I don’t know how I missed this, but alert reader M. May informed me that the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has a live Heron Cam, with a view of a nest containing three fluffy Great Blue Heron chicks (Ardea herodias), two of which hatched April 27 and one on April 28. They’re awkward but adorable.
You can click on it from the HawkCam page, too, so you can watch two nests at nearly the same time. Here’s a screenshot:
The nest has two cameras, so you can see it from above as well:
4 now. One egg to go!
The herons have been attacked by a Great Horned Owl four times so far (YouTube video). In one of the attacks one of the eggs appeared to be damaged but didn’t turn out that way. Three eggs have hatched and the rest are on the way. After coming across the links to these cams on your website, I am hooked. I keep checking in every couple of hours to see what is going on. I seem to spend more time on the hawk cam probably because the hawks have more of a “personality”.
Also check out another red-tailed hawk cam from University of Wisconsin and a Peregrine Falcon nest cam in Salt Lake City.
The Great Blue Heron nest was attacked for the fifth time early this morning. All 4 hatchlings and the remaining egg survived without harm. I too am fascinated by the hawk cam. I was showing some co-workers Big Red feeding the first two chicks last week. They did not share my enthusiasm however, at being shown freshly killed pigeon (which seems to be the preferrerd food)at the dinner table. The little fuzzy-headed herons are adorable and now I’ll be hooked on them too!
The poor Norwich peregrine is really getting battered by the wind today!
http://www.hawkandowl.org/TrustAtWork/Conservation/Urbanperegrines/norwichperegrineplatformLive12.htm
The last time I had a Great Blue Heron in my suburban back yard I could not decide whether to try to grab my camera or chase it away before it ate my koi. The koi won, though it was magnificent to see the heron sitting on my kids’ playstructure.
My theory is that once the trees have lost their leaves, the herons can see the pond while on their migration, and decide to try to take advantage of the free lunch. It’s a small (artificial) pond, not near any other water, and not of much use to a heron except for a quick snack. I’ve taken to covering the pond from early fall until freeze-up.
Osprey at Kielder reservoir in Northumbria
I tuned in to the hawk cam a couple minutes ago, and the offspring were sleeping peacefully. First the male parent showed up, and he has now been replaced by the female. The offspring have awoken and are being fed.