Ardea Herodias Research Articles

Time‐integrated habitat availability is a resource attribute that informs patterns of use in intertidal areas

AbstractIn dynamic environments, resource availability may change by several orders of magnitude, over hours to months, but the duration of resource availability is not often included as a characteristic attribute of resources even though temporal resource dynamics might limit patterns of use. In our study of wading birds foraging in intertidal areas, tides cause large changes in the areal extent of shallow‐water foraging habitat (i.e., the resource), but tides also constrain the duration of availability, which is often overlooked. We hypothesized that temporal constraints on habitat availability from tides would be reflected in patterns of habitat use by foraging birds. We estimated the time‐integrated habitat availability and compared it to traditional habitat attributes (seagrass cover, substrate type, instantaneous water depth, and proximity to mangrove islands or deep water) that have strong evidential support for influencing patterns of use. To evaluate our hypotheses, we quantified habitat attributes at intertidal areas in the Florida Keys, USA, where wading birds were observed foraging (Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea: N = 183; Great White Heron, Ardea herodias occidentalis: N = 162). We tested for nonrandom use by sampling habitat attributes at two spatial scales around the observed feeding locations and we analyzed the data using a conditional logistic regression model. There was no evidence that seagrass cover or substrate explained patterns of use. The proximity of foraging locations relative to mangroves and to deep water were important at both spatial scales but had lower effect sizes (odds ratios) than time‐integrated habitat availability and water depth, and the latter may only serve as a physical constraint on access. We found support that time‐integrated habitat availability was a distinct resource attribute, had the greatest effect size (four‐ to eightfold change in relative probability of use), and best explained patterns of habitat use at the largest spatial scale. In studies of resource use where changes in resource availability are nonlinear or when strong constraints on access are imposed by behavior, incorporating time‐integrated estimates of resource availability into analyses can improve insights into spatiotemporal patterns of resource use.

Effects of Nesting Bald Eagles (<i>Haliaeetus leucocephalus</i>) on Behaviour and Reproductive Rates in a Great Blue Heron (<i>Ardea herodias</i>) Colony in Ontario

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) are known to occasionally nest in mixed colonies, even though the former is one of the primary predators of the latter. I observed the two species in four heron colonies near Lake Simcoe, Ontario during two field seasons to assess whether rates of heron chick mortality or nest abandonment were greater in a colony that supported a nesting pair of Bald Eagles than in three nearby single-species colonies. I assessed the effects of eagle presence on heron behaviour using heron movement rates, the number of heron sentries left in colonies during the nesting period, heron nest mortality rates, and the average number of successfully fledged herons per nest. There was no statistically significant difference in movement rate among the four colonies, proportion of birds remaining as sentries, nor nest mortality rates. However, nests in the mixed colony successfully fledged significantly more heron young per nest than did nests in the single-species colonies. The mixed colony was located in a wetland and open lake system that provided extensive foraging habitat and an abundance of the preferred fish prey species of both Great Blue Herons and Bald Eagles, thus reducing predation pressure on the herons.

Modeling avian exposures to perfluoroalkyl substances in aquatic habitats impacted by historical aqueous film forming foam releases

Releases of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) associated with Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFFs) have the potential to impact on-site and downgradient aquatic habitats. Dietary exposures of aquatic-dependent birds were modeled for seven PFASs (PFHxA, PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, PFHxS, PFOS, and PFDS) using five different scenarios based on measurements of PFASs obtained from five investigations of sites historically-impacted by AFFF. Exposure modeling was conducted for four avian receptors representing various avian feeding guilds: lesser scaup (Aythya affinis), spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularia), great blue heron (Ardea herodias), and osprey (Pandion haliaetus). For the receptor predicted to receive the highest PFAS exposure (spotted sandpiper), model-predicted exposure to PFOS exceeded a laboratory-based, No Observed Adverse Effect Level exposure benchmark in three of the five model scenarios, confirming that risks to aquatic-dependent avian wildlife should be considered for investigations of historic AFFF releases. Perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFHxS, PFOS, and PFDS) represented 94% (on average) of total PFAS exposures due to their prevalence in historical AFFF formulations, and increased bioaccumulation in aquatic prey items and partitioning to aquatic sediment relative to perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids. Sediment-associated PFASs (rather than water-associated PFASs) were the source of the highest predicted PFAS exposures, and are likely to be very important for understanding and managing AFFF site-specific ecological risks. Additional considerations for research needs and site-specific ecological risk assessments are discussed with the goal of optimizing ecological risk-based decision making at AFFF sites and prioritizing research needs.

