Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great blue Heron in flight. One against the trees, and the other against the sky.

Coming in for a Landing

Come to the Lord and He will give you life, purpose and rest.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Great Blue Heron in Flight

Seeing large birds in flight is eye catching. Seeing song birds and ducks and geese is an every day thing. But bigger birds are not so common.

The heron is moving to a spot to fish. He will stand on his post and watch for a fish to swim by and catch their meal.

Just as this heron gains its sustenance by waiting, we can renew our strength by waiting on the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31, 41:1a

 "Yet those who wait for the Lord

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

Coastlands, listen to Me in silence,

And let the peoples gain new strength;"

Great Blue Heron

Caught this Great Blue heron sitting on a post. Later I got him walking away.

Their diet is mostly fish. I enjoy watching them stalk fish and then suddenly pluck one out of the pond.

Tuesday October 3rd Watkins Mill MO State Park

I go to the lake shore near sunset. 3 ducks flew over. A Great blue heron landed in a dead tree to the west. A turkey vulture landed behind me and is rustling his feathers.

Clouds are orange. Air plane exhaust streaks can be seen going in 4 different directions. A train whistle can be heard in the distance.

The lake is still in the cove where I'm sitting. Out in the main body of water I can tell there is a little breeze. The tops of the trees are moving a little but now they are still.(Yes there was close to a full moon.)

A fish splashes about 30' to my right. The bat I saw last week is out catching bugs as it flies 20' in the air just off the lake shore.

Now the orange is off the sky and its blue gray. Clouds are in the western ½ of the sky.

A couple of fish splash in the water 3 or 4 birds chip, chip can be heard. A cow moos twice.

10 geese honk as they come in and splash land 100 yards in front of me.

The Great blue heron continues to watch from his perch on the dead tree. The turkey vulture continues to ruffle his feathers behind me.

A lot of fish are hitting the water now. It is getting hard to see to write.

The bat is still working the sky at about 20'.

The heron stretches his neck out and makes 4 deep guttural calls.

The night bugs are sounding in force. I can't see the lines on my paper. So I head back to my camp.

Wednesday morning 4 October Watkins Mill MO state park

7 small ducks on water. I can't see any ID marks. The gull I have been seeing has black wing tips. So it puts it to the ring billed gull or the herring gull.

I saw another Turkey vulture convention. They gather in the early morning and fly around in a mob for a short time then disperse to their areas.

I think of Colossians 1 in the Bible. It talks about all power if that wasn't enough it is according to God's glorious might. Which is unlimited. God has promised us so much. We need to acquire it by the prayer of faith. Just as there is so much to learn of nature and enjoy. God has so much for us. Go to Him, He wishes to lavish on us abundant life.

Honey locust leaves are 80% down. Last week it was just a few vines and sumac that had changed colors. Now there is a lot of color. What a difference a week makes. The Paw paws are bright yellow. They are a great tree for color. Honey locust leaves are raining down as I write.

Photo of Osage orange striking yellow green combination with an orange tree in the background. The background tree is a Pignut hickory. End buds less than 1/2” tight bark 5-7 leaflets. It is the best fall color tree I have seen today.

Bird log Watkins Mill State park 20-Sep-06

Orange grebe neck bigger than mallard in flight
Long beek
didn’t notice legs or tail
looked back and forth as it swam, neck straight up

The closest I can ID it is the female Anhinga
The gular pouch was not distinct from the throat so that rules out the double crested
cormorant


I saw about 30 turkey vultures circling on the west side of the lake. After about 10
minutes they dispersed.


Seagull sized bird long orange sized beak.
light gray above bright white below.
black tail band
hovered a few times in flight

It flew back and forth across the lake. Drooped to the lake for a moment then flew off
again. Much more active flying than a gull.
Herring gull is the closest I can ID it.

dirty White rump
small duck size
lighter underside of neck ; back head and eye darker.
diving short bill smaller than a duck I saw 14 swimming together.
It could be an immature purple Gallinule p 126 in new Peterson’s bird guide.

As I was watching birds I heard the whoosh whoosh whoosh of the wings of a turkey
vulture.

I saw a Belted Kingfisher fly by.
I was not able to ID the swallows darting across the lake.
I saw a number of Blue jays

Saw a Great blue heron 2 toned wings gray back flying with neck folded deep throaded
croak. I saw a juvenile Great Blue heron fishing on the lake edge.