Great Blues Return!!

.
March 30, 2010 marks the return of the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) to Cape Breton.  At least to my little corner of the world!  I spotted 3 flying overhead, presumably heading to the small island in front of my home where they have a rookery.  And a fourth, just minutes later, heading in the same direction!  Much to my delight, they are one of the last birds to leave us in the fall and one of the first to return in the spring.

Did you know that none of the members of the heron family has a preen gland, from which most birds obtain oil to condition their feathers?  Instead, herons have 'pulvi-plumes', feathers that disintegrate at the tip, becoming a cleansing powder, which the bird spreads with the comblike edge of its middle toe.

For more interesting facts and pictures of herons,
check out Daily Heron!

To see more Nature Notes go to Rambling Woods.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

.

I have made my return journey to my island retreat in Cape Breton, a little early this year, and the weather has been uninspiring.  It's too cold and windy to venture out of doors, camera in hand, just yet.  So, today I am posting one of the photos I took from my front deck during last summer.

There is a small fisherman's wharf, as you can see, which has since been reconstructed and no longer has open sides!  This handsome devil found refuge while hunting a tasty treat in the shallows!

Here he is a little closer up.

Across this small harbor sits a small island, 2 km long by 500 m wide, 

which is thickly forested in spruce and fir.  

The far end of the island hosts a heron rookery, and they are daily visitors to the shores nearby.

I imagine there is more than one rookery around.  

It's nothing to see 20 or 30 heron at one time

 hunting in the shallows and mudflats during low tide.

I think the funniest moment was while gazing out across the harbor, reveling in my good fortune at being here, a small flock of herons flew in and landed in the trees.  I thought, no way can those tree branches support such a large bird as that!  They range from 42" - 52" tall!

It amazes me, too, that at night when I am sitting on my front porch admiring the stars and enjoying the calm, I'll hear a deep, harsh croak and realize there is a heron hunting in the dark right in front of me!  They  hunt day or night!  I wonder if they take turns?

I'm glad to know that the numbers of Great Blue Herons are stable

and they'll be around for us to observe and enjoy for a long time.  

I look forward to the warmer summer months when my neighbors return!

 

For more CameraCritters from around the world,

Click Here!