Herons Wing Back to Stanley Park

March Best Month for Viewing

February 28, 2005 - 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.

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. Like the Park Board, the herons seem to prize equal opportunities on all fronts.

For further Great Blue Heron information please visit the Stanley Park Ecology Society web site at www.stanleyparkecology.ca .

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