BLUE HERONS STAKE THEIR CLAIM

If you take a little drive or walk to the parking lot adjacent to the Parks Board Offices in Stanley Park you will see a new world in the trees.

Blue Herons have set up their nesting ground in the ample flora and lignum that surrounds the lot. The cawing and chirping signals a new generation of these beautiful birds.  The mothers are busily gathering fish at the water’s edge and skillfully pluck the catch from the water. Soon the babies will be hungry again. They are huge babies with huge mothers. The surrounding condo inhabitants have complained to no avail. The avian club med will not move any time soon.

The wing span of the adult herons is impressive and they often stand over three feet tall. The babies are nurtured until they are nearly the size of their parents. They have chosen a new nesting ground since their prior settlement was taken from them. Similarly, more than forty thousand crows in Burnaby fly en masse at 7 in the evening to their hereditary nesting ground near Burnaby Lake.  They fly out to search for food in the daylight and return to sleep in a place described in their genetic memories.

Watch the Stanley Park Blue Herons if you have a chance. They are here until July.

MORE INFORMATION ON STANLEY PARK’S BLUE HERONS

http://www.vancouverinfocenter.com/great_blue_herons.htm

http://stanley.server309.com/programs/urbanWildlife/herons/monitoringReports/2006_Report.pdf