The Great Blue Heron, a smartly dressed bird in a blue grey suit, gracious and tall! Long legs trailing behind their body as they fly, their head pulled back in an “S” shape against their shoulders, with smooth deliberate wingbeats, usually flying solo, this makes them an easy bird to spot.
Most of us here, young and old, likely will have recognized this majestic bird, along Mud Bay Dyke or driving on Highway 10 and 99, foraging in farmer’s fields, flying over wetlands and stalking for prey along the grassy shoreline. It feeds on small mammals, fish, and frogs. They are easy to photograph if you keep a distance away. When you get a chance, watch them stand motionless and wait for their prey to appear or move ever so slow to another spot and then with lightning fast strikes they stab or pick up their victim with their large bills. Their nests are build 100 feet up in groups of deciduous trees along forest edges, near water or wetland. They nest in colonies, called “Heronries”. The birds are monogamous and males take turns incubating the eggs. According to some sources the Great Blue Heron population is in decline in Canada. Nature Canada reports that there are just between 4,000 and 5,000 left. This is mostly due to habitat destruction (urbanization, road building) and pesticides and predation by eagles, who reduce the young to only a 25% survival rate! The eagles are nesting and feeding their young at the same time as the herons.
I remember walking on the dyke, some years ago, when I observed a large and active heronry just off the dyke at a Delta farm, then weeks later trees were suddenly cleared and replaced by a massive cell tower! Another heronry is on Panorama Ridge, in Surrey, in a large cluster of deciduous trees down at the bottom of Coulthard Road, with about 15 nests!
We are privileged to see these birds here on a daily basis and take them for granted but these birds are in decline and we need to protect them from their habitat loss.
Sometimes there is evidence of a Great Blue Heron visit to our backyards… evidence left is the disappearance of gold fish from our ponds and the only clue is a large splatter ( looks like a white paint spill) of their white faecal droppings on our lawn or driveway (quick fix: install a piece of plumbing tube at the bottom of pond for fish to hide in).
Today the Great Blue Herons nest and eggs have been protected under the BC Wildlife act as well as the Migratory Birds convention act and in February 2010, the bird was officially designated “a special concern” and added as part of an amendment to the species at risk act.
To help protect this gracious bird we should be mindful of Great Blue Heron nesting and living areas and support and lobby for conservation laws. For additional info on this bird please visit www.thenatureconservancy.ca.