Heron Rookery.....

I guess I need to start somewhere and since I already showed some herons, I will start with them.  We stumbled onto the heron rookery by chance.  We were sitting in a parking lot taking photos of a hawk that had just caught something.  The chain link fence behind us had a gate that with a padlock hanging unlocked, standing slightly open, and a sign that seemed to indicate that we could go inside.  We could see trees and the water across an open grass area, so we went in.  I felt like we were trespassing the whole time and kept thinking I would hear them padlock the gate as soon as we got inside.  I know....paranoid, but it just felt like a private place where we weren't suppose to be.

 When we got across the field there was a little pond and tall trees and the bridge I showed in the last post with a heron on it.  Then we noticed this heron the other side of a trash container, so I started sneaking up on him.

 Eventually we realized there were many heron there.....and didn't seem to mind our presence!  

 These aren't in any order.  I thought most of the heron's seemed to be in "mating plumes".  Notice the skinny one on the right.....a juvenile?

 The area behind the pond.....notice the Cattle Egret on the right.

 I thought the second one from the right was very "fluffed up".....is that mating activity?

 I just kept taking photos.  The herons at home are never this accommodating!

One on the bridge.

 A different Egret....don't know which one, but one of the tall ones.  Can you see the Coot at the edge of the water to the left?

 The Snowy Egret.  I've only seen one once before.  Short bird.(NOTE: Kathie has corrected me on this.  It is a Snowy Egret...which is a life bird for me!  I thought it was a Cattle Egret just because of the short looking legs.  Thanks, Kathie!)

 The height difference is very noticeable here with the Great Blue Heron nearby.

Herons and Egret

 They really looked nice and posed serenely like I wasn't even there.

 This ones color seems a little different.

There was one nest right over my head....with heron on it.

 Another tree top nest.

 I thought they looked like a line of old men enjoying the sun.  Maybe young bachelors is more accurate.

High over head.

 The pond had a few more visitors......a Cormorant.....

 .......a Pied-billed Grebe.....

 .....a very big turtle....

.....a couple of turtles.

We had to go meet up with family to have dinner, but I sure would have liked to explore this spot longer!  Unfortunately we had no time to go back there.  This trip was very short.  Drove all day Thursday, Friday we  mostly looked for birds, Saturday was a boat cruise and the wedding on the beach, and Sunday we drove all day again to get back home.