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Archive for the ‘HERON’ Category

Heron Watchers Needed

Posted in HERON, Photos, tagged , , , , , on March 10, 2011| 7 Comments »

In April 2009 at this colony in downeast Maine, ice-out is not yet complete and the herons have yet to return. Photo by Jonathan Mays.

The snowpack is gradually receding at my house.  A remnant of our first snowman of the winter is poking its head out once more (so that’s where my hat went!).  While I dread the looming mud season that will follow, I am excited that spring is really on its way.  In fact, the Vernal Equinox is just around the corner: March 20th to be exact.  Besides mud season, the arrival of spring also marks the return of great blue herons to Maine.  Have you seen any herons yet?  Feel free to post here or on Facebook to share your first heron observations of the season.

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Volunteers, Landowners, and the Public Help Make 2nd HERON Season a Success

Posted in HERON on December 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

[About the image above:  This great blue heron was made by my father, Sam D’Auria, out of several different hardwoods, an art form called intarsia.]

As 2010 draws to a close, I’d like to take a few moments to thank all those who have helped to make the 2nd year of the Heron Observation Network a success.  To date, I’ve received data from 41 volunteers who monitored 52 great blue heron colonies in 2010.  These volunteers contributed 148.5 hours of their time to increase our understanding of the status of the great blue heron in Maine.  THANK YOU!  In addition, members of the public reported more than 13 new colonies, thereby increasing our ability to track the statewide population.  Many thanks to all the landowners who have provided staff and volunteers access to their land for the purpose of monitoring great blue heron colonies.  Not only are the landowners providing access, but they are also providing in one way or another disturbance-free habitat that is appealing to herons for nesting.

I’ve enjoyed meeting and communicating with our volunteers and landowners, and look forward to additional interactions in the coming year.  There are always more colonies that need volunteer monitors and there are likely more colonies to be discovered.  If you know of a wading bird colony, please don’t hesitate to report it to me.  Or, if you’d like to join the Heron Observation Network and adopt a colony yourself, please contact me, [email protected], (207) 941-4478.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

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Sebasticook Valley Middle School Outdoors Club Adopts Great Blue Heron Colony

Posted in Field Notes, HERON, In The News, Photos, Research, tagged , , , , , on November 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Logan Labree, Dalton McCaughlin and Rachel Bates measure and record the diameter of a great blue heron nest tree while Skip Walsh (in background) searches for another nest.

On a brisk fall afternoon after most students have headed home from Sebasticook Valley Middle School, 10 students remain.  They each don a hunter orange cap supplied by the school and head outside.  Today’s meeting of the Maine Outdoors Club is a unique one.  They have two guests: Brad Allen and I, both biologists with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W).

Though it is hunting season, the students are not going to learn about hunting laws or ethics.  Instead, they will assist with monitoring a great blue heron colony located literally in their back yard, right on school property.

The school district’s great blue heron colony was originally reported to MDIFW by local residents in 2009.  The initial ground visit by biologists last April revealed only six nests, but the breeding season had just begun and the colony was likely not yet fully occupied.  An aerial survey of the site in late June revealed an estimated 30 nests, most containing nestlings.

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Heron Trash Can Be a Researcher’s Treasure

Posted in Field Notes, HERON, Photos, Research, Species Specific, tagged , , , , on July 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Remains found beneath heron nests. Clockwise from top left: egg shells and membranes, crayfish claw and fish backbone, fused rear vertebrae and pelvis (from 3 different aged herons), heron feathers, heron skull and mandible, leg and wing bones.

Did you know that you can learn a lot by what is on the ground at the base of a heron’s nest tree?  A heron nest is only so big, so there’s no room for food remains and other forms of heron “trash”.  Herons simply just pitch it all over the edge.  Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.  Light blue eggshells with some membranes in tact indicate a successful hatch; but you may also find remains of young herons that met their premature demise by falling to the ground.  Adult feathers that were molted are often found.  You might find out that crayfish is a favorite food of the family above.  This disposal area for the herons nesting above can really be a treasure trove to a researcher trying to find out how dam removal affects the birds that use a river.

