Pacific Great Blue Heron

Met a friend to walk the trails around the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve this morning.  It is a dedicated sanctuary on 325 acre wetlands not to far from where I live.  Here's what I learned about herons today. :)

The Pacific Great Blue Herons do not migrate and depend entirely on wetland habitat for their survival.  There are over 150 nests situated in a grove of mature cottonwood trees and the colony is active from March through July each year.  Herons choose a new mate each year and nest selection and courting starts in early March.  Anywhere from 3-5 eggs are laid in March and hatch about a month later.  Chicks take 10 weeks to grow into fully fledged juvenile herons.  Sadly on average, only 1 chick per nest survives as eagles are a major predator in the area eating the eggs and chicks. 

I wasn't able to get close enough to the nests today as they had that trail blocked off, but did see this guy sitting on a log in a nearby pond and he seemed quite happy to pose for me.