There's a Blue Heron rookery on the Mississippi here in Minneapolis. Having little to do these days, I went there a week ago and it was a madhouse of nest building activity. It's on an island in the river, but close to shore, and with a 600mm I was able to get some photos.
I have more photos in this blog post:
https://jimhphoto.com/index.php/2020/04/04/high-density-heron-housing/
I just got home after taking alot of photos of blue heron here in WA state
I stopped there today. Not a lot of activity, probably because of the temps. Nice shot of the north island.
Last year, early on, the birds from the north island, would take branches from nests on the south island.
Yesterday had to have been miserable for them, with 28 degrees and rain. I thought I'd come back when the youg were visible but wondering if the trees will be leafed out by then and the nests hidden.
The north island is ... a challenge to get a shot of the young ones. The southern one, because more of the trees are dead, you have a better chance. My favorite nest to shoot last year was in a dead tree. That nest is no longer there. The branches must have broken off. I took this shot on June 2nd. The young are fairly large at this point, so for the real small ones, probably early to mid May.
Thanks for the tips Dave.
There’s a rookery (or was a couple years ago when I was there) at Interstate State Park on the Wisconsin side that might be worth exploring too
Ryan, I stopped there about 10 years ago. It seemed that a lot of the nests were in pine trees. I had a tough time getting a good clear shot. What was your experience?
This was right near my spark interest in bird photography so I had no idea what I was looking at really in terms of how to shoot it. I’d see it with all new eyes if I went today. I think I do remember the pines though, you’re right. Depending on my luck I think it would actually be a cool composition to have total cover of pines with a small peek through of a heron. May have to check it out and report back.
A problem with going to parks right now is the absence of public toilets. If you're in a popular spot, there may not be any strategically located bushes and you might have to explore a new trail system.
Interstate Park is almost an hour's drive and there isn't a single rest stop on the way.
And as we get older... ok I'll stop now. :-)