> > Flying over western run was a great blue heron carrying
> > sticks. Is it possible that herons are still building nests in july?
>
> The Yellow Book shows June 14 as the last egg date for Great Blue Heron,
and
> July 26 for Green Heron.
>

I observed great blue herons carrying sticks several different times over
the weekend near a heron rookery at Point Lookout State Park (I was camping
there for the holiday weekend, and the campground is located just across
Lake Canoy from the heron rookery).
After talking with Greg Kearns last week while banding ospreys on Jug Bay,
he mentioned that ospreys will continue to enlarge nests as the young grow,
seeming to add an "addition" to their nest for the large juvenilles. I am
guessing that the great blue herons may be doing the same thing to make more
room for the large babies. I would be interested to know if anyone knows
more about this phenomenon....

And, on a similar note:
I noticed that at most heron rookery sites that I have seen (which is only a
very limited number) the nests are in decidious trees, which have been
denuded of leaves and the trees seem to be dead, making it fairly easy to
view the birds and nests. The heron rookery at Point Lookout is in a pine
forest (which has heavy undergrowth of posion ivy, green briar and
phragmites) so I could only investigate by kayaking along the shoreline
(although I tried going in several places, but it was too thick!) The pines
are still very much alive, making it quite difficult to actually see the
nests and birds (other than the parents coming and going). But the begging
juvenilles could be heard from quite a distance. Has anyone had similar
observations? Does anyone know if herons have a nesting preference for
evergreens or decidious forests?

Thanks,
Melissa Boyle
Park Naturalist
Bear Branch Nature Center
Westminster, MD