The Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), is the largest of the
dark herons. It is found throughout the western hemisphere from Canada
south to Panama and Venezuela. It is a common resident of the Great Basin.
This lean bird, often mistakenly called a "crane", stands four feet tall
and has a wing spread of nearly six feet. It is a blue-gray color, whiter
about the head, with a black crown patch and head plumes (in adults only).
The flight is slow and steady (about 28 miles per hour). In flight the bird
folds its neck so that the head is between the shoulders and the long legs
trail behind. When feeding, this heron stands motionless with neck erect or
head between the shoulders. The voice is a deep, harsh croak.
Migrating Great Blue Herons return to the breeding grounds in early spring.
(Some may remain all winter in the Great Basin.) They settle in a secluded
area on an island, a patch of woods, or deep in the marsh. Courtship rituals
often involve hundreds of birds. The males strut around defiantly, pecking
at rivals. Croaking females urge them on. Sometimes groups dance in circles,
flapping their big wings. Pairs nibble each other's feathers.
The nest is a platform of sticks which may be used for many years. New nests
are small, flat and crudely constructed. Males usually gather the sticks
and the females arrange them. Through the years the nest grows in size and
bulk. The parents take turns incubating the two to six greenish blue eggs,
which hatch in 28 days. Both feed their noisy, scrawny and helpless young.
The young at first are fed by violent regurgitation activity of the parents.
One parent always remains on guard to protect the young from hawks and
owls. By July in the northern parts of the range, the young are feathered
and able to fly.
The diet is largely non-game fish, but also includes frogs, crayfish,
foot-long water snakes, mice, shrews, grasshoppers and other insects. Food
is caught by a lightning-like thrust of the dagger beak. The Great Blue
Heron sometimes catches more than he can swallow. One individual was found
dead with a big fish hung in its throat. The fish's side fins had pierced
the lining of the gullet. The birds are patient feeders, and may stand
motionless for a half hour waiting for a victim to come by. They can rest
on deep water, and can take to flight from the floating position.
J. J. Audubon comments on the Great Blue Heron, "On the banks of the fair
Ohio, let us watch the Heron. He has taken a silent step, and with great
care he advances; slowly does he raise his head from his shoulders, and now
what a sudden start! His formidable bill has transfixed a perch, which he
beats to death on the ground. See with what difficulty he gulps it down
his capacious throat."
In 1914, Dr. J. H. Paul in his OUT OF DOORS IN THE WEST, praises the
"Great Blue Herons, singly or in groups, on the top of some projecting
rock, motionless as photographs, make a series of the most striking
pictures, adding elements of strange beauty to that barren landscape of
rocky island in the Great Salt Lake. The graceful, slender form, the
statuesque, stately poise, the easy, elegant motion when they flew -- what
a delight to the eye! ... what a symbol of the wild in nature! ... These
odd birds, which carry almost no flesh, being mostly of bone, muscle, and
sinew, were, accordingly, placed by Moses with the "birds of abomination";
their steady diet of fish and frogs gives to their flesh a fishy odor and
an unpleasant flavor. Nevertheless, they are eaten by very poor people in
some parts of the southern states, though each carcass could yield only a
pound or two of flesh. ... The blue heron of Bible history was much the
same bird as our own queer beauty -- all neck and legs. ... Striking in
form, graceful in poise and motion, doing no harm whatever, named by
ancient writers among the oldest birds of history, these birds are clearly
entitled to the fullest protection of the law."
In his FIELDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY, Dr. E. Laurence Palmer says that the
Great Blue Heron population "rarely is so abundant as to cause serious
damage if food were solely valuable, which it is not. But is probably
deserves protection for its beauty." It is protected by law in some states.
-- by Marie L. Atkinson
REFERENCES:
Out of Doors In the West
Dr. J. H. Paul
Field Guide to Western Birds
Roger Tory Peterson
National Geographic
Waders with Long Legs and Sharp Bills
Alexander Sprunt Jr.