Herons in Action
In my bird watching trips, I have been fascinated not only by the majestic bald eagles with wing span up to 8
feet, but also by herons which are also big birds with wing span up to 6 feet. I have seen herons in action at
several national wildlife refuges (NWRs) in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, and Virginia in USA and in Nova Scotia in Canada.
藍鷺展翅飛翔英姿,神采飄逸。
A blue heron in flight in Blackwater NWR in Maryland
A heron caught a catfish in Blackwater NWR in Maryland
The heron is working on swallowing the catfish
The neck of the heron became bigger as it was swallowing the big catfish
一沖而起,展翅欲飛。
Herons in Blackwater NWR in Maryland
A close up view of the head of heron
Herons in flight near Pea Patch Island in Delaware River near Delaware City
A blue heron over Eco-Pond near the Flamingo area visitor complex in southern portion of Everglades National
Park in Florida, USA. We also saw many white ibises and egrets roosting in the trees at the center of Eco
Pond.
A detailed Park Map of Everglades National Park is available at:
http://www.everglades.national-park.com/ever1.htm
Eco-Pond is near the Flamingo visitor Center at the southern edge of the park

夜鷺, 俗名暗光鳥,是一種在夜間活動的鳥類。
Night Herons - On a Sunday evening, we missed a 3-hour ballroom dancing exercise due to scheduling conflict
in Happy Dance Club. Disappointed and on the way home, we did some hiking in the Davidson's Mill Pond
County Park in New Jersey as a substitute exercise and for bird watching. We hiked until it got very dark and
were surprised to see a big bird, probably night heron, flew in and landed near the smaller pond in Davidsons
Mill Pond Park to catch fish. After this one landed, we saw another one nearby but may not be the same kind
of big bird. It was too dark at night for my camera to take a good picture as shown above. I set my camera at
Night SnapShot mode to take this dark picture at night with the aid of a monopod. These night herons must
have very good night vision to enable them to see well to catch fish in the pond at night.
Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Davidsons Mill Pond county Park
Subsequently on October 16, 2010, we saw about 10 night herons in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife
Refuge at sunset time as shown on my web page at:
http://www.shltrip.com/Autumn_Bird_Watching_in_Southern_New_Jersey.html
Night Herons:
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) has a six and half mile driving loop to enable visitors to get very
close to watch herons and other wildlife in action. There are many (50 to 150) bald eagles and other birds in
this NWR.
Pea Patch Island in Delaware River is a summer home to nine different species of herons, egrets, and ibis.
The remote marshes and wooded area provide an outstanding habitat on north end of island for one of the
largest wading bird nesting areas on the East Coast (15,000 to 20,000 wading birds). There is an observation
platform overlooking the marsh for visitors to watch at a distance many herons, egrets, and ibis busily flying in
and out of their rookeries. Visitors can take a half mile ferry (Three Fort Ferry) from Delaware City to visit Pea
Patch Island. In touring this island, I saw many herons, egrets and a bald eagle in flight.
Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Pea Patch Island
On March 2, 2011, we toured a heron rookery in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio and saw hundreds of
herons busily working on their nests high up on several trees as shown on my Travelogue web page at:
http://www.shltrip.com/Heron_Rookery_in_Ohio.html
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綠野田園仙姿。