Green Herons Up There

My friend Fred lives on the Ottawa River, as do we. However, his property has a lot more cedars than ours, and consequently, a lot more Green Herons than we do. In fact, the score right now is three nests at Fred's place to none at our place.
So when Fred called to say come see the Green Herons before they're completely fledged, we went with binocs and lousy camera in tow...or toe...doesn't really matter which. The photos could have been taken by toes judging by the quality. You be the judge.
First up, er, down...proof of nesting activity. Note to nest site seekers...wear a hat and keep your mouth shut. Lots of activity here, at the first of Fred's nests. Didn't see any Green Herons, but did see an empty egg shell...smooth, light green, no one home.
So we wandered across the yard, past several more cedars over hanging the water's edge, down the driveway and into the woods beyond the house. Site #2 had the same signs of life - lots of white wash, lots of empty shells on the ground.
And a million branches getting in the way of actually seeing the nest, which if you look really really carefully is the blob of twigs at about 11 o'clock. Hah! I didn't see it either until I had total birder's neck going on.
Then there was a slight movement that didn't bend with the gentle summer breeze, but went the opposite direction, and sure enough! A bird! Not just one but three of them sitting on branches near the nest...
This little Green Heron seen through binoculars has really bad hair, all spikey, and big yellow eyes, and is very very cute. The mother was lingering near by as well, so we didn't spend a lot of time looking...besides, they were at least 30' above us, and the neck thing was starting.
This picture of a Green Heron is a really great one. I can say that because I didn't take it. Tom Hughes did...kudos to Tom wherever you are! Some day I'm going to get a camera with a big honkin' zoomer on it too!