Young Herons on Nest

These great blue heron young are in rookery shared with great egrets on a small island in the James D. Martin Wildlife Park, Gadsden, Alabama - a wetland that is part of the Coosa River watershed. I first noticed a number of egrets in the trees on the island as I drove along I759 last year and wondered if it could have been a rookery. Seeing the egrets again this year, I decided to investigate further. The island was some distance across the water (see note) from the Gadsden Mall parking lot which is where I went to take photos. Because of the distance, (based on Google Earth view over 750 feet), I was essentially shooting blind. But happily, thanks to enough megapixels and severe cropping, I managed to get some fairly decent shots. As can be seen, I also discovered that the egrets shared the rookery with the great blue herons that were not easily as seen from the distance as the white egrets were. This past winter the trees were occupied by numerous wintering cormorants. (IMG_1682)