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Nestlings Abound

Posted in Field Notes, HERON, Photos, Species Specific, tagged , , , , on June 23, 2010| 1 Comment »

Five nestlings, all around 4-5 weeks old.

[Be sure to click on a photo for a larger view.]

Can you imagine raising 5 children in a 1-room apartment?  For great blue herons, it’s not all that uncommon.  In general, great blue herons lay 2-7 eggs, but I have yet to see more than 5 young in any nest.  I, along with many HERON volunteers, have remarked on the abundance of nestlings this year.  In a recent visit to a colony, I counted 87 nestlings in 32 nests!  And, those were the nestlings I could see…some nestlings were likely hunkered down in the nest or behind a branch out of my view.

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Snowbirds: Volunteers Follow (and Help) Our Herons and Egrets South

Posted in Field Notes, HERON, Photos, tagged , , , , , , on February 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Snowy egret at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

  

It’s now February, and winter has “set in” here in Maine for sure.  Many of us forget that the now-frozen shorelines hosted feeding herons and egrets as recent as 3 months prior.  Like many fair-weather Mainers, they choose to spend the winter in a place that’s a bit more hospitable…somewhere where the waters remain ice-free, somewhere warm, somewhere well south of here.    

Two members of the Heron Observation Network monitor great blue heron colonies here in Maine during the spring and summer.  But, their volunteer time in Florida during the winter also contributes quite considerably to the well-being of colonial wading birds.  Below is their story, as told by Doug Albert:      

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Summary of 2009 Aerial and Ground Efforts

Posted in Field Notes, HERON, Photos on January 19, 2010| 1 Comment »

Two great blue heron nestlings await a food delivery. Photo by Ron Logan.

I recently finished a 28-page summary report for the 2009 Colonial Wading Bird census effort.  I will be periodically posting segments of that report here for all to see.  I’ll start today by posting the “Summary” that gives you a quick overview of the effort and results…

Maine is home to several colonial wading birds during the spring and summer:  great blue herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, and black-crowned night-herons, as well as occasional cattle egrets, little blue herons, tricolored herons, and glossy ibis.  These magnificent birds build large stick nests in trees or shrubs and nest in groups.  The great blue heron is the largest of Maine’s wading birds and nests in the greatest numbers both inland and along the coast. 

As recent as 1995, there were as many as 14 coastal islands occupied by 644 pairs of nesting great blue herons.  More recently we noticed that many of these colonies no longer existed or that the numbers of nesting birds had waned.  There had not been a comprehensive wading bird survey of the coastal islands since the mid-1990s, and there had never been a comprehensive survey effort for the rest of the state.

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Season’s Greetings!

Posted in HERON, Photos on December 23, 2009| 1 Comment »

As we approach the end of 2009 and look forward to the new year ahead of us, I want to take the opportunity to thank the many volunteers, members of the public, biologists, and pilots who made this year’s statewide colonial wading bird census a success!  May your holidays be filled with JOY and PEACE!

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The Winning Logo

Posted in HERON on December 17, 2009| 1 Comment »

Over the past month, I’ve been trying to come up with an identifying logo for the Heron Observation Network.  I asked our volunteers to submit designs and I came up with some myself.  The maine purpose of the logo is to be used on items specifically created for HERON – such as information packets sent out to volunteers each year, HERON data sheets and reports, this blog, Facebook, and other possibilities that I just haven’t thought of yet!  Thanks to all who voted.  

Here are all 8 logo candidates and the number of votes they acquired:

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Welcome to the HERON Blog!

Posted in HERON on December 14, 2009| 3 Comments »

We are very excited to launch our very own blog dedicated to the Heron Observation Network!

This blog will be your portal to the colonial wading bird world of Maine! Colonial wading birds include herons (great blue, little blue, and tricolored), egrets (snowy, great, and cattle), night-herons (black-crowned), and ibis (glossy) that nest in groups, or colonies.

This past year, we started a volunteer adopt-a-colony program called the Heron Observation Network, or HERON for short. With the help of volunteers we are continuously increasing our knowledge of where colonial waders are nesting, in what numbers, and how successful they are each year.

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