CENTER FOR         WILDLIFE             
REHABILITATION
AND                      
CONSERVATION  
EDUCATION          
ature's
ursery

 


An injured Great Blue Heron
This Heron came to us with a fractured wing, and was underweight because of it's inability
to feed properly. The pink on his wing is vet wrap to keep the wing immobile while it heals.
  • Great Blue Herons are the largest birds belonging to the Heron family in North America.They can have a wingspan of 6ft and be about 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall.
  • The Great Blue Heron has the ability to swallow a fish many times wider than its very narrow neck. An interesting fact about the Great Blue Heron is that it has special feathers that crumble to form a powder. The bird rubs the powder onto its other feathers to clean off slime from fish and make the feathers repel water. It cleans itself by rubbing its head and neck feathers through the powder then the slime clumps and is extracted with one claw on each foot.
  • The life span of the Great Blue is 15 years on the average
  • These are beautiful birds with long, rounded wings, very long necks and extraordinarily long legs. They have long yellowish bills tapering to a point at the end. Great Blue Herons have gray upper bodies, a white crown and face, and a black plume extending from above and behind the eye to beyond the back of head.
  • Inhabiting territories near rivers, marshes, saltwater shores, swamps and lake edges, Great Blue Herons nest in trees close to the water. The nest is a platform of sticks. Driving East on Rt 2 towards Sandusky there is a large nesting colony on the South side of the road. Eggs number three to four and are pale, dull blue, measuring 2.50" x 1.50".

 

Additional Information links:

  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/pugetsound/species/heron.html
http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/jeffcorwin/carnival/flyingace/blueheron.html
http://www.greategg.org/plants_and_animals/birds.htm