Hello Everyone
It has been quite a week in the nest - not all good. Sadly this is the way of nature and our Heron family are not an exception.
The Blue Heron Project run by the Applied Coastal Ecology Students is designed to record all of the events in the nest and through analysis, contribute to the knowledge on the state of the Northern Blue Heron population. As sad as it is to see a dead baby Heron in the nest, the research methodology for this project is one of observation and not intervention. I know it is hard to look at these real events of nature and it is so nice to read your kind concern. If it helps, you can take solace in the fact that all of the events recorded, even the sad ones, will be used to further the understanding of the Herons and may help improve their future survival.
We can expect the next seven or eight weeks to continue to be eventful and to that end one of our Faculty has kindly offered to take over this blog. Peter Freeman is very knowledgeable in the field and will be able to provide much more detailed commentary on events in the nest. Thank you so much for doing this Peter and to all of you who have taken time to comment - thank you!
All the best
Dave
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I logged onto the site about an hour ago and all three chicks were sleeping. Then the dominant chick got up and started to walk around. within a few moments I could hear adults near by but not see anything.
ReplyDeleteIt did appear and sound like an adult was on the edge of the nest. It might have dropped off some food since the chicks appeared to be eating something.
Right now all hell is breaking loose somewhere. Adults are VERY noisy.
Peter
Although the nest often appears abandoned, there is often one parent standing on a nearby tree, perhaps as a sentinel. When feeding occurs there is lots of noise. Every time a bird flies close to the nest the sentinels will make a noise too.
ReplyDeletePF
I wonder if maybe adult is hurt and can't get to them. They are so hungry i see one try to eat the baby and can't he don't know how to use his feet yet they still so little and needs dad or mom to feed them.
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