Green Heron Chicks

Back in late May - early June I reported that it looked like the Green Heron nest had been spoiled. I kept checking the nest for a week or two and never saw the heron sitting nor the eggs.

This was a big disappointment, I had been keeping an eye on the nest all spring, and I enjoyed watching the Herons raise their brood of three chicks last summer.

Green Herons can have up to two broods a season, and it appears that the breeding pair I had been watching established a new nest in the same tree, but I missed spotting it.

This week I saw that someone had posted an observation of a young Green Heron on the Anson B. Nixon Park project I set up on iNaturalist. It took a couple of visits to the tree before I was able to spot them myself.

There are four chicks that (I think) are somewhere between two and three weeks old. They leave the nest around two weeks after they hatch, and start taking short flights after three weeks. The parents will continue to feed them for a few weeks after they are able to fly.

If you want to have a look for yourself the chicks are in the largest tree hanging over the small pond at the park, just behind the stage. If you go to the opposite side of the pond you may get a better look at them.