Urban Wilderness: The Surprising Story of a Great Blue Heron Rookery

We recently attended the Vernon Wellness Fair and in doing so had the chance to see the great blue heron rookery that is located right in town, behind Walmart. When Stan's sister told us where it was, we couldn't believe it would be so close to civilization! It's sad, but yet amazing how they've been able to adapt to all the noise from the city. There are even some big developments building right close to it, that didn't seem to effect their nesting grounds this year as there where over 30 nests in this clump of trees, not far from the edge of Swan Lake.

When we first arrived we didn't see any movement only the varying sizes of nests in the trees towering the subdivision. At this angle the sun was shadowing everything so we found a road on the other side of the trees that was in an industrial area.

As we sat there in awe of the size of this rookery we started noticing heads popping up from some of the nests. We soon realized they ALL had heads popping up! Herons usually lay their eggs in April or May and take about 30 days or more to hatch, so we knew these must be adults incubating their eggs. Soon we saw a number of herons come flying in and circling the trees to land on their nests, bringing their mates a tasty catch.

Generally their nests are around 50 sm (20") deep when first built but with repeated use they tend to grow much larger, potentially reaching 90 cm (25") deep and 1 meter (40") across! We could see all sizes of nests within this colony so with a lifespan of about 15 years, there was quite likely a few generations living here!

Can you image living next to a rookery of great blue herons? I would think the sound of this many would get loud, not to mention them defecating as they fly overhead! Nothing like having nature in your backyard! Oh but what a sight they were to see!

Urban Wilderness: The Surprising Story of a Great Blue Heron Rookery

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