) so they were very excited when it happened. And they certainly didn't have any notion of enticing a pair by building a platform as a starter pad for a nest!

[Lizbit]

The preggers deer seen a few days ago has had her fawn!!!

The baby is beautiful. Mother and child were spotted walking (and stumbling, in the baby's case) on the land strip by the oak tree.

I'm so excited and happyhappyhappy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a video that Miss Blackster made:

[silvercamaro]

I tried to help Lizbit with her video, and I can't make it work either. (Yes, I do know about the youtube tags.)Here's the link, for anyone interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wtw7M0Y ... e=youtu.be

[littlebeast13]

lb13

[silvercamaro]

Thanks, LB.

Lizbit says thank you, too.

[littlebeast13]

Thanks, LB.

Lizbit says thank you, too.

I can feel the slobber from here. She's such a doll....

lb13

[christie1111]

OMG, that was soooooo cute!

[MarleysGh0st]

Video from the Red-tailed Hawk cam shows the first hawk chick taking its first flight today!

[christie1111]

Neat!

And of course I noticed that the time stamp at the start was 11:11!

I am waiting to understand how they get back after they first fledge. One thing to fly down on your first flight, but then how do you get back to the nest?

[MarleysGh0st]

I am waiting to understand how they get back after they first fledge. One thing to fly down on your first flight, but then how do you get back to the nest?

Well, they're flying, not just gliding!

[MarleysGh0st]

As I mentioned to Lizbit over on the Heron chat, I was visiting the herons at lunch time. In addition to the herons, a pair of deer were browsing on the plentiful water lilies. I was surprised, though, that the stalks were the choicest parts and the leaves were being tossed aside!

Spoiler

I got a half decent photo of the heron nest with the zoom feature of my little camera, but there wasn't much going on at the time.

Spoiler

[Lizbit]

As I mentioned to Lizbit over on the Heron chat, I was visiting the herons at lunch time. In addition to the herons, a pair of deer were browsing on the plentiful water lilies. I was surprised, though, that the stalks were the choicest parts and the leaves were being tossed aside!

Spoiler

Mr. Marley, thank you for posting the picture of the deer. I love those deer! (I love the herons, too, but I get to see them every day for as long as I want.)

I'm sending you a PM also to thank you for something else. In heron, it says "Clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack. Clackclackclackclackclack."

Come to think of it, BeBe looks kind of like a deer, except she doesn't have a white tail.

Love and sincerely from your frien,
Lizbit

[christie1111]

I feel really bad when I don"t get to see them everyday. What is going to happen when they fledge?

But my bird feeder is very busy!

[MarleysGh0st]

I feel really bad when I don"t get to see them everyday. What is going to happen when they fledge?

Well, they'll keep coming back to the nest for a while, probably until they migrate in the fall.

Maybe then we can find some bird cams in the southern hemisphere!

[Lizbit]

First fledge! A big guy walked to the far end of the branch and took off without hesitation. He flew like he's been flying all his life.

[Lizbit]

The second and third chicks have followed big brother off the tree.

Fiver has extra space in the nest.

Big day for celebrating on Sapsucker Pond!