Nature Hike

We went on a little hike on the nature trail with some friends of ours. Our friend Ricky had found this spot just off the trail where you can look back into the woods and see 20 or so Great Blue Heron nests way up in the trees, it was awesome. They were quite aways across the little valley and thru the trees, but you could see a few of the Herons moving around up there and feeding the babies. Luckily I brought the big zoom, so we got a few shots, not the greatest pics but it was pretty cool to see those huge birds in their nests.


On the way to see the birds we saw a lot of interesting things. I'm not sure if it's because he was a Marine or because he grew up around here, but Ricky can spot all kinds of interesting critters and creatures.....

Look close and you can see the frog jumping out of Isaac's hands and onto his shirt.

A snail and a skull fragment, Isaac guessed it was a baby deer, and insisted on bringing it home.

Barely got the camera out before he slithered away...

Of course after several minutes with the camera to my eye watching the birds just stand there, as soon as I put the camera down a bird takes off. Luckily I had handed the camera to Ricky. He got the best shot of the day.

(click on the pic to get the big version,  then look close at the nest the bird is leaving,
you can actually see the baby bird's head)

It was quite impressive, even from that far away you could hear the power of his wings as he hovered over the nest and set down carefully in the tree.