Four green heron chicks in Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Prospect Park is becoming some kind of hot spot for green heron nests. Several pairs are building nests or raising young in what’s becoming a heron co-op near the Lullwater.
The first big heron nest of the season was over the Nethermead, a busy lawn. The heron parents survived the Googa Mooga and their three chicks fledged. I heard one ran into trouble with fishing line and may have been removed from the park.
Now green herons have built at least two new nests in the same neighborhood–a patch of woods between the Nethermead and Lullwater. One heron picked at a nest in the same stand of trees, but higher up. Another sat on a nest that overhangs the Lullwater. She was just a couple trees down from a mulberry tree that is dropping berries into the water now, attracting a big crowd of red-eared sliders, catbirds and squirrels. The herons sometimes squawk at the commotion.
Meanwhile, four young green herons sat in an oak tree overhanging the water. They are starting to look like herons, but still have a delightful fluff around them.
AnimalDiversity says they only breed once a year, but do sometimes form loose communities. We have potentially four heron families in the same little area. Plus, potentially another pair that is living around the upper pond in the ravine.
Green Heron on nest over Lullwater
Green heron advertises his new nest.
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