Mitochondrial DNA Suggests Recent Origins of Subspecies of the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Great Blue Heron Endemic to Coastal British Columbia and Southeast Alaska

Mitochondrial DNA Suggests Recent Origins of Subspecies of the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Great Blue Heron Endemic to Coastal British Columbia and Southeast Alaska

Using a Conservation Biology Blueprint to Protect Seven Species found in the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, Canada

This project developed a conservation biology blueprint for the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve (FABR) region that can be used towards assessing current conservation practices as well as making future recommendations. The findings of the study can be used towards the Ten Year Biosphere Review for UNESCO, which the FABR submits to keep their biosphere designation. By gathering information in real time, appropriate actions can be taken much more quickly than if the information was only gathered every ten years. This means that different actors can alter their actions to preserve species diversity and success as different factors influence those species through time. For this study, seven species (bald eagle, red-headed woodpecker, common five-lined skink, black rat snake, milksnake, spotted turtle, and great blue heron) were mapped in the area between Frontenac Provincial Park and Charleston Lake Provincial Park. The black rat snake, spotted turtle, and great blue heron were specifically explored in an online survey as well. This study area was chosen on the suggestion of the FABR because it connects Crown Land with the provincial parks, making implementing any new policies easier than land found in the North-South corridor of Ontario which contains a high amount of private development. Using the predicted tree species data, county land usage, eBird data, and endangered species general distribution, this paper hopes to identify where key areas of protection are. By quickly locating hotspots for endangered species, stricter conservation regulations can be implemented to help the recovery of these species.

Shifts in Great Blue Heron Habitat use Following Nest Site Usurpation: Implications for Salmonids

Abstract Interactions among predators can have important consequences for lower trophic levels. Here, we use individual tag data on juvenile salmonids to quantify how their geographic, taxonomic, and life-history representation in the diets of great blue herons (Ardea herodias) changed after a pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) usurped the colony's nesting site, forcing the colony to relocate. Heron diet composition changed significantly despite the short relocation distance (4.1 km). This was driven by a shift in space use, as herons to a greater extent began consuming fish from a river basin farther away from the bald eagle nest. As a consequence the species composition in heron diets changed significantly, with the largest increase in coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and largest decrease in Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). The representation of Chinook life-history types in the diets also shifted. Fall Chinook was the numerically dominant life-history type in the diets but decreased relative to ...

