{"id":472,"date":"2018-07-11T14:38:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edwardoconnor.ca\/?p=472"},"modified":"2018-07-11T14:38:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T14:38:10","slug":"summer-birds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edwardoconnor.ca\/summer-birds-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Birds, 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
A few weeks ago, I spent an hour at the Black-crowned Night Heron colony on the Leslie Street Spit, watching the birds build their nests. The males were in their mating finery, which means bright plumage\u2014cream-colored below, grey and slate-blue above\u2014and two long, thin plumes that stick out of the head and arch over the back. Each male gathered twigs and tree limbs and delivered them to the nesting site the female had chosen. Then both birds arranged their material roughly into the shape of a nest or, more accurately, a nesting platform.<\/p>\n