Friday I revisited the Satus rookery to see what
changes had occurred since last week when I saw
the first nest with heron chicks . Six of the
nests easily visible from my access point were
occupied by herons. The remaining 20 some nests
were occupied by double-crested cormorants.

Of the six heron nests, three contained young
chicks; each of a different age. As near as I
could tell each nest contained three chicks.
Parents took turns fishing or standing in the nest
and occasionally regurgitating food for the little
ones. In one case the regurgitated fish appeared
to be nearly a foot long. Obviously much to big
for the chicks. Nothing to do but reswallow and
hope for the best. It took nearly took nearly 10
minutes to reswallow the fish.

Some still images of the the chicks are on the web
site at
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/minkgi

Images of some other birds that were within camera
range at the time will be added either Sun or Mon.
night along with new images from the Satus
Wildlife Refuge.

Gaylord Mink
Prosser, WA