Spit on the great cities

Spit on the great cities Mary Marbourg (bio) The zucchini's frying, and your mother's sniffing her hair. The eggplant's been sliced; the bits where the worms bored dark holes in the white fibers, cut out.Lapland thumps his tail in the mudroom. You're getting him to participate in a no-no.Your father stands at the picture window, wearing a brown cap with the ear flaps down.On the chessboard is a thumb-sized space that can hold a rook, a knight, or a bishop; he hasn't discovered which shape will fill the space and is playing through the variations.There's a patch of pink light on the snow; your mother cranes over the cutting board to make out the source. ________ You became aware of your breathing and her breathing.You're both collapsed on the neighbor's linoleum floor, your backs against the cabinets. You're inclined toward each other, two poles of a tent.Your hair's stuck on a round knob.The linoleum's mint-and-mauve repeating diamond motif's gouged around the kitchen chairs' legs in a crude petal pattern.The neighbor's wool-socked feet cross in front of you; the faucet turns on; the water's pitch changes as it first hits the metal sink, then the bottom of the metal kettle;the feet cross in front of you again; a match is struck; click, click, click; the burner whooshes. [End Page 82] The kettle shakes and shudders, vibrates and rattles right before whistling; you count the round petal impressions in the linoleum.It will be okay; it will not be okay; it will be okay. You're handed a cup of tea. You wrap your fingers around the hot, white ceramic.It will not be okay. Out the picture window, your footprints are visible in the snow; a black mutt huddles near a woodpile covered with a flapping, fraying blue tarp; a bird feeder hangs from a cedar tree's spindly branch, the red outcrop of plastic perches, birdless; a greasy smudge, the size of the side of a palm, makes the glass also part of what you're seeing. So often when you're with your mother, you're an ear that sprouts lines of hearing: her pencils rapidly moving across her notebook as she shades a Rufus hummingbird's rust-red neck, her wedding ring chiming against her coffee mug, her high-pitched hum while she cuts vegetables.Now, walking the dirt path back to the house, there are no errant dings, rattles, rustles, no throat clearances or colorful things being plucked and pocketed;she's a great blue heron, stock-still in a sycamore's blanched branches. You see your father chasing a page the snow's made cream colored; it's page one hundred ninety-six of Thus Spake Zarathustra.When he catches it, he waves it at you like a flag. [End Page 83] Mary Marbourg Mary Marbourg grew up in the Ozarks. She attended the University of Iowa and the University of Arizona. She has taught creative writing at the University of Arizona and written children's books for a publishing house in Seoul. Currently, she lives in North India where she edits books on the Yoga and Vedânta. Copyright © 2018 University of Nebraska Press

Teresa, Crossing Over

Teresa, Crossing Over Kathleen O'Toole (bio) Our last visit: her space shrunk to one room on the dementia hall, behind a locked door. A few family photos on the dresser,a smiling Pope Francis on the wall. I see thoroughbreds galloping in a fieldbehind a split rail fence, chestnut and bay flanks glistening in the August sun. Her eyes stare straight ahead, as if she could see into the next room – cloud light, and familiar faces around a table, calling her in… I picture a great blue heron on a rock beside a stream, spreading its full wingspan as if it would lift off,as if it were opening its being to the sun's light. Her lips are parched; I offer only cracked ice. She asks me:Are we going yet? Then answers: soon now, as if I am no longer there. Outside the window, the sudden ascent of a tiger swallowtail from the coneflowers, aroma of nectar in its feet. [End Page 265] Kathleen O'Toole Kathleen O'Toole has combined an active professional life in community organizing with writing and teaching. Her poems have appeared in America, Atlanta Review, Christian Century, Cresset, Notre Dame Review, Poetry, Poetry East, and Prairie Schooner. Her books include a chapbook, Practice, and Meanwhile, In 2017, she published with three other women writers a collection of poems, In the Margins. Find her poetry at www.kathleenotoolepoetry.com. Copyright © 2018 Johns Hopkins University Press

