A short drive to Henderson....

We went for a short drive over the river to Henderson, KY to where the heron rookery used to be.

 There were 4-5 of these Cabbage White butterflies flitting around in the flowers on the edge of the road.

 Gave me a chance to try my new camera on some butterflies.

 This is a bit off focus.....I caught it in a hurry and didn't even know the blackbird was there when I took the photo.  We spotted several egrets out in this wet swampy area and this blackbird must have felt one was too close to his nesting territory.

 The egrets were beautiful and really stood out against all that green!  However, they were pretty far away.

 One that lifted off just as I took the photo.

 Not sure what these plants are, but the whole area was covered with them.  I'm sure that they are growing in water, or the egrets would not have been there.  The area used to always be covered in water and didn't have all these plants.

 Two of them....there were 5 in all.

 1-2 Great Blue Heron were also stalking the area.

 These trees used to be loaded with heron nests.  If you have followed my blog for several years you might remember all the photos of the herons up in the trees and the dozens of nests. 

 This is the old eagle's nest in the middle of the old rookery area....empty....and you can see a couple of the old heron nests in the tree to the left.  Most of the nests have blown out of the trees.  I would love to know why they moved somewhere else and where they went!  I assume they are still along the river somewhere, but we don't know where to look for a new rookery.

 One of several Red-winged Blackbirds that was buzzing away at us.  He was showing his epaulets nicely.

 Another one giving voice to us...."This is my territory!  Go away!"

 Way out in a field I could see a few crows and something larger....one lone turkey!

 This turtle found a small high and dry place in the middle of the swampy area.

Some of the yellow plants along the road.