The Great Blue Heron (1976)

for for [Music] each year in late February I come out to this Missouri Wildlife Refuge to study one of the most beautiful and least understood of American birds the great blue heron in the next few weeks between 1 and 200 great blues will migrate here from the south to reclaim the remnants of last year's nests [Music] [Music] [Music] in early March the first males begin arriving after a short period of wandering over the heronry the males choose trees for nesting the females will fly up later every year I've come here there have always been more male herin than available nests consequently the males compete for the nest the best and highest Nest going to the strongest and most aggressive males to get a nest the male must violate the territory of another male her the territory includes not only the branch he stands on but the airspace around it trespassing often insights a Pursuit flight to decide who gets the nest this preading competition for the available nests helps to make sure that the strongest and most fit malale will reproduce young the loser must try again or start a new Nest from scratch by the end of March all the nests have been taken by the strongest males and the waiting Begins for the first females to arrive [Music] in [Music] oh [Music] once they've made it the two herons will remain together for the whole season the male does most of the stick Gathering while the female places the sticks and prepares the nest for her future brood a month later in mid April I think I can hear the newborn chicks but I'm not sure the angle doesn't give a good view into the nest I wait a few more days before deciding they've probably hatched the best way I can find out is to climb the tree my two herens live in a stand of sycamore trees in the middle of the Refuge to get up I use ropes thrown over the branches above after two years practice I can usually get to the top of one of these 120ft sycamores in about a half an hour one of the reasons so little is known about the great Blues is that it so hard to observe them another reason is that they're extremely wary of humans and for good reason we are the main threat to their survival many thoughtless Hunters consider them fair game even here in the wildlife refuge and as we build more and more houses we take their land and drive them away the great Blues always build their nests on the weakest and least accessible limbs to protect them from any Predators coming up the tree well I was wrong they haven't hatched yet I'll come back tomorrow they're born with their eyes open but almost helpless my Heron family is a typical size at Birth they have have just a sparse down insulation which makes them vulnerable to any cold weather 3 Days Later an April snowstorm hits our refuge [Music] [Music] yesterday's storm took its toll and all my nestlings died now the parents have to start over again [Music] through May and June I continued to check the nest from time to time all of the nestlings are doing fine except the last one hatched the rent week from the start he hasn't been getting his share of the food usually in nature the weak do not survive Only the Strong but in this case nature made an exception and the rent lived by mid June the nestlings are trying out their wings in the nest the parents begin to feed the young less often encouraging them to feed on their own the aggressiveness of the young at meal time now makes feeding by mouth more and more difficult so the parents just drop the food in the nest this period when the nestlings are learning to fly is particularly dangerous for them and their mother knows [Music] it graceful as they are even the adult great Blues have difficulty maintaining their balance in the trees even in light breezes these creatures will occasionally miscalculate Landings if a fledgling falls from the nest and lives the adult herens won't risk going to the ground to feed and care for it the forest floor has too many predators the fledgling must fly or die in their first year of Life about 70% of the fledglings die but life goes on and the young fledglings continue to practice flying in the nest and on nearby branches by early July after two months of Nest life the fledglings are ready for flight soon the young herons will make their first flight South when they return if they survive I'll be returning too to study them la d [Music]