Out of Place: Montaigne in the Age of Trump

Out of PlaceMontaigne in the Age of Trump David Gessner 1. AWAKENING My neighbor across the marsh keeps on hammering. There is a new president this morning, my daughter can't stop crying, and still my neighbor hammers on. It is possible this is celebratory hammering. I woke this morning of November 9, 2016, to the sound of my thirteen-year-old daughter slamming her fist into the wall. She couldn't believe it. Join the club. The only way I managed to fall asleep last night was thanks to the doggie Xanax my wife had procured from the vet. She had seen this coming a long time before I did. She was still suffering from PTSD from an earlier election, when she blissfully went to sleep thinking that the craven frat boy had been exorcised and that she would wake to a boring but acceptable presidentelect, and then was woken up by none other than me at 2 a.m. to tell her that no, the boring guy actually hadn't won. So this time she was ready. This time she went to the vet and explained that our anxious Labrador (who was also the smarter Lab, by the way, and who, unlike the other Lab, would do okay on her dog SATs) was feeling even more anxious. The vet never suspected that when my wife said the word Labrador it was a code word for me. And so during the last month, the home stretch, as the strange and terrifying election built up like a Poseidon-flipping wave, she has been occasionally nibbling on little quarters of our dog's drugs. It seemed to work well, and I didn't notice any hair growing on the backs of her hands, so last night I broke off my own little piece and finally fell asleep. This morning, after trying to calm my daughter and driving her to school, I briefly turned on the TV. Then I shut it off and recognized an impulse that would become familiar to me over the next year: the urge to retreat. Approximately 447 years before this election morning, a man named Michel de Montaigne wrote these words: "We must reserve a back shop all our own, entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude." Luckily, I have just such a back shop. Mine is not a particularly [End Page 9] large backyard but it does border a tidal marsh, and it does have a small copse of trees in the far corner where I built an eight-by-eight outbuilding that I've come to call the shack. The shack is where I go to get away in the evenings, books and a beer in hand, to spend an hour or two thinking and bird-watching and cultivating a corresponding mental back shop, and it is here I came this morning, eager to escape the world. No electricity means no cable news, which means that the angry jabbering that has become the baseline of our lives is, for me, at least sometimes replaced by what Montaigne called the conversation "between us and ourselves" in a place private enough that "no outside association or communication can find a place." This morning I find it harder than ever to really get away. A great blue heron flies past, silvery and ghostlike, but then I hear the hammering from across the way. The view from the shack used to face out on a hundred yards of marsh and a line of trees on the opposite bank. Now, courtesy of a loud and bullying neighbor who moved in across the water, it faces a construction site, the trees mowed down, the hammering and chain-sawing and wood-chipping never stopping. There is a new dock that juts in my direction and stares in on me where I sit. I should say another word about the setting. The tidal creek the shack sits next to is named Hewlitts, and the state we are in is North Carolina, the home of the new civil war, where I, this morning, stand on one side of the marsh while my neighbor, a local...

Great lakes double‐crested cormorant management affects co‐nester colony growth

ABSTRACTThe population of double‐crested cormorants (Phalacorocorax auritus; cormorants) in the North American Great Lakes has increased substantially since the 1970s, sparking economic, social, and biological concerns that have led to widespread management of the species within United States waters. Previous studies have quantified behavioral impacts of cormorants on other waterbird species that share breeding colony sites with cormorants. However, no study has yet examined how these impacts might scale to entire colonies, nor have potential effects of cormorant management on co‐nesters been examined. Our objective was to estimate effects of cormorant abundance and management on colony growth indices of 4 species that commonly co‐nest with cormorants in the North American Great Lakes; 3 of these species are conservation or stewardship priorities for the region. We estimated colony growth using the Great Lakes Colonial Waterbird Survey and comparable Canadian surveys, conducted between 1976 and 2010. We then applied linear mixed models to determine association of co‐nester colony growth indices with cormorant abundance and management presence and intensity while controlling for other factors that likely influenced growth rates. According to the fitted models, black‐crowned night‐heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) colony growth was negatively related to cormorant abundance and management, whereas great blue herons (Ardea herodias) had little response to cormorant abundance, and herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and ring‐billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) responded positively to cormorant abundance and management. These results suggest that cormorant management may not be as neutral to co‐nesters as is often assumed. Responsible management plans for cormorants should take into account the likely effects on co‐nesters present so that conservation and management goals for co‐nesters can also be met. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Temporal trends of mercury and organohalogen contaminants in great blue heron eggs from the St. Lawrence River, Québec, Canada, 1991–2011, and relationships with tracers of feeding ecology

