GBHE Watch 2004
I
am officially opening the Vasona Great Blue Heron Colony for 2004 as of
today, January 11, 2004.
NEST 4
NEST 1 NEST 2
NEST9
NEST 6 NEST 7
Active Nests as of June 4, 2004
January 11, 2004
Read my email this morning from Mike G. telling me that yesterday (I
was a Calero looking for the Bald and Golden Eagles) the Great Blue
Herons were back. I can't tell you how excited I was to hear that.
I had been checking the Rookery every other day....darn miss one day and
see what happens.
Well, I arrived at Vasona at 10AM this morning and there was a pair
of GBHE in Nest 1...she seemed to be sitting in the nest and he was
standing outside. On Nest 4 was a single GBHE standing. At
that time no other GBHE were in sight. About 11AM a single heron
came in and stood to the right of Nest 1. This made the female on
Nest 1 very agitated. Around 12 noon a pair of GBHEs flew in to
Nest 2 and one stood up on the nest while the other stayed on a branch
close by....
Nest 1 Pair....female in nest ....male
below the nest
Nest 2 Female
Nest 2 ..Male standing on top of
tree...notice the "S" shape in his neck.
All the while I was there I was hoping to see a branch exchange
between herons but this didn't happen. I watched the heron in Nest
1 defend her nest...lots of bill grabbing and stabbing between the two.
I stayed until 3:15 then I left since the rookery seemed quiet and I
was really hungary ....I must say it was great seeing lots of people
come by and look at the herons...everyone loves seeing them on the nest.
Many were surprised by their presence and others were waiting for their
return.....
January 12, 2004
Sorry for the date change I was a day ahead of
myself....
I took a quick peek around 11 this morning and
above Nest 1 is another Nest (6) and it had a male sitting it in....I
say a male due to the size of its bill...also since male herons are
larger in size (sometimes hard to tell when not next to another heron)
you could definitely see that this heron was a big male. The nest
above Nest 1 is a very small nest...one year it produced only two young
due to the size of the nest. Last year the chicks from Nest 1 would go
up to the nest 6 and sit in it...very cute and very confusing to tell
which heron was from which nest! Nest 1, 2 and 4 all have herons
on them....
January 22, 2004
Can't believe
its been 10 days since I checked on the Rookery....time does pass...
Well, today was spectacular
for breeding behavior... A male Great Blue Heron was in Nest 6 trying so
hard to get the attention of one of the two females that were just
sitting in the tree.
This wonderful
male GBHE is showing off all of his beautiful
breeding plumage to the female below using the neck stretching
display...this was so exciting to watch...the female would look at the
male and when he did this display she would turn her head the other
way...this went on for three hours. Amazing!
 I
This female just wouldn't give in to the advances of the male.
Below is a great picture of the neck stretching display.....
Right by the
Rookery today were the Red-shouldered Hawks sitting together calling.
The hawks have nested yearly by the Ranger's Station
and are once again showing signs of doing the same....They truly are beautiful
hawks.
Really no other disturbances at the site....Nest 1
both GBHE were at the nest, Nest 2 only one female was at the nest today, Nest 4
had both GBHEs at the nest. There was the single male in Nest 6 trying to
attract one of the two females. There was a lot of circle flights today,
as well as bill clapping and the pairs were bonding with grabbing each
others bills...Just a great day at the Rookery.
February 4, 2004
Well, I have been doing quick stops at the rookery for
the past few days and today I was thrilled to see another nest occupied. I
counted 11 GBHEs at the Rookery with one poor heron going from nest to nest and
being chased off. In Nest 4 the male was bringing the females twigs and she was
placing them in the nest. Lots of flight displays today. In Nest 1
male and female did their bill grabbing to further their bonding. All so
exciting to watch...... If time allows tomorrow and the sun is shinning I will
take photos....
February 9, 2004
A quick look turned into an hour...I had so much
enjoyment watching the herons in Nest 4. He was bring the female twigs and
she was placing them in the nest. I counted 11 Herons at the Rookery.
February 12, 2004
This visit was just amazing... Five Nest are active
with herons in them...Nest 1 seems to be in the egg laying stage...she sits and
stands and then moves about the nest carefully but is not incubating as of yet.
The male is present at the nest and stand to the right of Nest 1.
In Nest 2 a female heron was visited by a male for a
short visit before he flew off again...looked like he dropped of food into the
nest.
Nest 4 has both herons at the nest....with the female
fixing the nest by adding twigs.
