Green Heron on the Tuolumne River, and a bit of "Where's Waldo?"

There are at least two Green Herons (Butorides virescens) who lurk along my section of the Tuolumne River where I walk most mornings. I've been observing them for three years now, but pictures are a bit rare because they tend to flush as I walk by on the trail. They're usually flying overhead.

Yesterday I was quietly stepping down to the river shore and saw one of them perched downstream maybe sixty yards away. It must have felt hidden from sight, because for once it didn't fly off. I got some nice zoomed shots before retreating into the brush.

I took an "establishing shot" and as I looked at it later, I realized how lucky I was to spot it. Can you see it in the picture below?

Green Heron above the Tuolumne River

Here's a bird that's been a challenge for me to photograph. The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) certainly lives along the Tuolumne River where I regularly walk, and I even got a good video of one a couple of years ago. But it is skittish around humans (as any smart bird will be), and it flushes in the first moment that I see it and I rarely have gotten good shots. Over the weekend though, I was watching another bird when I saw two herons flying by. One turned away when it saw me, but the other fluttered to a landing on the dead snag a few yards away. I couldn't believe I got the opportunity to get these pictures.

I imagine that this one felt well-hidden. Can you see it in the picture below? It was the first picture I took, thinking it would take off right away, but it didn't. I love the zoom lens on my camera...

Green Heron Near a Flooded Tuolumne River

It's been a hectic time and I haven't been back to the Tuolumne River in a week. It is still an artificial flood as the operators upstream at Don Pedro Dam are keeping flows very high to build flood storage capacity. The river has been high for two weeks now, and the entire floodplain is under water this week. I imagine a great many animals have been flooded out of their homes. I was wandering near the water treatment plant when I realized there was a large bird to my left, away from the river. I realized it was a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) standing very still, so much so that all six pictures I took are identical!

Green Heron on the Tuolumne River (with video)

Now that I've been home a few days, I've been patrolling the Tuolumne Parkway Trail, trying to maintain some semblance of health, and of course I'm always watching for birds and other animals (I finally saw some River Otters a few weeks back). I know that at least one Green Heron (Butorides virescens) has been living along the western stretch of the trail, because I've seen it lurking in the brush three or four times. Unfortunately, it's almost always at dusk, and pictures have been difficult. I caught some pretty nice shots almost a year ago (see them here), but there's been nothing since.

Today's walk was almost totally uneventful. No Orioles, no Tanagers, no raptors, just a pleasant stroll in the morning. I was about to start up the long stairwell at the end of the hike, and saw a bird fly through the underbrush out the corner of my eye. I took the chance to briefly avoid climbing the 146 steps and watch the brush at the irrigation outfall pond. You can see from the picture above how hard it was to see the heron, but it stuck around long enough for a couple of pictures (focusing was a real challenge). Actually, I was the one who gave up, because this heron was going to get one of the frogs jumping around in the pond below, and wasn't going anywhere.

I took a bit of video so you can observe the bird doing an inventory of the frogs in the pond below.

Green Heron along the Tuolumne River Parkway

It was cooler the other morning, so I took a long delayed stroll down to the Tuolumne River Parkway trail, currently under construction (it's been really hot the last few days). There were quite a few birds down along the river, more than I have seen in many weeks. Lots of Scrub Jays, Mockingbirds, Yellow-billed Magpies, an Egret, several Black-chinned Hummingbirds, a high-flying hawk, and a California Towhee.

The best surprise of the day, though, was seeing a pair of Green Herons (Butorides virescens) fishing along the river. I don't see them often. I had one in my backyard trying to chase down our goldfish in the pond several years ago, but aside from that, not so many. And I've never seen them pulling the little Mohawk trick with their head feathers. I didn't know it was a Green Heron at first.

According to the Cornell Ornithology site, the Green Heron is one of the few birds known to use tools. They have been seen using worms, insects or twigs as lures to bring fish closer. That's a rather sharp tactic!

I'm looking forward to the completion of the River Parkway trail. The Tuolumne River in the Sierra Nevada foothills and on the Great Valley floor is a fascinating place, and deserves more attention. The parkway will be a great asset for the local schools to bring a little more nature into their learning environment.