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The birds have set up in their nesting area near the park tennis court complex to hatch and raise their young
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As beautiful spring weather returned to B.C. this past week, so too did a vital colony of great blue herons that make Stanley Park their summer home.
The big birds have now been coming back to nest in Vancouver’s world-famous park for two dozen seasons.
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“High above Park Lane, surrounding the tennis courts, the substantial heron colony has settled into its home for the 24th consecutive year to raise the next generation,” said the Vancouver park board in a news release.
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The colony brought 61 fledglings into the world last year, “overcoming persistent eagle raids and a delayed nesting season, due to winter weather.”
The resiliency of the colony is vital, explains the park board. “With 80 per cent of British Columbia’s great blue heron population found in and around the Fraser River, the productivity of this heronry has signification implications for the viability of the whole subspecies.”
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Soon the chicks will start emerging from their eggs, a phenomenon that has been viewable on the park’s heron cam for the past nine years. The close-up cameras allow viewers to watch daily rituals of courting and mating, nest building, egg laying and hatching.
The birds-eye views of 40 nests can even be controlled by the public, who can move the camera and zoom in on the spectacle. The cameras are at vancouver.ca/heron-cam.
Pacific great blue herons were first documented in Stanley Park in 1921 and the colony has moved around to different nesting grounds over the years, finally settling on the current location in 2001. The birds are federally protected and classified as a species of special concern in B.C.
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Their population “has declined steadily since the 1980s as a result of nesting failure, eagle attacks, human disturbance and habitat loss,” said the park board.
There are about 4,000 to 5,000 nesting adults in Canada, the majority living around the Salish Sea. Unlike other great blue herons, the Pacific subspecies does not migrate.
The Stanley Park Ecology Society has been supporting and helping protect the herons since 2004, working alongside the park board and B.C. Wildlife Service.
The park board also has advice for park visitors on how to watch the herons while allowing them to live and raise their chicks in peace.
From mid-March to mid-July, park users should observe the herons from outside of fenced areas around their nests, avoid making noise or playing loud music within 30 metres of the colony, keep dogs on leash and refrain from flying drones nearby. (Drones aren’t allowed in parks at all without a permit.)
You can report a fallen or injured chick on the Van311 app or by calling 311. Do not approach or handle any injured wildlife.
jruttle@postmedia.com
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