Nest 6...was an exciting watch....the male was
bringing the female twigs and she would do her acceptance of the twig by bending
her head back...just beautiful to watch...while watch this display, the female
then rose from a sitting position and the male then proceed to mount the female
and matting occurred ...I had been waiting for this to occur so that I could
time egg laying...which should be in a day or two if they haven't started
already.
Nest 7 has a pair of herons....but not much going
on....
A new nest is being built in front of Nest 1....Ranger
George and I watched the heron (male?) moving twigs about and flying off to get
more twigs...
All and all it was a great few hours of watching the
herons...I should go back either Wednesday or Friday to see how things are
progressing....
February 13, 2004
With all the wind today I just had to check the
Rookery....the surprise was that all the nest except Nest 4 had herons in them
holding on for dear life. The nest were being blown all over the place and
the herons looked as if they were seasick...Heck, I was getting sick watching
them sway back and forth... Finally, within a half hour all the herons were down
from the Rookery....NOT A GOOD THING.
February 14, 2004
Just had to check on the herons since the sun was
shinning and the winds had died down. All the nests were occupied again
with herons. Nest 1 was actually incubating...what a relief.
February 17, 2004
Not a good day for the herons....As I drove into
Vasona I could see four GBHEs in the large field, with two actively hunting and
one sitting on the ground. The other was swaying back and forth in the wind as
it stood there. I was most concerned about the smallest and youngest
heron. Tiring to judge its age I would say it is between 1 and 2 years of age.
It has no black shoulders yet. It definably has a problem with one wing as it is
loosing two feather and one wing is drooping.
I quickly scanned the Rookery and found only Nest 7 occupied with one heron. All
the other nest were empty. NOT A GOOD THING....Also Nest 2 was being pulled
apart since it is attached to two different tree limbs. I could see right
through the nest...NOT A GOOD THING.... I stayed at Vasona for about 2+ hours
and when left the herons were trying to fly up to the Rookery but could not
land in any part of the tree and wound up on the ground adjacent to the
Rookery... They all hunkered down low as the wind was really blowing them from
side to side.
I came back to check on the Rookery about 1PM and no
herons were at the Rookery...One was hunting in the first large field and
another GBHE was up behind the Ranger's Station hunting...I checked all the
grounds and could not find any other herons....I left depressed!
February 18, 2004
What a difference a day makes....all the herons were
in their respective nests......and all seemed right with the Colony.
I have been informed that the correct term for the
GBHE Rookery is GBHE Colony...so from now on the Rookery will be called a
Colony....
February 21, 2004
Checked on the herons Saturday around 10:30 and found
all was well at the colony. Back on Feb 17. I noticed a young heron with a
droopy wing. I have named him "Droopy Wing" .... poor thing...it's wing is
loosing feather and is still drooping....I will post the pictures I took of
Droopy wing...
Check out Droopy Wing's feathers.....I believe Droopy
is over a year old. You can tell by the feathers on top of his/her head
....there is only a smidgeon of white and the rest is still gray. Also notice
that Droopy have no long breeding plumes, also Droopy's shoulders have no black
markings....
While I was scanning the Colony and taking pictures I
noticed another immature heron. I would say it was not even a year old
yet. Check out it's head feathers, no white at all... It's bill is very
dark gray. It's overall size is quite small compared to the other herons in the
colony.
February 24, 2004
Thought I would check to see how all this rain had
been affecting the Great Blue Herons. They seem fine with Nest 1 incubating,
Nest 2 all by it's lonesome, Nest 4 had a pair present, as well as Nest 6 and
Nest 7 had a single heron with its mate paying it two visits.
The shocker when I arrived were 40+ American Crows
flying in and out of the colony. They were making a racket as if to scare off
the herons....the herons stayed put....
February 25, 2004
Well, I tell you all this rain has me so depressed. I
watched the creek in front of my house raise to 6 inches from the top.... While
I watching the horrendous rain just coming down and the winds whipping through
the trees my thoughts went to the Herons....
At 4Pm I drove over the GBHE Colony (in the rain) and
as I drove up to the stop sign I was totally shocked. There was NO NEST 2
any longer. It was totally gone and the male heron was sitting on a side
branch level with Nest 7....it had a few twigs at its feet. I searched for
the nest and all I could find where twigs everywhere... I can not tell you how
heartbroken I was. As I scanned the Colony....I noticed the following:
Nest 1....only yesterday there were a pair in the nest with the female
incubating...today the nest was abandoned with one standing to the left of the
nest. Nest 6 had one heron present as well as herons on the ground. I left
totally depressed knowing that the winds and rain will continue all night. I
will check on them tomorrow....
