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I have photographed for La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos this sequence of photographs of the ceremony of handing the branch through the nest to the gray herons.
Like every year, the gray herons have arrived near the Ter river in the Osona region. In Les Masies de Voltregà there is a viewpoint where the birds are not disturbed, as they make their nests or take advantage of last year’s nests on the other side of the river, already in the municipality of Torelló.
More arrive every year, perhaps due to climate change. Making the nest is a ceremony for herons: First the male carries the branch and offers it to the female (you can see how the male gives it to the female in the upper left photo).
In a sequence of three photos, you can see in the upper right image the male offering the branch and the female ruffles her feathers.
In the same sequence, the female grabs the branch with her beak and her feathers are no longer ruffled (lower left image).
Finally, in the lower right image the female is preparing to put the branch in the nest and here the female ruffles her feathers again and the male does too.
