I really enjoyed our day trip to the James River with Ralph White. We saw so many beautiful scenes, and we got to walk the Pipeline- something I had never known about. One particular image stood out to me as such an icon of our trip- the view of the herons perched in the tall trees overlooking the river.
I had never seen something like that before. I always viewed the Great Blue Heron as a solitary creature. Herons are never seen grouped up like that, especially high up in the trees. The image looked like a prehistoric silhouette; the fairly large herons resembling pterodactyls perched high up in their shaggy nests scattered about the whimsical looking trees. I remember Ralph White telling us how this is the best time of year to view the courtship behavior of the herons.
As we gazed upon the nesting birds, a question popped up among the group:
Is any work being done with these herons by the 14th St. Bridge?
No one seemed to know, so I decided to make it the subject of my blog post this week. Through searching “James River Herons” on Google, I found that the National Audubon Society actually has a page dedicated to the birds. I found out that the name of this bird community located by the 14th St. Bridge is known as the “Great Blue Heron Rookery.” The Rookery is inhabited by approximately 40 Great Blue Herons and a few couples of Great Egrets. This scene attracts many bird enthusiasts, watchers, and photographers. Many enjoy watching the birds in the late winter and early spring pair up and engage in courtship behavior. The webpage for the Great Blue Heron Rookery allows people to post pictures and videos of the birds. There are catalogued videos on the courtship rituals, and there is information on guided walks.
I am not sure if Ralph referred to this place as “The Rookery” or not, but I really like that it has a name. It is a place of unique wildlife imagery, and deserves a distinguishing name to accompany it. It shows that the Richmond community appreciates the birds in their little neighborhood, by giving it an endearing name. I think it is so amazing that we have something like this in our city, as it is one of the most peculiar things I’ve seen in nature.
If you would like to visit the Autubon website, here is the link:
http://varookery.audubon.org