Best I can do.

I've been trying to get better pics of this mother blue Heron and her two chicks but with the camera that I have and the distance envolved this is the best I've been able to do.

Awww...

pretty good! I used to live on the water and loved watching these birds, there is just something about them.

Hello Bhavana34, see your from my neighboring town!

My in-laws live in Medford; have you seen any Pileated Woodpeckers over there?

Actually, neighbor, funny you should mention it, but I believe I just saw one at the Atsion Lake campground Friday morning. That was only the 2nd time I have ever seen one in the wild, the first time was at a park in Ocean County. We have a very wooded lot where I live, but have only seen red bellied and hairy or downy here (can't tell the diff betw those two!)

Have your inlaws seen them here?

Yes they have. I'll D mail you.

adel, sorry to go off topic.

I love the Herons, too. I see the adults all the time (one flew over my house about an hour ago), but I've never seen their babies.

the one not-so-charming thing about them is that often the last egg to hatch is the "weakling" because the first ones get a head start with food - and since the nest and most parent birds cannot sustain 3 chicks, the first 2 born will get most of the food because they are stronger, and then they gang up on and either kill their youngest sibling or push him out of the nest.

I know, I know - not a happy story, but that's nature and nature can be cold and brutal at times.