Great Blue Heron Rookery 001

Our daughter, Rebecca, and granddaughter, Addie, are visiting for two weeks. Addie loves outdoor adventures so camping was definitely on the agenda this last week. It was a little cool but it kept the bugs at bay. One afternoon, we explored a Blue Heron rookery just north of Island Lake. It is so funny to see these long legged birds nesting in trees. You would think that they would nest on the ground.

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It was interesting to hear the young vocalizing from the nest as soon as the adult is seen on the horizon. They must be able to recognize their own parents somehow.

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There are sixteen active nests and Addie had fun watching the adults bringing in food for the young.

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One adult always guarded the nest as the other one would be out getting food. After bringing in the food, the adults would usually do this interesting neck dance as a part of courtship.

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Several times we saw the adults bringing in more sticks for home improvement projects.

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Large White Pine

The Blue Heron rookery is located just north of an area that is covered with beautiful White Pine that survived the fires and logging of the last century. We went to show Addie one of the largest pines. I believe it to be the state record White Pine but it hasn’t been nominated yet since it is located on private property. Addie couldn’t believe how big the tree was. Between Addie’s mom, grandma and Addie, they couldn’t reach around it. Since the tree is located close to a section corner it had a survey tag on it. The tag showed that the tree was 14” in diameter when the tag was placed on September 12, 1857.

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Osprey Nest 001

Just off to the side of the Blue Herons is an osprey nest. Addie was able to see them bring in a fish.

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There were two around regularly but three of them came into the nest at the same time on two separate occasions. Luckily I had my camera set up on the nest when this happened. It looked like the pair that was on the nest didn’t appreciate the intrusion of the third. They went at each other with talons open.

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When you see the size of an osprey’s talon you realize how easily they can grab a fish from the water.

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Yellow Lady's-Slippers 001

We ended our camping experience with a walk along the trails of Jay Cooke State Park where hundreds of Yellow Lady’s Slippers are in full bloom. It was a great ending to a four day camping trip.

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