Chick Flick - Heron Cam Captures
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About the Heron Cam

March 3, 2005 - The Heron Cam was unobtrusively installed atop a West End highrise adjacent to the Stanley Park heronry in late March and is a cooperative project between the Vancouver Park Board and the Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) . The Stanley Park Ecology Society encourages stewardship of our natural world through environmental education and action, building awareness of the fragile balance that exists between urban populations and nature.

The Heron Cam will be live during weekdays from approximately 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

About the Herons

Stanley Park's seasonal winged residents have flown back to their highrise nests to set up housekeeping for another spring and summer. Returning for the fourth year in a row on February 1st, the herons now occupy over 40 commodious nests comprised of about 80 birds. Now is an excellent time to view the mating and nest repairing rituals of these majestic creatures before the leafing out of tall trees obscures bird watching.

The Great Blue Heron offers one of life's best bird sightings and is now as close as a visit to Stanley Park. This majestic bird, more formally known as Ardea herodias, is no stranger to Vancouver's first park but tends to move around a bit in search of prime brooding locations. First noted by an avid birder in 1928 at Brockton Point, Blue Herons happily nested there until the early 1960s when they moved en masse to the former zoo area. When that facility closed in the mid 1990s, the herons moved out of the park. In 2001 an unexpected colony winged their way back to the park's western climes and set to building numerous nests directly adjacent to the Park Board Administration Office. With that one change of location at least 60 to 70 Park Board employees were transformed into expectant avian aunts and uncles through the next three months.

The Great Blue Heron is listed as a vulnerable species in B.C. An average bird stands about 3 feet tall and has a wing span of 70 inches. They are described as long legged and long necked waders who feast on fish and crustacean from the foreshore in summer and voles and other small mammals from the delta in winter. Their clutches usually comprise 3-6 eggs which take about 28 days to incubate and a period of about 60 days until fledged. The heronry at Point Roberts is the largest in the world offering the Fraser Delta as a prime foraging location.

For up close and personal viewings, bring your binoculars to the Beach Avenue entrance of Stanley Park and go just behind the Park Board Office where you'll find males doing nest time during the day and females at night.

Stanley Park Ecology Society

For more information about the herons and the diverse programs sponsored by SPES, please visit the Stanley Park Ecology Society web site at www.stanleyparkecology.ca

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