A Quick Hike in Monson Village

It was a cool windy day with clouds rolling by.  I thought I would take a quick hike at Monson Village to see the Great Blue Heron in their nests.

I counted 11 nests this year.  The distance to the nests, the mostly grey sky, the color of the trees, and the bird colors all blending together, made it difficult to spot the birds without a zoom or binoculars.  I had both.

Birds in flight can be interesting.  I watched and waited long enough to see a couple Heron make their approach and land by their nests.

I saw a couple geese also.  The prior year I didn't see any geese or ducks.

I didn't expect to see synchronized swimming on my walk in the woods?

The Heron were paired up.  Each nest had one of the pair sitting.  I saw no little ones in the nests so the eggs have not hatched yet.  When not moving around in the nest it is hard to make out anything but a head and beak.  I spotted a couple heron on the ground gathering more nest material.  I may return in a few weeks to look for the youngsters.

As I headed for my jeep, dark clouds rolled in.  Unexpectedly, it started to hail.  Hail makes lots of noise in the woods!  Once I cleared the woods to the open field, the hail slowly turned to rain so I picked up the pace.  I wasn't expecting to get wet with my camera and all.  Next time I will check the weather report and plan better.