We fairly often see Herons poking around in the stream and surrounding wetlands, but this guy is right up in the yard by the house.

Don't think I've ever seen that before. He (or she) actually landed on the peak of the roof of my new shop. With the tin roof, that made quite a racket and I stepped outside to see what it was and he was just lifting off and landed in the lower pasture behind the barn.

Edit: Well shit. I was hoping opening an Imgur account would allow me to post pictures directly. Is it just me that can't see them without right-clicking and opening in a separate tab?

Edit 2: Thanks to jhe888 for the tip on linking for message boards.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PHPaul,

Same for me. All I see is:



But thanks for the info about right clicking and opening in a separate tab. I did not know to do that when this happens.

As to your pic, I am not sure on the bird type.

It's been hanging around the house/yard all day.

If this keeps up, I'm going to have to name it.

I'll assume feminine gender and name it Charlize T'Heron...

There should be three dots, or some other indication of where to click near the photos on your Imgur page. If you click there, you will get a menu of various share links. Copy the one for bulletin boards, and paste it in your post here.

A handsome great blue heron. Will they stay around Maine all winter? They live here in Houston all year. They make a real prehistoric squawk sometimes. They will eat anything they can catch and swallow - fish, snakes, mice, other birds, you name it.

Sand Hill Crane?

jhe888, As far as I know, they'll start moving South when their feeding grounds start icing over. I suspect this one is getting ready for the trip.

Juvenile great blue heron.

With that Great Blue Heron around, you won't have a mouse problem.

Or frogs, lizard, bats, gold fish, bullfrog tadpoles, small turtles, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
With that Great Blue Heron around, you won't have a mouse problem.

Or frogs, lizard, bats, gold fish, bullfrog tadpoles, small turtles, etc.

I'm good with that! Well, except maybe the frogs and I don't think one Heron is going to put much of a dent in the frog population of 20-odd acres of stream and marsh.

I posted that picture in a couple of other places and the hating on Herons came as quite a surprise to me. Pretty much anybody with a stocked pond and especially the Koi aficionados.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:

Sand Hill Crane?

I don't think so. We have lots of Sand Hill Cranes here in Florida. They have a red crown and a shorter tail than the bird in Paul's photo.




Our local Sand Hill Cranes are quite bold and unafraid of people. I had to get out of my car and herd some of them out of the way in the Walmart parking lot. They were standing in the aisle and not moving aside for cars.

My neighbor at the complex where we used to have our shop would offer them food. The birds would walk up to him and eat from his hand.

Y'all remember this video?

Thanks for that link Mars. My oldest daughter volunteered for several years at a wildlife rehab center, and fell in love with the owls especially.

She's checking out Monteen's channel now.