#2225 "Rookery Triplex"

I like to take Summers Road when I head north from Singleton. It is the shortest path from Lyndhurst to Elgin by a country mile but the road is not maintained for a long stretch in the middle where low land drains to even lower Lower Beverly Lake.

The road is not plowed during the winter. On this particular day I was on my way back from hanging paintings at the Opinicon and there was no rush. I was hunting for winter subject matter when the wind chill would push me inside the studio. This rookery on the east side of Summers Road caught my eye. One tree in particular supported three heron nests. A current in the beaver pond had kept an open channel in the ice. The reflective properties of ice, snow and water are very different.

The increase in beavers has resulted in swamps where trees have died, creating ideal habitat for nesting great blue herons. Great blue herons nest communally in "rookeries" or "heronries" containing up to 50 pair. Herons typically use the same rookery every year until eventually the trees collapse.

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