.dropcap { color: #838078; float: left; font-size: 82px; line-height: 60px; padding: 5px 8px 0 0; } On a warm day in late May, sunbeams peek through a thick canopy of aspen, oak, and black cherry near Rochester, Minnesota. Here and there, these natural spotlights fall on Carrol Henderson, clad in khaki cargo pants, plaid button-up, and baseball cap, a camera slung around his neck as usual. Through thin-rimmed glasses and binoculars, his blue eyes scan the high branches for the delicate nests of Great Blue Herons. After a decades-long career in conservation, today Henderson is a “Rookie” again. That’s what a group of Rochester homeowners and concerned citizens have dubbed themselves in honor of the unique heron rookery they’re working to save from development. The species typically nests in wet areas like riverbanks and lakeshores, but this roughly 40-nest clan has made a home in the relatively dry woods along diminutive Cascade Creek. “It’s a...