Great Blue Herons have appeared again on nests in an emergent cottonwood in
an ash swale along Beaver Creek, near Crabtree, Linn County. I count nine
individuals in this photo:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffharding/32501754834/in/datetaken-public/
I think that's more than I ever saw last year. Bald Eagles have been around
too, in response to a dead cow not far from the rookery.
One of the nests was occupied by a Great Horned Owl last month:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffharding/32749336586/in/datetaken-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffharding/32636508002/in/datetaken-public/
Ravens were mobbing the owl at that time. While I was away in late February,
the herons came back, and the owl left, but who knows what the sequence of
events was?
Good Birding
Jeff