February 26, 2004
Got to Vasona around 9:30 this morning and the sun had
just gone in... I was so thrilled to see that Nest 2 was being rebuilt by two
herons! This means he found a mate....how exciting is that....I guess something
good came out of the storm after all. Lots of fights over Nest1.....that's
what they get for not leaving at least one in the nest.... Did see Droopy Wing
today....Droopy was by the children's playground eating frogs out of the
puddles.
Mating has occurred three times today under Nest 2....
Nest 1 was not incubating and I have no idea of what has happened to the
heron that was in Nest 6.
February, 29, 2004
I got to the Colony about 10:30 and lots of action. In Nest 2 there was mating
with the female. Mating took place three times within two hours.... I must say
they put the nest together in a couple of days and it looks like a much better
location. The single young male that has been hanging around had mated with the
female in Nest 2 and when the adult male came back there was a huge fight
between the yearly and the adult. The adult stabbed the yearly with it's
bill...The female the whole time was squawking loudly...what a site.
Nest 4 all the way over the left had lots of action
today.....both herons ere bringing twigs with leaves to the nest which means
that chicks have arrived...I will watch over the next week to see if any little
heads pop up.
Nest 1 was busy with the female sitting in the nest
and then standing up to roll her eggs. The male stopped by for a visit and they
did greeting displays.
Nest 6 was also sitting the nest with the mate
standing close by the nest. Nest 7 was bringing in twigs and had two mating with
the hour.
March 2, 2004
The sun was shinning and Vasona was a buzz with
activity. I got to the Colony when the herons were sunning themselves.
The single annoying male was back and feeling his oats as he tired to go from
nest to nest to mate with the females. But the males just wouldn't let him
anywhere near the nests today. This yearly had no breeding plumes, has
small black shoulders and a dark upper bill.
Well, Nest 4 was just amazing today..... I decided to
check un the Colony and found two empty egg shells that were tossed out of the
nest. After the chicks are born the parent either eats the egg or throws the egg
shells out of the nest.
Nest 2 was incubating all day, rolling eggs and
preening...
Nest 1 had loads of action...she was sitting in the
nest, egg rolling and preening. There were also two mating . Ranger John
George stopped by the Colony today and witnessed the matings.
Nest 7 was really quite with the female sitting very
low in the nest, at times you could not even see her.
I will go back tomorrow and see how things are
progressing at the colony....
I finally found the Anna's Hummingbird nest
today....took me three hours to find it...
March 3, 1004
Got to the Colony at 9:30 today and there was some
action in that the females chased the Yearling out of the colony. Once
that was done they settle back down on the nests to incubate. Once in awhile
they would stand and stretch, roll their eggs and preen...then mostly just sit
right back down in the nest.
All righty.... Since I have to retype all those
pages I will just catch you all up
with the following notes...
On last check there were six nests....A new nest
(number 9) is in the same
side as Nest 4. This nest was incubating before
I left for NY.
May Notes: We now have five active nests. Nest 6
failed and I have no idea why. All the other nests have noisy chicks, with
Nest 9 having the youngest. Nest 1 has four chicks....Nest 2 has 3
chicks.....Nest 4 has 4 chicks....Nest 7 has three chicks and Nest 9 I haven't
seen the chicks yet but have recovered egg shells.
Hopefully on May 10 I can go down and check on the
herons.....
BETWEEN MARCH AND APRIL....I WAS IN
NEW YORK, COLORADO, WYOMING, KANSAS, OKLAHOMA AND NEBRASKA
I ALSO HAD A PROBLEM WITH PICTURES
UPLOADING ...SO I AM STILL IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING BACK THE PHOTOS AND TEXT
.... SORRY IT IS TAKING SO LONG....
May 11, 2004
The herons are doing great. Spent about one hour
checking them out. Nest 1, 2, 4, and 7 have good size chicks about
6-7 weeks old now....won't be long 3-4 weeks and they will be on their way.
Nest 6 is totally empty and considered a nest failure for the year.... Nest 9
the new nest has small chicks in it..... the youngest being about 2 weeks old if
that....I counted two but it's hard as they are still small and hunkered down in
the nest.
The little Killdeer is back nesting....lots of other
interesting birds to see at Vasona....lots of Cedar Waxwings. A beautiful
pair of migrating Western Tanagers were a real treat. The Red-shouldered
Hawk was looking for food (it was check out the Rock Doves)....lots of Western
Bluebirds....and two Forster's Terns were really fun to watch....
I am leaving for NY on Friday so if I can find time I
will check them on Thursday and post.
