Heron Courtship Gallery

Heron Courtship

(Click on Images to enlarge, then click on each image to go to the next image more easily.)

About the Images: These photographs were taken at a heronry at a small lake. There is too much vegetation to get a clear shot of anything, so photographically, these were never going to be great. (I do like 11 for its balance.)

The story behind these images: After a prolonged period of allopreening, the male first jumps up to the female in the nest above and she is not interested and errects her feathers. (Image 3). There follows more preening and the male calls out while making himself appear very large (image 6). He then suddenly takes off and flies in a large cirle, before returning and couping with his partner. After coupling, they returned to preening again.