Green Heron burps and squawking Blue Jays

I could hear the Green Heron 'burps' out the bedroom window early this morning, a sound that is supposed to indicate that a nest is nearby. An hour or two later, I watched an adult bird pop up in the dead pines between the house and the pond and then slowly work its way up into the green and leafy oak directly in front of the house. This is the tree where I suspected that they built their nest earlier this spring. I thought the activity around the house had spooked them to move the nest somewhere else but now it appears that the nest may be in the dense, invisible canopy of this tree after all and that it is active.

A noisy racket from the Blue Jays attracted a number of visitors -- including me and a very handsome Baltimore Oriole -- looking for a raptor. But the apparent Jay attack  squadron soon broke up. The problem may have been a marauding crow or even house cat (didn't see any) but I'm almost certain that there were young fledgling jays in the mob and that it was their presence that put all the adult jays on edge.

The young Osprey from the nest directly across the creek are now flying out regularly but they don't go far, usually hanging out on the dead stubs that surround the next pole. I suppose the adults must come in with fish for the youngsters who don't seem to be fishing for themselves yet. One Osprey that came in calling and holding a fish in its talons did not appear to go in towards the Pine Neck youngsters but flew off in another direction.

Eric Salzman