This morning while I was watching for the new baby sandhill crane to hatch, the baby great heron decided to try his wings for the first time and came down to a camilla bush.
The poor little guy stayed there from about 8am, until he figured out where the ground was at 5pm!
He wandered around the ground, but didn’t have a clue how to get back up to his pine tree nest over 100 feet up! He has been trying to figure out his wings, how they took him down and yet, won’t lift him up. 
The heron walked around for hours looking for the nest. It remained silent. Hasn’t made much noise. While I fished it was still looking and the funny thing was, his mother was down with me and never noticed her wandering bird.
At 7:30pm, the baby heron climbed up into my norfolk pine. I suppose he knew it had to find a place to sleep. 
I could hear a racket up in the nest when the parents noticed their baby gone. I saw one heron take off flying. I wish I could speak ‘heronese’ to tell them where the baby was. But last I saw tonight. He was in the safety of the norfolk pine. I know it will be a long scary night for it. It is old enough to fledge, but they also say being young and immature, have a 70% survivor rate. I hope this little one makes it! I’ll let you know if I see it in the morning light. I hate thinking it is so very scared all alone….ahhhh
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 25, 2009 at 3:05 am
Mike on Anna Maria Island
Thanks for stopping by Anna Maria Island Post.
You have some great photos here.
This year’s batch of chicks are becoming more visible every day and one nest of three fledged last week, but they manage to return to the tree top for raucous feeding by their parent.
March 25, 2009 at 12:17 pm
MaryElizabeth McIlvane
What a tale of finding one’s instinct to move and survive! You tell it so lovingly, Abbe. Yes, please keep us up to date on the baby herons and the about to hatch crane baby or babies!