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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Vacation Bird Sightings

I've always enjoyed seeing herons especially as they keep their silent sentinel along side a creek, river or pond.  This last vacation trip we saw lots of blue herons and for the first time heard their squawk as we ventured too close.  We were really startled one evening when we took an after dinner walk down to the marina which was part of the property where we stayed.  We could just make out the heron at the edge of the water in the gathering dusk but we spooked it and it let us know.



Heron along the shore of St. Lawrence River.  We took a river cruise from Clayton, NY to see the islands in the Thousand Islands.




An afternoon canoe trip on the pond at Fair Haven Beach State Park flushed a lot of herons.






These Canadian geese were pretending to be decoys.

A highlight of the Sterling Nature Center was this heron rookery.





Osprey nest on St. Lawrence.


Gannets on the St. Lawrence.  I stand corrected.  These are cormorants.  Thanks to the comment from Larry who led me to check my bird book.  We were misinformed by the tour guide on our boat trip on the St. Lawrence.




Heron food?

We saw this snake swim toward us in the marsh at the Sterling Nature Center.  Then it disappeared behind the log.  When it reappeared we couldn't figure out what we were seeing at first then realized it had a fish in its mouth (top of the photo).

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15 comments:

  1. gardeningnaturallywithclaudia.blogspot.comWednesday, September 05, 2012 2:31:00 PM

    Awesome photo of the snake how did you get so close? Not me! Thanks for sharing your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. mickWednesday, September 05, 2012 5:20:00 PM

    Great photos of all the herons. I especially like the Osprey on its nest.

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    Replies
    1. MarciaWednesday, September 05, 2012 7:18:00 PM

      I wish I had be able to zoom in closer on that osprey.

      Delete
  3. Lisabella RussoWednesday, September 05, 2012 6:34:00 PM

    I love your photos, especially the Canadian geese, thanks so much for sharing them!

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  4. NeilWednesday, September 05, 2012 11:23:00 PM

    Beautiful photos love the Geese.

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  5. Betsy Banks AdamsThursday, September 06, 2012 12:26:00 AM

    Great shots, Marcia.... Love areas like that where the birds can live peacefully... That heron rookery is awesome... Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Stewart MThursday, September 06, 2012 5:32:00 AM

    Hi there - nice set of pictures, I like the frog!

    Thanks for posting to "International Heron Week"!!

    And thanks for commenting at WBW.

    Stewart M

    ReplyDelete
  7. LarryThursday, September 06, 2012 9:31:00 AM

    Nice shots of the Great Blue Herons Marcia. The heron rookery photos are beautiful too and the Cormorants on the rocks of the St. Lawrence River, very cool.

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    Replies
    1. MarciaThursday, September 06, 2012 9:44:00 AM

      Are they cormorants? We were told they were gannets.

      Delete
  8. i stora dragThursday, September 06, 2012 1:44:00 PM

    How interesting to see birds in other countries!
    *lol* I have also herons in my WBW this week, as many others!
    Greetings from Pia in Sweden

    ReplyDelete
  9. i stora dragThursday, September 06, 2012 4:34:00 PM

    Hi again, Marcia!
    Thanks for your visit and for your nice comment!
    I posted some pictures of herons today as well and it was those you saw, but in my WBW contribution which was placed here http://www.istoradrag.blogspot.se/2012/09/flygande-faglar.html I had also fying herons.

    Love your photos of the osprey in its nest and are those really the herons nest too, high up in the dead trees?
    Greetings Pia

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    Replies
    1. MarciaThursday, September 06, 2012 4:47:00 PM

      Thank you. Yes the herons nest in those trees. I wouldn't have known that except that the nature preserve where we were provided that information. The wetlands were created by beavers. We saw lots of herons across the marsh but our close up attention was with the snake.

      Delete
  10. ♥ Łucja-Maria ♥Saturday, September 08, 2012 3:33:00 PM

    Marcia!!!!!
    Oh!
    Oh!
    Your photos are fantastic.
    I am enchanted by them.
    Lucja

    ReplyDelete

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