Western Massachusetts grows wilder by the year. Today, a local reported seeing a moose cross Giberson Road earlier this week. With luck, perhaps a moose post soon.At the rookery, lunch arrives on the wing for squabbling juvenile heron, whose noise and fighting grows alarming. As they tussle with the parent for food, it has to struggle to stay on the nest. Between deliveries, they peck at each others' beaks attempting to get the other to give up its bits, all the while squawking loudly.
They grow rapidly, almost completely feathered and capable of stretching several feet high. They continue to exercise their wings, and have learned to evacuate accurately off the nest, from any point in the nest.
During tense feeding moments, they attempt to intimidate each other, perhaps to gain some momentary feeding advantage. During the whole process, the parent withstands the rough handling, holds its head up high and out of reach between deliveries, and then quickly drops away, perhaps enjoying the quiet of the stalking hunt for the next meal.
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