Posts Tagged "grieving the loss of the shorebirds"

Grieving the Great Blue Heron

Posted by Pat Stewart on Dec 18, 2014 in My Blog | 12 comments

With all that is going on in our world today and friends facing terrible situations, some life-threatening, I still find myself grieving the loss of the beautiful Great Blue Heron dying in its nest.  So, so sad.  A few weeks ago, I watched one of the pair enticing the other with their courting displays.  I stood not 15 ft. from them observing the male flying to & fro with twigs and limbs gathered to build the nest and the female receiving each limb and positioning it in just the perfect place, making adjustments as needed.   We watched with, perhaps, a little chuckle inside as the male would mount her, and her spreading her wings slightly and crouching.  It was over quickly but would occur numerous times. I thought, “They want to make sure they get some babies!” Last Saturday, December 13, I saw one of them return to the nest and a lot of “fluff” bounce up slightly.  I thought , “Surely, there couldn’t be chicks yet!”  I realized, as I focused my lens on them, it was one of the “agreed” pair lying down so flat in the nest.  So, that made me wonder if their were eggs to be kept warm.   But, now we know…what none of us wants to be the case, the mate has died in the nest they built to raise their young and give to us, the admiring birding community, so much joy.   Now, we find ourselves wondering how this will play out.  This beautiful living mate with its bright blue lore signaling it is ready to create more Great Blue Herons, how will this go?  What will happen to the lifeless mate in the nest?   I find myself now wanting to visit the surviving mate…and following that…just not watch....