Since 1991, great blue heron (Ardea herodias) eggs have been collected and analyzed for mercury (Hg), persistent organic contaminants (OCs), brominated and non-brominated flame retardants (FRs) as well as stable isotopes δ13C and δ15N. In the present study, temporal trends of contaminants were analyzed in eggs sampled in four regions along the St. Lawrence River (Quebec, Canada) and inland sites using new and previously published data. Most contaminants declined significantly over time in most regions. Globally, the highest annual change, −17.5%, was found for pp′-DDD, while the smallest annual decline, −0.54%, was observed for Hg. Concentrations of ΣDDT and ΣFR8 (sum of 8 congeners) decreased by −11.6% and −7.3%, respectively. Declines in ΣPCBs differed among regions, from −5.6% in the fluvial section to −14.7% in the inland region. The highest concentration of ΣFR8 was measured in eggs from Grande Ile in the fluvial section of the river in 1996 (2.39μg/g). Stable isotope ratios also showed temporal trends in some regions: δ13C decreased in the fluvial section and increased in Gulf region, while δ15N decreased in the fluvial section and increased in the upper estuary. Significant positive relationships were found between ΣDDT, ΣPCBs and ΣFRs and δ15N and δ13C in freshwater colonies, but not in estuarine or marine colonies. These results suggest that changes in trophic level and foraging areas over time were influential factors with respect to contaminant burden in great blue heron eggs in the fluvial section, but not in the other regions.

Thyroid Hormones, Retinol and Clinical Parameters in Relation to Mercury and Organohalogen Contaminants in Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) Nestlings from the St. Lawrence River, Québec, Canada.

The exposure and effects of persistent environmental contaminants were investigated in great blue heron (Ardea herodias) nestlings sampled in 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2007 in freshwater and estuarine heronries along the St. Lawrence River, Québec (Canada). Biomarkers (retinoids, thyroid hormones, and clinical parameters) and contaminants (organochlorine contaminants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and mercury (Hg)) were analyzed in blood, and Hg was analyzed in feathers (generally 9 nestlings per colony and 4 colonies per year). Feather Hg and most contaminants detected in blood were found in higher concentrations in birds from freshwater than estuarine colonies more distant from the pollution sources. Among freshwater colonies, Ile aux Hérons showed the highest levels of contaminants, with mean Hg concentrations of 8.4 and 0.55mg/kg in feathers and plasma, respectively, and plasma ΣBFRs of 19.6ng/g ww. The highest mean ΣPCBs, 56.5ng/g ww, was measured at Grande Ile in 2001. The levels of contaminants in heron nestlings were generally below critical thresholds for adverse effects observed on reproduction or survival. Retinol, dehydroretinol (DROH), and thyroid hormone concentrations differed significantly among colonies. Retinol concentrations were negatively related to ΣPCBs, whereas DROH concentrations were negatively related to Hg and total and free triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations were negatively related to ΣBFRs. These results indicate that contaminants from the St. Lawrence River could impair the development and fitness of great blue heron nestlings and emphasize the need for more research on the great blue heron population to assess their health and nutritional status.

Factors Affecting Foraging Microhabitat Selection by Wading Birds at an Artificial Weir

Abstract. To better understand how wading birds select among microhabitats that show spatial heterogeneity, a concrete weir located at the terminus of the Little Arkansas River in Wichita, Kansas, USA, was divided into patches based on water depth. Black-crowned Night-Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax; n = 396), Great Egrets (Ardea alba; n = 54), Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula; n = 36), and Great Blue Herons (Adrea herodias; n = 30) were observed for 60 hr from 10 June-29 July 2015. The total number of individuals was recorded, as was species-specific patch use, feeding activity, and aggression. Only time of day and water depth predicted the number of birds at the weir (R 2 = 0.52). Wading bird species differed in capture efficiency, mean prey size, and patch use. Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night-Herons mainly captured larger fish below the weir, Snowy Egrets captured mostly smaller fish along the weir edges, and Great Egrets captured both large and small fish. Mean fish length differed by patch and ran...

