This great blue heron has been hanging around in my neighborhood lately, twice in the past week I've seen it perched right in the middle of the bridge, waiting for lunch to swim close to the surface. I saw a smaller one, a little before dusk today, wading by the shore further down the lake, and taking flight when the boat went by. For perspective, the railing it's perched on is about 3 feet off the tar. I would estimate its wingspan at a little over 4 feet. Some have a wingspan as big as 71 inches, just an inch shy of 6 feet.

Seeing these herons has brought back memories of the great numbers that used to nest in a beaver swamp on the side of route 2, just west of Concord. Herons like beaver swamps because they prefer to make their nests in tall, dead trees. But in the past couple years, many of these dead trees have fallen. Heron will re-use their nests, so some may have moved on when their nests fell with the trees. However, there are few nests to see in the trees that are left.



photo taken from wikipedia