The Great Blue Heron rookery along the Rail Trail in Methuen is buzzing with activity as many of the 30 plus nests are filled with 2, 3, and even 4 nestlings.  Typically, wing-flapping has been observed as early as the fourth week, and chicks have been observed making short hops into branches near their nest at 7 wk.  Sustained flights have been observed in Great Blue Herons around the 60 day mark.  Chicks may depart their nests around 2.5 months of age.  Young herons are far from attractive, either in appearance or behavior, at any age; at first they are feeble and helpless, but later on they are awkward, ungainly, and pugnacious. If undisturbed, they remain in the nest until as large as their parents and fully fledged; but when nearly grown they are easily frightened and leave the nest to climb awkwardly over the surrounding branches and perhaps fall to the ground or water below, which often results in death, as their parents do not seem to have sense enough to rescue or even feed them.  These nestlings should fledge very soon!

The Great Blue Herons are known to constantly bring branches and sticks back to the nest during breeding season.  Eggs are known to be laid as early as April 15th in Massachusetts.  Both sexes incubate and share duties.  According to the Mass Breeding Bird Atlas, nest relief is accompanied by presentation of sticks and other rituals.  This is quite a stick being brought to nest located at Methuen Heron rookery!

4 photos posted:  http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/149752855   Click “next” in upper right corner to advance frames…enjoy!

Great Blue Heron atop a perch in the midst of the heron colony in Methuen.  The rookery has been very busy with constant activity to fortify the nests where one of the pair members are sitting on eggs and incubating them.  This was a morning visit with blue skies and terrific lighting conditions!

The nesting Great Blue Herons in Methun continue nest building activities with the females largely on nest incubating eggs.  The nesting period for these herons is about 30 days with incubation duties shared by female and male.  Typically Great Blues lay 3-4 eggs each year.

The number of nests and the flight traffic has picked up quite a bit at the Heron Rookery in Methuen!

The Great Blue Herons have arrived and are on thier nests in the rookery laong the Spicket River in Methuen, MA.  On this visit to the rookery, located along the west side of the bikepath, there were about 10 pairs of Great Blue Herons already on nest and perched.  They appeared to be in nest building and rebuilding mode and not yet incubating eggs.

While making another morning visit to the Merrimack River at the Bashara Boathouse, observed a group of Common Mergansers.  These Mergansers are very regular visitos on the river in the winter months.  They are diving ducks and are real beauties!

The Great Cormorant is common winter resident along our coast and inland waterways.  They can frequently be seen diving in the Merrimack River and often times make outsanding catches such as this oversized carp.  The Great Carp is a fishing specialist and relies on superb underwater  vision to detect nearby schooling fish beneath the water’s surface!  Quite a show watching the cormorant juggle the fish into the right position until ready to go down the hatch!

While kayaking in the wetlands at Carter Fields in North Andover, it was an unexpected surprise to encounter a Solitary Sandpiper!  The morning was warm with very light winds and beautiful early morning sunlight.  The Great Horned Owls were nowhere to be found.  A tree swallow dive bombed an object just ahead and it turned out be a Solitary Sandpiper.  This sandpiper is a fairly common migrant is usually seen alone in wet meadows, muddy ponds, wooded streams and beaver ponds.  This sandpiper breeds in marshy areas with scattered trees from central Alaska and southern Canada to Labrador and Quebec.