Effects of tidal periodicities and diurnal foraging constraints on the density of foraging wading birds

ABSTRACT In intertidal zones, tidal cycles reduce water depths and provide areas of shallow water where wading birds can forage for aquatic prey (water depths 0–50 cm). However, a bird that forages diurnally can make use of only a portion of the tidal cycle, which can limit fulfillment of energetic demands. Furthermore, daily and biweekly (spring–neap) tides may compound effects on shallow-water availability for foraging birds. However, the relative effects of daily and biweekly tidal periodicities on the foraging ecology of wading birds are seldom investigated due to a lack of appropriate tools. Therefore, we developed a tidal simulation model to provide dynamic spatiotemporal estimates of the availability of water depths that are within the upper and lower bounds of the birds' foraging water depth limits (“shallow-water availability”). We studied two wading bird species, the Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), a daytime-only forager, and the Great White Heron (Ardea herodias occidentalis), which feeds...

A Kleptoparasitic Chase by Brown Pelicans on a Western Gull

interspecific kleptoparasitism, or the stealing of food from other species, is fairly widespread among birds, most frequently reported for seabirds, especially among the Charadriiformes (Brockman and Barnard 1979, Furness 1987, iyengar 2008). Though most kleptoparasitic species engage in this behavior facultatively, some (especially within the Charadriiformes) may be obligate kleptoparasites during a particular season and potentially throughout the year (iyengar 2008). Within the family Pelecanidae it has been infrequently reported in the literature. The ecology and behavior of seabirds meet many of the ecological factors proposed for the evolution of kleptoparasitism, including open habitat, feeding in mixed-species groups, scavenging, and the host’s habits being predictable (Brockman and Barnard 1979, Paulson 1985, iyengar 2008). Though kleptoparasitism often involves a larger species stealing food from a smaller species, the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is perhaps better known as the victim of kleptoparasitism by smaller gulls than vice versa, with several species of gulls and terns reported to steal from it (Shields 2014). The Brown Pelican was the first species of pelican reported to kleptoparasitize (Sefton 1950, Brockmann and Barnard 1979), and this behavior has since been reported in the americas by the closely related Peruvian Pelican (P. thagus) (Duffy 1980) and the american White Pelican (P. erythrorhynchos) (O’malley and evans 1983, anderson 1991). reports of kleptoparasitic attacks by the Brown Pelican have appeared to be isolated incidents. in the Peruvian Pelican, however, Duffy (1983) reported that 18% of attempts to obtain prey involved piracy. most reported kleptoparasitic attacks by the Brown Pelican and closely related Peruvian Pelican have been in mixed feeding flocks where the pelican is sitting on the water and grabs with its bill or otherwise attacks a nearby species, getting it to drop its food (Sefton 1950, Duffy 1980, lanciani 2000). This is especially common in situations where the birds are feeding on offal being thrown by people, though it occurs regularly in “wild” situations as well (D. anderson pers. comm.). The Brown Pelican’s target species have included the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) and unidentified gulls (Larus spp.), as well as other Brown Pelicans (D. anderson pers. comm.). Brown Pelicans have also been observed landing on Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) in order to get them to drop food (Bildstein 1980). O’malley and evans (1983) observed aerial chases by american White Pelicans in pursuit of food, but i am aware of no such observations involving the Brown Pelican. at ~16:30 on 19 October 2013, during an organized whale watch out of long Beach, California, in the vicinity of Platform ellen (Orange County), i noted a subadult (second-cycle) Western Gull (L. occidentalis) chasing an adult Western Gull, followed by two adult Brown Pelicans. The four birds were first seen flying parallel to the boat, about a kilometer away and only a few meters above the water. The second-cycle Western Gull was close behind the adult Western Gull with the two pelicans following about three meters behind the gulls. The adult gull banked up at roughly a 45° angle to a height of about 5 meters above the water before gliding back down in an attempt to escape. The second-cycle gull followed closely, and the pelicans also followed, banking up behind the gulls. The lead gull reversed course and quickly made a sharp ascent; through labored flight the pelicans were able to follow. While the second-cycle gull was able to stay on the tail of the lead gull, the pelicans fell back to about 10 meters behind both gulls. However, when the lead gull reversed course again, flying low over the water, both pelicans were able to shorten the gap and eventually overtake the second-cycle gull, placing nOTeS

