Curious Great blue heron nestling gazes towards the sun from the safety of its nest with it parent standing protectively by.

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Great Blue Heron nestling looks out from its nest towards the afternoon sun with its parent standing protectively by. By no means is the little fellow fully feathered as many spots are still bare such as the front of the neck. Whereas older birds only have pin feathers with new growth, the youngsters have to endure the growing pains of pin feathers all over. Notice the blue sheaths from which the feathers emerge.

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Size: 2604px × 3024px
Location: South Florida Wetland Rookery
Photo credit: © Judy Lovell-Janthina Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: apple, ardea, beak, black, blood, blue, chick, curious, cute, eye, featehrs, feathers, florida, gray, great, green, herodias, heron, leaves, nest, nesting, nestling, pin, pond, tree, twig, wetland, yellow, young