Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: Great blue herons are very territorial, and are that way from the moment they fledge from the nest. Each bird wants his share on the shoreline … and will fight to maintain control of the area. The fledgling great blue heron tried to land on the shore of the riprap. He was promptly flattened by a subadult great blue heron – about 1 1/2 years-old – who had a stake on that piece of property. The ensuing fight was loud and quite aggressive on both sides. The fledgeling is the one whose head is mostly a mottled brown and the subadult has a lot of white on his face and the beginning of the black striped cap of an adult. Neither bird seemed worse for the fight as the fledgling, for the moment relinquishing thoughts of acquiring the piece of shoreline, headed for the opposite side of the river. It finally got quiet on the riprap.
doc ellen's journey 
Wow! Sometimes hard to keep track of who is who……..that was some fight….. A wonderful series of photos, Ellen—–one really gets a sense of how they use their wings and necks and bodies against each other.
On Fri, Jul 31, 2020 at 9:23 PM doc ellen’s journey wrote:
> neighdoctor posted: “Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: Great blue herons are > very territorial, and are that way from the moment they fledge from the > nest. Each bird wants his share on the shoreline … and will fight to > maintain control of the area. The fledgling great blue heron t” >
Whole body involvement is right!