Intraspecific and Intersexual Variation in Three Species of Wading Birds Using Morphometric Measurements

Intraspecific and intersexual morphological variation is common in many groups of birds, but few studies with larger sample sizes exist for describing such variation in ardeids. Since 2008, three species of long-legged wading birds were captured for telemetry studies in Wichita, Kansas, USA, and on the East Coast of the USA in North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey. Captured individuals were weighed and their culmens and tarsi were measured before they were released. Beginning in 2013, a blood sample was collected from each bird and was used to determine its sex. Measurements of 103 birds of three species were used to examine statistical relationships among mass, culmen length, and tarsus length, and to determine whether males of Great Egrets (Ardea alba) and Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) differed from females in these values. Great Blue Herons (A. herodias; 1,702–2,859 g), Great Egrets (769–1,300 g), and Snowy Egrets (349–539 g) all showed high variation in body weights, but significantly lower variation in culmen and tarsus lengths. For all three species, body weight correlated significantly with both culmen and tarsus lengths, which were themselves strongly associated. Male Great and Snowy egrets were significantly heavier than females and also had longer culmens and tarsi. The role of interspecific differences in body size in reducing competition at feeding sites is discussed, as is the possible role of intersexual differences during the breeding season.

Importance of Proximity to Foraging Areas for the Pacific Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias fannini) Nesting in a Developed Landscape

Abstract. Habitat loss due to human development is a threat to colonial waterbird species, which require nesting habitat in proximity to productive aquatic foraging areas to ensure reproductive success. When development of habitat occurs, waterbirds must either tolerate the changes or relocate nesting colonies to habitat elsewhere. Land cover and nesting colony data were used to study the implications of development for the Pacific Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias fannini). Colonies were closer to major foraging areas than expected by chance, but were not farther from human development than expected by chance, suggesting that Pacific Great Blue Herons will tolerate some development to remain close to major foraging areas. There was no relationship between distance to human development and colony productivity; however, distance to major foraging area was a significant predictor of productivity, which suggests Pacific Great Blue Herons may prioritize proximity to foraging areas because it is critical for re...

Post-Breeding and Early Migrant Bird Use and Characteristics of Diked and Undiked Coastal Wetlands in Michigan, USA

Abstract. Bird use of diked and undiked Michigan coastal wetlands (n = 17) was studied on Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron during late July to mid-October, 2005–2007. Relative abundance and diversity were compared via aerial (n = 9) and ground (n= 155) surveys and wetland characteristics were measured. Species richness and similarity indices suggested analogous bird use, but multivariate analyses indicated significant separation in diked and undiked bird assemblages. Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), and Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) were more abundant on diked sites, whereas dabbling ducks combined, Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), American Black Duck (A. rubripes), gulls (Laridae), Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri), and Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) were more abundant on undiked wetlands. Wetland characteristics also differed. Diked sites were primarily cattail (Typha spp.) marshes interspersed with small open-water areas containing aquatic plants. Undiked sites had lar...

