Milt’s Corner – Nesting Great Blue Heron
January 28, 2010
Thirty-five to forty feet above the ground, high atop a southern pine tree, this great blue heron primps her nest.
Milt Inman Photo
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Glad to see a nesting great blue heron (GBH).
I have a lot if invasive weeds in western Oregon – one of the worst in my opinion is the Himalayan blackberry. A few years ago I sprayed some which were encroaching on the wetlands. Later in the summer I found a dead fledgling GBH entangled in the killed blackberry vines; would it have survived had I not killed the vines? i shall never know but it was certainly impailed by the thorns on the dead, lower canes which were exposed by the exfoliation above.
I’m a fisherman as well as a hunter and I like seeing herons around when I’m fishing, they know where the baitfish are. However, since we have been seeing more and more herons our bullfrog and leopard frog population hav gone to hell. Night fishing for bass we would constantly hear the old bullfrogs bellowing away, but with the herons increasing we hardly hear them anymore. Seems like every predator has it’s drawbacks if not kept in check.
Mike,
In Oregon, bullf frogs are a non-native predatory species that decreases the population of native turtles, frogs, and snakes and probably more.
Perhaps part of the leapard frog decrease is due to the harvest of lab specimen for high schools and colleges. Hopefully, the benefits of these harvests in knowledge gained outweigh the detriment to the amphibian ecosystem.
“Seems like every predator has it’s drawbacks if not kept in check.” And, Mike, that includes man!