The Lil’ Blue Heron
What an incredible last week of April. I am surging to my goal of 100 unique species in 2025, which I am overly confident I will meet within the next few days, if not tonight!
In addition to seeing the typical migrants moving through, I’ve come across some rare or uncommon birds as well.
Some of the rare and uncommon birds include…
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Bonaparte’s Gull
American Bittern
Horned Grebe
Little Blue Heron
While these may not be rare or uncommon by you, I have never seen them before and they’re not too common in the area according to E-Bird. With the Little Blue Heron, being the most rare for my area.
Lil Blue, Perching | Fujifilm X-S20 | 750mm | f/5.6 | ISO 6400
The night before finding this Little Blue Heron I received a tip from a local biologist and fellow bird-nerd. I made a b-line for the area he mentioned the bird was in and watched for a couple of hours, only to turn up empty-handed.
I knew the next morning had a bird event at the local reserve, which is where this lil blue fella has been spotted. I thought that perhaps I should join the event, as sometimes they go behind the scenes and I’d get lucky and see the Heron.
Instead, I woke up early and headed to the reserve prior to the event in hopes of seeing ‘em where he was last spotted.
On The Hunt | Fujifilm X-S20 | 750mm | f/5.6 | ISO 3200
The area the Heron has been spotted is a quick 5 minute speed-walk from the parking lot. As you approach the area, you climb a hill while the birds are in a bowl. I crest the hill, slowly and quietly, as I’ve scared my fair share of birds out of this area before coming in too hot. As my head peaks over the hill, there he is, plain as day, searching for food.
I quickly snap a few pictures, excitement radiating throughout my body. I tell myself ‘good enough, lets not scare the bird’ and begin to head back to inform the bird group that the bird is there. I then double back to the bird, only to snap a few more photos and then actually head back to the parking lot to engage with the group.
In addition walking back to engage with the group, I am feverishly texting a bird-buddy of mine as this would be a lifer for him as well. He is basically in the parking lot waiting for me by the time I get back. I guess a bird-nerd moves fast when a rare bird is near!
I inform the biologist (the same who gave me the tip the previous night) leading the bird group that the Heron is back in the Pike Marsh and we all march towards the location to take a few more photos.
The premise of this post is to remind you to network with people. Make friends. Share intel. Bring others into the hobby. I never would have known about this bird if I wasn’t given some insights and chances are, the same would go for everyone else that I told about it too. We’re on this big rock together, might as well be good to each other.
Thanks for reading, until next time…
-Nathan