Back to the Santa Rosa Rookery

Going to Santa Rosa after our trip to Bear River was an afterthought — a stop on the way back home. If birding had been better at Malheur and Bear River we might not have gotten there at all since we had to be back to see friends. As it turned out, though, birding-wise it was probably the highlight of the trip.

After last year’s quick trip to the Santa Rosa heron rookery, I wanted to return to see what was there this year. Night Herons are a favorite since I so seldom see them, and there were lots of adults

and chicks to see this year.

The easiest way to find chicks was to find an adult

then look nearby for chicks. The biggest challenge was getting the camera to isolate a chick and to focus where you wanted it to focus. It’s easy to see why the camera would have troubles deciding what to focus on — particularly since I didn’t realize there was actually three chicks in this shot until it was upon the computer monitor.

Luckily, there were lots of Night Heron fledglings so being patient was all it took to get a good shot.

Night Heron fledgling