A short ride from Wildewood is this Blue Heron nest with two chicks and two adults tending them. The day I found them was sunny and bright. Looks like someone didn't get enough rest last night.
I got a peak at one of the chicks.
A few days after finding the nest, a strong cold front passed with gale wind gusts. Adult heron lowered its stance and then squatted low, on top of the chicks.
The next day, I decided to check and see how the nest fared in the weather. I waited and watched before it was light.
Then, enough light!
A chick pecks at parent's beak as if to say, "Give us a fish!"
Newly hatched chicks have been seen to peck at an adult's bill, the nest, and each other.
When arriving to feed chicks, an adult stands on the rim of the nest and places/regurgitates food into the open bill of the chicks.
By the end of the second week, chicks can grasp the adult's bill momentarily, and by the end of the third week chicks can pull the adult's bill into the nest, a behavior they exhibit until they fledge. Occasionally, chicks have been seen to reach into an adult's open mouth.
Chicks will eat regurgitated food dropped by parents in the nest up to about 30 d after hatching, after which they take food directly from their parents.
Food remains are eaten by the parents. - Birds of the World
