Juvenile Great Blue Herons

The last of my three great blue heron galleries focuses on immature herons, youngsters in their first year of life before they achieve the plumage of adults.

A juvenile great blue heron hunts for Townsend's voles as snow falls all around it
White on Top
When I noticed a juvenile heron hanging out at the end of the auto tour at Ridgefield during the Christmas break of 2009, I made an effort to photograph it every chance I could. One thing in particular I wanted to photograph was the most distinctive differences between juvenile and adult herons: the lack of white on top of their heads. On this day, though, the young heron had plenty of white on top.

You win this round, Mother Nature.

A close-up view of juvenile great blue heron hunting for Townsend's voles at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
No no, little vole, stay hidden if you want to live to see the sun rise!

This whimsical portrait of a juvenile great blue heron on the hunt is my favorite picture from the Christmas break of 2009. I always love arriving early to Ridgefield and finding a good frost on the ground, although I didn't have many of those opportunities during this warm winter.

If you're wondering, the vole won this round.

A juvenile great blue heron lays low in the grass to avoid being seen by adult herons nearby
Laying Low
I was off for a couple of weeks over Christmas break at the end of 2009 and spent nearly every day at Ridgefield. That hadn't been my plan, I hoped to do some hiking in the Columbia River Gorge, but each day at the refuge brought something new and I was always curious to see what the next new thing would be.

This day's surprise came after I had settled in for a while to watch a young heron hunt in a meadow. It suddenly dropped to the earth and lay prone on the ground, I didn't understand why until I looked up and saw two adult herons flying nearby. The young heron won this round of hide-and-seek as the adults left it alone and it resumed the hunt, but a while later one of the adults did come back and chase it away.

Before & After
Compare the head of a juvenile heron (on the left) and an adult (on the right) and you'll notice that the adult has a lot more white coloring, both on the top of its head and in the face behind the eyes, as well as dark plumes extending out the back of its head. You can ignore the brown and red coloring on the adult's bill compared to the youngster, as the brown mud is from hunting for voles in the meadow, and the red blood is from hunting for voles successfully.
A close-up view of a juvenile great blue heron's head
A close-up view of an adult great blue heron's head
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July 27, 2011