The scruffy, but so elegant Cormorant, with its long neck, watches out for the world to pass. Great Blue Herons nest next to them. With all three of the big birds nesting at once, feeding time is a wild scene. Great bustling about to and fro. When a parent is returning, a noise rises from its nest.
Young ones call out for the food.
Musically it is a cacophony of eerie screeching and hawking sounds mixed with the wind creaking the eucalyptus branches and flapping the leaves. At the Slough Interpretive Center, a video of egrets feeding their hatchlings is compelling watching. E lkhorn Slough winds seven miles over seven thousand acres. It is now part of a national effort to restore critical estuaries. Estuaries are important because they are the principal nesting, hatching and nursery areas for much wildlife.