Saying hello from nature again after taking a hiatus in July, with a look at a family that has taken up residence south of town. While I was taking a break I had a number of folks contact me or stop me around town to tell me about a small rookery that has popped up at the south side of the lake on the Boulder/Gilpin border. A group of Great Blue Herons has decided to make their summer home right here in our own back (or front for some) yard.

By definition, a rookery is a nesting or birthing group of a variety of “group-loving” birds (basically a large group of nests created by flocking birds of varying species). If one wishes to be more specific, this particular group of nests would likely also be considered a heronry, which is defined as a rookery that consists only of herons. The terminology delves into vaguery at this point, and is often hotly contested among birders, as apparently not all birds in family Ardeidae are actually herons (thus applicable for being considered an official resident of a heronry), and not all named herons are actually herons (feel free to hug, or strangle your local taxonomist). Suffice it to say, heronry does apply as long as there isn’t also a group of crows or other flocking species involved (admittedly, the heron HOA would not allow corvids, as they tend to be predatory of heron eggs).

Last week I decided to head over and get a good look at this small group and was very happy to see around four or five nests capping the tops of the pines along the lake’s shoreline. A handful of adults took to the treetops for afternoon sunning as four of this year’s fledglings kept to the nest awaiting their next meal. Not having spent any time with them prior to this encounter, my gut says that the youngsters have not yet taken their first flight but are very close to that first step into the sky. While young herons are nearly the size of an adult by 45 days or so, they do not typically fledge until around 60 days old. By 90 days, they are likely already gone from the nest and on their own.

While herons are quite adaptable to a variety of environments, their one mainstay for a place to call home is open water from which to fish. Whether it is a lake or small mountain stream, Great Blue Herons can be found just about anywhere in the United States and up into Canada during the summer months. That said, while these are far from my first local encounters with the birds, this is the first rookery (or heronry) I’ve encountered in our immediate area. Being that the birds often return to an area to raise their young year after year, I hold hopes that we will enjoy this group for many years to come.

As an added a little “cherry on top” bonus to my visit with the herons, before leaving I gazed across the water and was incredibly happy to see a lone osprey sitting out on the extended perch of the man-made nesting platform set back from the lake’s western shore. As I’ve written in the past, the mated pair that called the platform home for a long time have not been seen in a couple years, and it is likely that they reached the end of their natural lives. Along with the herons, I hold hope that this lone osprey (possibly one of the last offspring of that “famous” couple) finds a mate and decides to return and make the platform their summer residence here in our little slice of nature’s paradise.

Information for this article was found at https://www.audubon.org/ field-guide/bird/great-blue-heron and https://www.flockingaround.com/ post/herony-or-rookery-a-shortflocking explanation-on-a-pointlessdesignation.

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