Egret at Island Beach State Park

Here is a photo of an egret taken on the bay side of Island Beach State Park on the Jersey shore.

Green Heron

Here's another photo of our new favorite, the green heron.

Great Blue Heron

We took our walk early this morning and surprised a great blue heron. He flew off after a few seconds but we were able to get this photo. We're posting this for Lana, who told us she loves herons.

Another Night Heron Picture

Here's another picture of the night heron. This time, he was on the other side of the bridge, fishing from a pile of sticks.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Here's a picture of the Black-crowned Night Heron waiting for a fish to come by. We like that way that his world blends with ours in this photo. We have better night heron photos elsewhere, but not a better story. In the evening, we went for a walk and came upon this heron again at the dam. He had a fish that was at least 6 inches long and 4 inches wide in his mouth still flopping about. We watched him for a while, and he positioned the fish and then swallowed it whole. Didn't he ever hear that your not supposed to eat anything bigger than your head?

Egret on Dock

Great Egret by the shore

Black-crowned Night Heron Fishing

We went for a stroll this morning without our camera. Chris spotted this night heron in the stream. We continued our walk, passed him again on the way back, and then got the camera and returned. The Black-crowned Night Heron was a great subject. He let us get within about 10 feet on a bridge or the edge of the stream. Notice his long white "pony tail" that comes from the back of his head down his back. In one photo, the night heron is eating something red and disgusting.

Great Egret

We saw the Great Egret catching quite a few fish in the stream just past the Lake Nelson Dam.

Guana Island Water Birds

White-cheeked Pintail

The White-cheeked Pintail is also known as the Bahama Pintail.

Brown Pelican
The laughing gull would sometime race to where a pelican had caught a fish and try to steal it. Sometimes, it would sit on the back of the pelican.

Wilson's Plover

Frigate

Black Necked Stilt

Bahama Flamingo

Green Backed Heron

Brown BoobyHere's a video of a booby diving for fish

Great Blue Heron

Here is our first photo of the Great Blue Heron. He's at least 3 times the size of the night heron, so we hope to get better pictures some day.

Two Black-Crowned Night Herons

We were out on the deck at dusk and noticed the Black-crowned Night Heron staring at us. We took a few photos and then a different heron, possibly its mate, flew out of the tree. It's hard to tell, but we hope there is a heron nest in the tree. These photos of the night heron were taken about ten minutes apart. We like birds that stay still. (He did move his foot a little.)

Black-crowned Night Heron

The black-crowned night heron has been showing himself for the past few days. He roosts in an evergreen tree all day. At 7pm he leaves to go fishing. We see him return at 7am in the morning.

Special Caribbean Issue

While Lake Nelson has it charms, sometimes people and birds require warmer climates and turquoise waters. We spent a week in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on two islands (Petit St. Vincent and Palm Island). Here are some the birds we encountered.

Bananaquit

Tropical Mockingbird

Frigate

Blue Heron having a snack.

Great Egret



Great Egret having a meal

Common Moorhen

Blackbird: with stolen Sweet-n-low.

Hummingbird



Sandpiper

Another Bananaquit

This duck was in a lagoon in the middle of Palm Island, SVG. It took some time searching on the internet, but we eventually identified it as a blue-winged teal on vacation in Palm Island, SVG. We prefered the caribbean waters, but they liked the lagoon.