NOTICE: SFBBO
will host a day of herons....We will have scopes set up and show you how the
little chicks are doing...so come on by... I will post more about it when I get
the final details to what time and where we are setting up. Hope you all
can come out and take a look through the scopes and see why these GBHEs are so
exciting to watch.
The dates will be either June 6 or
June 19...I post here as soon as I
know..
May 27, 2004
Checked the colony this morning and was so surprised
to see how big the herons have gotten. Most of the chicks are branch
walking and flapping up a storm. I think Nest 2s chicks should be off the
nest in a week or so..... same for Nest 4.... In nest one I noticed a smaller
chick, must be the last one hatched from that brood. All the other chicks
were spread out branch walking ....
I did see a female GBHE catch a pocket gopher....a rather large one and take it
to the creek and dunk it in the water a few times before swallowing it head
first....then she went back for more.... It was amazing to watch the chicks
watching the adult heron hunting for food....many people ask how the chicks know
to hunt for food....this is one way the chicks learn...they watch the parents
below either in the field catching voles and gophers and in the creek where they
catch small fish....
All righty...I will check the colony this week ....
just a note...the Killdeer is still incubating....shouldn't be long now before
the little chicks arrive..... Lots of Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy
Egrets seen as well as the Green Herons along the creek looking for fish....
June 1, 2004
Spent a good amount of time at Vasona this morning.
The first thing to strike me was Nest 2...all three chicks are flapping their
wings and branch walking and taking small flights to the top of the branches
which means they should be leaving within the next week....They were watching
for the parent to come back with food which it did and it was like I could hear
the chicks call, "food fight" when they all attacked the parent for food. Then
the food was regurgitated into the nest (whole) and the food fight
began....the noise of the chicks was amazing.
In Nest 1 I could only find two herons, Nest 2 has the
three herons about ready to leave, Nest 4 has three chicks ready to leave, Nest
6 has been abandoned for the season, Nest 7 has three chicks ready to leave and
Nest 9 still has an adult present which means that a chick is somewhere between
just born and 4 weeks old. I did see one chick at the nest that is about
3-4 weeks old walking around the nest, but there could be another smaller one I
am not seeing....
SPECIAL NOTE: JUNE 19, 2004
FROM 12-3PM SFBBO (SAN FRANCISCO BAY BIRD OBSERVATORY) WILL SHOWCASE
THE VASONA GREAT BLUE HERON COLONY....SO COME OUT AND SEE SOME PICTURES OF THE
GREAT BLUE HERON COLONY AND TAKE A LOOK THROUGH THE SCOPE TO SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL
THESE BIRDS REALLY ARE.
June 2, 2004
Took a quick look at the Herons late this afternoon
and wound up staying for three hours to see all the birds. I found that Nest 2,
Nest 4 and Nest 7 still have chicks that should be leaving any day. In Nest 1
there was only one chick (the youngest) the three others are flying about and
then flying back to the colony. I found two chicks (from Nest 1) in the island
in the creek and the Mom hiding in the bushes...It was so cute...it looked like
the Mom needed a break and the kids found her... Nest 9 still has the adult on
the nest and one large chick...I wonder what is happening with this nest.
The Killdeer is still incubating....wonder how they
will fare with the weekend coming up and the water levels high....
June 4, 2004
A quick look this evening all is well at the
Colony..... The Killdeer is still incubating...seems like forever....
June 6, 2004
I usually do not check out the Colony on a Sat or Sun
due to to many people. Today was no different. Children and Dogs in the
creek...not a good thing.
As for the Colony....Nest 1 has one chick still
there...other three have fledged....
Nest 2 has one chick other two have fledged, Nest 4
all three have fledged, Nest 7 has two chicks in the nest and one chick had
fledged, Nest 9 has only ONE CHICK....no adult present today....no others chicks
can be seen, so this nest produced a single chick....I can relate! T
Tomorrow is my four hour study at Vasona......
REMEMBER...JUNE 19....SFBBO PRESENTS A DAY OF HERONS AT
VASONA...FROM 12-3.....I WILL HAVE SOME NEAT PICTURES AND YOU CAN LOOK THROUGH
THE SCOPE TO SEE THE HERONS.....ALSO SFBBO WILL HAVE A CHILDREN PACK FOR
THEM TO TAKE HOME....SHOULD BE LOADS OF FUN FOR EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY...HOPE TO
SEE YOU ALL OUT THERE...
Urgent:
Please
be advised that the Day of herons has been canceled due to
the death of my husband. if you need further info
please
contact www.sfbbo.org
thank
you...
linda
sullivan
All pictures are copyrighted
© and may
only be used with my permission.
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