Herons and More Herons

Although Snowy Egrets are the most photogenic herons I see at Lake Ralphine and Spring Lake, they certainly aren’t the only ones I find there. In fact I’m amazed at the wide-variety of herons I’ve seen there over the years, especially considering how small of area it really is.

Year after year I’ve found particular herons in the same areas of the two lakes. One of the few herons I’ve seen in both lakes is the Green Heron, the last of the herons I spotted on this trip and only in passing.

 Green Heron flying

I can almost always spot a Great Egret or two in the reeds on the north end of Spring Lake.

Great Egret

The first shot I ever got of a Night Heron was in the sloughs on the east side of Spring Lake, and, sure enough, I spotted three of them there on both days I walked this visit.

Night Heron

They certainly seem to favor the pea-green, algae-filled waters found on both sides of Spring Lake.

This is, however, the first time I’ve ever seen an American Bittern at either lake,

American Bittern

and I doubt I would have spotted it at all if I hadn’t seen it fly in by the boat launch area on the south end of Spring Lake. They seem to be the shyest of all the herons and the hardest to spot.

Like most places I’ve visited, I grow fonder of Lake Ralphine and Spring Lake the better I get to know them.

One thought on “Herons and More Herons”

  1. Bitterns are becoming more common here in the UK Loren. Egrets are beginning to appear, particularly in the South of the country. Up here, the Great Grey Heron is our only one but we have one resident on our beck, apart from when it goes back to the heronry (about five miles away as the heron flies) in the breeding season.

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