Phenology: Great Blue Heron

When I was a child, the Great Blue Heron was an endangered species. When I was a teenager, Cynthia Voigt wrote an award-winning novel in which a child (who would have been just about my age, if real) saw this rare and special bird only a few times in his life, and always took it as a symbol of hope.

In real life, I can't say I've ever felt guided by herons in the way Voigt's character seemed to want to be, but I have taken them as an encouraging sign. Whatever herons may symbolize to you, they are indisputably evidence of a threatened species' recovery.

And they are solid evidence. Audubon described the "Great Cranky Birds" as human-avoidant, likely to fly a quarter-mile if a human got close to them. Their present-time descendants are anything but human-avoidant. Some humans now feel closer to the point of view Richard Adams expressed in his Nature Diary. Herons who don't mind human company can easily become pests.

Well, if you have a fishpond and think of herons as pests, I say: you shouldn't have wasted your time and money. Tiny enclosed fishponds are a waste of time and money, dangerous to humans and not very healthy for fish, anyway. Herons can swim a little if they have to, but they don't swim much and they don't dive. Fish who can stay six feet from the edge of the pond, and six feet below the surface, are safe from herons.

I don't recommend trying to make pets of herons, either--even cute little Least Bitterns instinctively try to blind anything they perceive as a threat. I do enjoy seeing them on the shores of ponds, lakes, and rivers, and was glad to see one today.

Here are some photos of Great Blue Herons:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/great-blue-heron/

This Wikipedia page shows how herons eat fish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

All About Birds has a close-up photo of an adult male heron with his "breeding plumes": http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron/id

And here's the page sponsored by the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, where Marylanders can usually get within ten or twenty yards of a Great Blue Heron: http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i1940id.html