by Rey Wells
In this post I will give you some interesting looks at members of the heron family. What prompts this is the sighting of a family member that is rare as far north as central Florida.
We start with the smallest member of the family, the Green Heron. Like a number of avian species, there is a year round population in Florida along with migrants from north of here. Here is one that I took up in northern New York State a few years ago. It missed its target on this try. Perhaps the abundant duck weed on this pond helped to save the intended prey.
While I favor action shots of birds doing their things, I won’t pass up a resting bird that is just plain striking. Such was the case with this Little Blue Heron. It was late enough in the Florida winter that year such that some Little Blues had changed into their breeding season finery. This was one of those. Like the Green Heron, there is an all year population in Florida. And there are migrants that breed up into the midwest and along the eastern seaboard as far north as Massachusetts
The largest herons, by far, are the Great Blue and the Great White. Here is my photo of a Great Blue that you may have seen before. I had just arrived at this wet spot when this occurred. I was very fortunate to capture it. Note that the bullfrog is glistening wet. It had been snatched from the water no more than two seconds earlier. Great Blues have a range that extends much further north and west than the first two.
Lastly, we get a glimpse of a Great White Heron. The Cornell Ornithology Department website, allaboutbirds.org, describes it as the white sub-species of the Great Blue Heron. Southern coastal Florida is its northernmost range. But like most birds, some individuals stray beyond their normal range. These are known as accidentals.
Here is the close up look that I was able to get of the Great White near the end of the road in Ozello, which is on the west coast of central Florida. Had I moved any further to my left to expose more of this bird, I would have been standing in the Gulf of Mexico. You can see whole birds by googling for pictures of them.
This individual was first spotted by a team of Citrus County Audubon members on the morning of our annual Christmas Bird Count. That was on January 4th. I took my photograph on January 8th. Last Thursday morning, February 6th, I birded my way out the Ozello Trail (a road) to Peck’s restaurant near its end at the Gulf. The Great White was across the bay and was at the exact spot where I had walked to in order to get my photograph a month earlier. From there it came across the bay to the shallows behind Peck’s. Before I could move enough to try for good photos, it left for another spot across the bay
Now, about Peck’s Old Port Cove restaurant. We had not eaten there in about ten years. Why, I don’t know. It was always good. But the topper there was the Ozello key lime pie. It was the best!
On the day that I took my photo of the Great White, Sheila and I had lunch at Peck’s. It was very good. Then, with trepidation, I ordered the pie. It’s rare that you can go back to a place after ten years and not be disappointed. But I was not. The pie was from the same recipe and was just as good as it was back then! We plan to be back there soon for lunch and more Ozello key lime pie. As a bonus, we may have a chance to watch the Great White Heron from our outdoor table as we dine.