Waterfowl Surveys in Canaan Valley: 1979–1993

Abstract From 1979 through 1993, we surveyed the waterfowl of Canaan Valley by using vantage-point, helicopter, and canoe surveys. We conducted monthly vantage-point surveys from April through November at four sites, we completed monthly canoe surveys during May–July along a 10-mi (16-km) segment of the Blackwater River, and we conducted helicopter surveys covering all of the Valley's drainages in May, August, and November. The most abundant species of waterfowl were the Branta canadensis (Canada Goose), Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard), Aix sponsa (Wood Duck), and Anas rubripes (American Black Duck). Thirteen other duck species were sighted, most of which were recorded during the November helicopter surveys. Of the several species of wading birds observed, the most abundant were Ardea herodias (Great Blue Heron) and Butorides virescens (Green Heron).

Heavy upon My Eye: Reading Carolyn Kizer’s “The Great Blue Heron” As My Mother Is Leaving

Heavy upon My Eye: Reading Carolyn Kizer’s “The Great Blue Heron” As My Mother Is Leaving Annie Finch (bio) It is hard to tell whether Carolyn Kizer’s “The Great Blue Heron,” one of her more mysterious and sad poems, is an elegy for a person or a landscape. Or for both at once. In the region of Scotland where my mother’s family originated, as in cultures throughout the world, particular hills and caves embody the legends that hold the culture of the people. And even in today’s WEIRD (Western Educated Industrial Rich Democratic) nations, to use psychologist Steven J. Heine’s term, we are still people; all of us still hold, not as buried as we think, the knowledge that a landscape’s wisdom is deeper and more lasting than that of our mortal selves. On a larger scale than a body’s meanings and wisdom are the meanings and wisdom of the places our bodies still know they belong to. This is why human experiences with the natural world make such a necessary and perennially challenging subject for a contemporary poet from the developed world. Our overly built and overly transient cultures have robbed us, both individually and tribally, of long-held meaningful connections to particular landscapes. And yet each of us has an embodied soul that is designed to feel such a connection. Our souls need that. They reach for it and pull us toward it. As I wandered on the beach I saw the heron standing Sunk in the tattered wings He wore. . . (1–4) In lamenting both mother and landscape at once, Kizer’s poem reminds us of the connections between self, land, tribe, and memory that so many of us are lacking—making it harder than it should be for us both to love and to mourn. And yet “The Great Blue Heron” also reminds us that a poem itself provides a [End Page 66] kind of landscape for those of us who may have no places in our lives capable of really connecting us with each other and ourselves. In the third and final stanza, she writes: Now there is only you Heavy upon my eye. Why have you followed me here, Heavy and far away? (43–46) I count Carolyn Kizer as a dear friend and mentor of twenty-five years. I wasn’t in touch with her often, but at four or five crucial junctions in my career she was there—writing an enthusiastic, unsolicited letter about the manuscript of my first book, reviewing the book when it came out, and encouraging me to trust my most authentic voice in a key aesthetic decision about my second book. I write this essay in the wake of Carolyn’s recent death and also as my own mother, Maggie, at ninety-four, is starting to fade from her loved ones due to memory loss. A prolific and brilliant self-published poet, she was my first poetic guide. I’ve been editing a book of her poetry, her fourth, enjoying its beauty, racing to finish it before it’s too late for her to recognize and enjoy its publication. I want her to have it, to hold it, to know it’s there while she still can, because she knows full well that poetry will remember her. Of course it will. After all, who was the mother of the Muses? Kizer’s poems, far-seeing feminist that she was, often involve women and memory. There are the tales commemorating heroines (mythic or actual women such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife Fanny) to save them from oblivion; there are reminiscences in tribute to friends (Kizer is undoubtedly one of the great poets of women’s friendship); there are memories of her daunting, courageous mother, who seems to embody for her a connection to the heart of nature that is chthonic and unfathomable. In “The Intruder,” she describes the defeat of her mother’s efforts to be linked to nature’s weirdness—by the “pallid, yellow” lice she found in the wrinkled wings of a bat. But in “The Great Blue Heron,” the mother is completely clued in, almost a shamanic figure...