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WANTED: Wading Bird Colony Locations and Monitors

April 9, 2011
WANTED: Wading Bird Colony Locations and Monitors

Great blue heron nests photographed by Ron Logan

Have you ever seen a great blue heron nest?  They tend to be large stick nests, not unlike osprey nests and may be placed in snags (dead standing trees) or in live hardwoods or softwoods.  Often herons nest colonially, so there may be several nests in close proximity to one another or even in the same tree.  Sometimes great blue herons will nest in colonies with other wading bird species such as egrets, night-herons, or ibis.  If you know of any wading bird colonies, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries (MDIFW) would also like to know.  In 2009, biologists with MDIFW started tracking wading bird colonies more closely due to the designation of the great blue heron as a species of Special Concern and the black-crowned night-heron as a State Threatened species.

In order to gain a better understanding of the status of colonial wading birds in Maine, MDIFW also began a volunteer adopt-a-colony program in 2009 called the Heron Observation Network, or HERON for short.  By adopting a colony, volunteers make observations at the colony during the breeding season and report the data back to MDIFW.  Over time, this data will help to reveal population trends of each colonial wading bird species and help guide future management.  

 

MDIFW knows of approximately 100 active great blue heron colonies in Maine and has found volunteers to monitor many of them.  However, there are still approximately 40 colonies that have not been adopted.   Adoption includes a minimum of 1 visit during the peak of the breeding season which is mid-May to mid-June.  For those with the interest and time, additional observations can be made at 2-week intervals in an effort to capture breeding effort and success information for the season.  Observations are only done if disturbance to the nesting birds can be avoided.  Binoculars are necessary, and a scope is often very helpful.  Data recorded include the number of active and inactive nests, the breeding stage of each nest (incubation, nestling, fledgling), and the number of nestlings and fledglings seen.

 

If you know of a wading bird colony, would like to learn more about the Heron Observation Network, or are interested in adopting a colony, please contact Danielle D’Auria at (207) 941-4478, or danielle.dauria@maine.gov.

 

For a list of the towns where colonies needing adoption are located, visit the HERON blog at http://maineheron.wordpress.com.