WildWatchcams

HERONS (Ardea herodias)

Introducing the “big cranky”. Other common names used for the great blue heron include: grandfather, blue crane, gray crane, long john, poor joe, and big cranky.

A hunched long-legged silhouette stands motionless and silent along a stream or shoreline. Easily identified by its large body, characteristic profile on the ground or in the air the great blue heron is a common sight near many wetlands, forests and estuaries in Washington. In flight the great blue heron slowly beats its 7-foot wingspan, head folded back on shoulders, long legs trailing in the behind. If startled it will emit a low-pitched squawk (heron squawk). Feeding by day or night but most active before dawn and dusk, sometimes still hunting and waiting for prey to come within striking distance of its long flexible neck and saber-like bill, or stalking prey in water or a field. The great blue heron is an opportunistic predator eating small fish, shellfish, insects, reptiles and amphibians and even mall mammals and birds.

Updates January 2010
Great blue herons are in and around the Puget Sound and not yet in the tree tops at our herony’s.  Soon they will appear in the trees and stake out prime nest sites and begin to rebuild old nests or build new ones. Two cameras allow many nest views and one of the heron cams is being used to study the herons and the impacts of attacks by bald eagles and crows.  So come back soon the action is about to start.

Appreciation is extended to the Heron Habitat Helpers and  Crest Learning Center for providing much of the required funds and equipment. Also thank you to Canopy Conservation, Seattle Parks and Recreation and Olympia Systems and OneNetPlace, Inc for the installation and streaming video on the new heroncam systems.

To learn more about heron nesting ecology, as well as the natural phenomenon of siblicide in the bird and animal world check out the following sites:

• All About Birds - Great Blue Heron
  Basic ecology.
  
• Bird Web - Great Blue Heron
  Basic ecology and local notations.
  
• Seattle Public Library - Birds of North America Online Database
  Requires SPL membership - under Databases and Web Sites, Science and Technology, Science, Birds of North America; detailed ecology, including brood reduction discussion.
  
• Stanley Park Ecological Society - Stanley Park Heronry Journal
  See May 29, 2007 entry.
  

WDFW would like to thank all of the partners who have made this project possible.

• King County Metropolitan Transit has provided the funds to install and operate new Heroncams and has designed and installed interpretive signs at the Kenmore Park N’ Ride that depict some of the ecology of great blue herons and the other values of wetlands.
• The King County Sheriff’s Office has provided electricity to power the cameras and will have a flat screen monitor relaying images of the nesting herons in their public reception area.
• The Kenmore Police cars sport the Kenmore City logo that contains great blue herons in flight.
• The King County Kenmore Library is providing bandwidth for one or more of the HeronCams. The Library will also install a flat screen monitor to share heron images with the public and is working with WDFW, local citizens and the Seattle Audubon Society to develop a Great Blue Heron Resource Center. This will serve as a depository for books, scientific publications, videos and other public education and outreach items that focus on the value of great blue herons and their associated wetlands.

WDFW would also like to thank all of the many individuals who have contributed to this project and to the early HeronCam and website.

“If we are to preserve and protect biodiversity, we must know the names of all our neighbors of other species, and we must learn about their habits, needs, and idiosyncrasies.…. In economic realities…., we can no longer expect large government budgets to bail us out of our ecological messes. That is where stewardship comes in. Individuals as well as businesses and volunteer groups can do an enormous amount with very little money. But hearts must be in the right place". Robert Bateman (in Bulter, 1997)

Appreciation is extended to Pam Cahn for her dedicated recordings of the heron's activities, and to Don Norman, a consultant and biologist and also officials from King County, Seattle Parks and Recreation, the City of Kenmore and the Kenmore Police.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife would like to extend a special note of appreciation to Bill Hubbard, Manager of ThermoSight .com (http://www.thermosight.com/) a web-camera and night vision contractor and Corny Canfield and C.Canfield Associates, ( 360 402-3933) a designer and installer of video systems.

We invite you to stay tuned and return frequently to peek into the “life in the treetops” and get familiar with one of your feathered neighbors, get your heart in the right place. Please recommend this site to friends and relatives.

Attention Residents of Clallam, Jefferson, Mason, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. WDFW is conducting an inventory of Great Blue Herons in these counties. If you live in this counties and want to participate, please download this PDF for more information. Heron Inventory.pdf