Weekender, March 8-9, 2025

[Dave]

Here's your Weekender.

The Great Blue Heron is North America's largest heron. This one (taken at a local park in April of 2018 and reprocessed yesterday) is probably full grown; nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, with a wingspan of 6 feet (1.8 meters), yet it weighs only about 6.4 pounds (2900 grams).

   

You all have yourselves a good weekend.

[Rich]

Dave, that is a beautiful photo of a great bird! The OOF background really makes the bird stand out. Lighting is exquisite! Good one!

You can edit the title, just click the edit button below your post. I was confused when I saw Wednesday as the title.

[Dave]

Sorry about the title SNAFU. I know I had "Weekender" originally; wonder if it's some auto-correction thing that I didn't notice.

Thanks for your kind comments on my photo. This was the closest I've ever been to a Great Blue Heron - about 10 feet, I think. I remember being surprised at how tall and regal he looked.

[Dave]

I may have mentioned that we have another hummingbird nesting near our front door. This time either A Rufous or an Allen's hummingbird; they look almost identical but I'll go with Rufous because they are much more common here.

She has probably laid 2 eggs by now, but there isn't enough room for me to get a camera above the nest.

   

Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get some photos of the young one(s) once they're big enough to be visible in the nest.

[Rich]

Good one Dave, will be looking forward to any updates you get!

[Dave]

Thank you Rich.

Because of the high position of the nest it's not possible to get a camera above it, and any shots will be challenging because much of the nest area is in dark shadow while other areas have a distracting harsh value contrast.

But at least the mother seems to be getting used to our comings and goings through the front door - she doesn't always get nervous enough to fly off as often as she used to.

[Man From Ironbark]

If the hummingbirds love your front door to nest, maybe a security camera above the nest could deliver some amazing photos. If only turned on during the daytime, it wouldn't be disturbing the mother at night.

[Dave]

Good suggestion. MFI. Thanks.