Thanks to Robert for the tip. I received an e-mail from him over the weekend that mentioned two sets of bird nests just south of Haynes Bridge Road where the trail splits. The nests are filled with Green Herons, that look as though they are about to leave the nests. Today I saw roughly a dozen birds remaining. You will easily notice the nests if you head south from the Haynes Bridge parking lot and watch for the large sections of droppings covering the trail on both sides when the trail splits.
When I walked that portion of the trail to verify the nests today, I didn’t have my camera. I will head back out tomorrow to try and get some good shots of the herons before they leave their nests.
On another note, I was lucky to see a young deer along the trail today heading to the birds nest. It is fairly common on the Alpharetta trail to see deer. If you have any tips on animal sightings, or would like to report seeing any animals, post an article to our new Community Forums.
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Jeff,
Thank you so much for posting this - I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed seeing the baby herons! It was the best part of my day!
You are quite welcome, and thanks again to Robert for the e-mail tip to find them.
I was glad to see they were still there today. I got some decent pictures that I will put up tomorrow, but with the sun directly above the colors are washed out. Since herons generally nest in the same spot year after year, it is possible we will see an increase in the number of birds in that spot next spring.
This is the first Green Heron nest I've seen, but I've visited Heron Island on Lake Hartwell (GA, SC border) where there are almost a hundred birds between two islands. With the dead pine trees and nests, the islands almost look prehistoric.