What you need to know
The Pacific Great Blue Herons are back for the 21st consecutive year.
The heron cam provides the ultimate close-up view of one of North America’s largest urban colonies of Pacific Great Blue Herons, a species at risk.
The colony is located behind Park Board offices and beside the tennis courts and Stanley Park Brewery in Stanley Park. In 2020, 94 of the 104 nests were occupied by a heron family, though we estimate that 80% or 83 nests successfully raised fledglings.
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Watch their courtship and mating rituals, nest building, egg laying, and fending off eagle attacks
What to watch for and how to interpret what you see
Help support the heron colony
These herons are a species at risk in Canada and the Stanley Park colony is a vital part of the south coast population. One-third of great blue herons worldwide live around the Salish Sea.
The Park Board, along with our friends at Stanley Park Ecology Society, help sustain the heron population through monitoring, stewardship, and education.
Help Stanley Park Ecology Society protect, monitor, and sustain the Pacific Great Blue Heron colony by adopting a nest.
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Read SPES’ Stanley Park Heronry Annual Report PDF file (1 MB).
Heron Cam supports the Park Board’s Biodiversity Strategy and the Vancouver Bird Strategy.