Nature Canada

Pacific Great Blue Heron: A West Coast Warden

Many Canadians are familiar with the sight of this beautiful, tall, and graceful wading bird. With long wings, thin legs and a short tail, it is the biggest heron species in North America. It has blue and grey plumage combined with a black stripe that extends from its eyes to the back of the head. It is easy to identify this large bird fishing along shorelines and even in suburban ponds. The fannini subspecies is actually smaller and slightly darker in colouration when compared to the Great Blue Heron (herodias subspecies) in the rest of North America.

This subspecies lives year round on the Pacific Coast and mostly breeds in the Strait of Georgia. During this time, the fannini gathers in colonies for courtship, nesting and rearing its young in large platform-like stick nests usually situated high in trees.

The Great Blue Heron fannini subspecies typically hunts a wide selection of animals, but concentrates on small fish during its breeding season. In the winter months it will switch to a diet that includes small mammals.

There are a number of threats to the species’ continued survival. Roughly half of the species’ global population breeds in Canada. Surveys conducted on bird colonies in British Columbia suggest a significant decline in the species’ reproductive rate since the 1970s and that the proportion of nesting pairs that successfully raises at least one fledgling is considerably lower than in the past. Forested areas which provide the herons nesting grounds have declined due to urban growth, and there has also been disturbance and destruction of nesting sites by logging operations and road construction.

What You Can Do

  • Participate in Nature Canada’s ongoing efforts to protect the habitat of the Great Blue Heron and other birds that are in danger of disappearing in Canada by supporting ourImportant Bird Area program and our species at risk work.
  • Be mindful of protected areas where the Great Blue Heron nests and lives, and find out how you can continue to support and lobby for conservation laws through Nature Canada’s monthly eNewsletter.

Photo: Great Blue Heron on the Cow River by Dave Polster

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