Alert!

Alert! 

Judy Royal Glenn Photography

During the Christmas holidays, I went to St. Simons Island, Georgia. I was photographing a blue heron when I noticed a behavior I have never seen before. I was curious, so I took a lot of photographs.

Then it all made sense….another blue heron was walking towards the other heron. I have never seen two blue herons in close proximity before except when they were nesting.

The first heron pointed his beak to the sky and spread his wings dramatically. As the other heron walked towards him, he also had his beak to the sky and spread his wings.

The second heron walked near then passed by the first heron. He then turned around and walked past him again. The second heron did this a total of three times for a duration of about five minutes. Finally, the second heron flew away.

I researched this behavior and found this page that talks about different behaviors in herons. I believe this behavior is the “alert posture” where the heron does this behavior when it is disturbed or threatened. That is my best guess. You can read the article and make your own decision.

Either way, it was a fun and exciting thing for me to be able to witness!