Subject: Great Blue Heron Colony Monitoring 1999 (fwd)
Date: May 13 17:49:13 1999
From: Dan Victor - dcv at scn.org


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Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 19:25:31 EDT
Subject: Great Blue Heron Colony Monitoring 1999

Greetings All Tweeters:
>From Donald Norman, Norman Wildlife Consulting
donorman at aol.com
2112 NW 199th Shoreline, WA 98177
(206) 542-1275

The continuing pressure from development and bald eagle predation on herons
appears to be causing more colony abandonment than in the past. Back in
1994, with Rob Butler at CWS, we made the initial estimates of heron
populations from colony sizes in western Washington. I would like to repeat
that effort this year. I am afraid that populations may crash as adults get
older and die, and there are no juveniles to replace them. If we get a
really COLD winter, it will be really obvious.

There are already efforts this year by Ann Eissinger up at Bow, WA, and Trudy
Thomas in Port Townsend this year underway. Please e-mail me all
observations of your nearby colonies. If you would like to receive more
detailed methods to track colonies, especially to learn how to track active
nests, arrivals and departures and other methods, please e-mail and I will
send you a set of forms and procedures. I am predicting that the number of
heron colonies may increase, and colony size may decrease with bald eagle
predation. However, there are few good critical area ordinances in
comprehensive plans, and the impact of development may also limit new nesting
locations. If anyone out there has addressed development issuses, please
let me know. With the help of Rob Butler, Tom Malphris, Suzanne Krom, Jerry
Holmes and others at Black River in Renton, there is a good set of legal
opinions on protecing herons. I am compiling this information, and will
gladly help present this information in your community and to your planning
departments. I have also worked with developers who wish to plan their
projects, as each heron colony is different as to how it reacts to
disturbance. I have devloped a good set of methods to test how "jumpy"
herons are. Some colonies are "used" to people, others not. Proper timing
and distance of construction from colonies can allow development to occur,
and planning departments are very willing to address solutions.

Auburn's History
Observations like Kirk Scarbrough's from Kent are critical, as I cannot get
to all the colonies enough (esp with no funding this year) to learn when and
how they are disturbed. I have made extensive obs at Auburn, and observed
(with Katina Kapantais' help) in 1997 the impact of bald eagle predation, the
complete abandonment of the 60+ nests. Auburn was one of the last colonies
to suffer from eagle predation, with the first predation occurring in 1994.
In 1998, about 25 nests were active, and apparently produced some young but
I do not have good data. This year, I have counted about 28 nests on 4/4 and
4/14 with only 15 active nests, viewed from the Cemetary Park, but have not
been back. Kirk's data saves me any more visits.

Help is needed to track ANY colonies. I am glad to help you draw maps so
when you revisit the site you can track individual nests and see what the
productivity will be.

In regards to late nesting, at Auburn in 1997, we observed many nests that
renested. Whether herons renested this year, I cannot say. I doubt that
herons will renest more than once. I have seen freshly hatched eggshells as
late as July, and chicks in the nest into August and September. However,
survival of late fledging herons is low, data from Rob Butler's work in BC
indicates that young herons need as much time as possible to learn how to
forage, or they starve in the fall. Rob estimates that chicks need to be off
the nest by July to have enough time to learn.

The other major ongoing conservation issue we face is the lack of data on
where the Puget Sound heron juveniles go in the winter, as the males
apparently push females and juveniles off the coastal foraging areas in the
fall, as food gets scarcer. Wetlands (mostly protected) and fields (read
able to be developed) need to be documented in the winter. Check out any
herons you see in the fall and winter. They can be easily aged (and sexed
with difficulty). If you drive by a field used by herons on a regular basis,
I can send you a data sheet to easily record your observations.

Don't be bashful. Any observations are useful. Don Norman Shoreline, WA
<donorman at aol.com>