I found a heronry!

[Davehiker]

Yesterday afternoon I was walking on a trail near my house in Central Mass, when I heard a commotion of birds some distance away. I've been on this trail once or twice before, but I never noticed this. I had surprised a group of turkeys earlier in a hayfield nearby, so I thought it might be them.

As I walked closer, I found the noise was in the top of a group of very tall white pines on the top of a low rise. I saw very large birds near the treetops, squawking, stretching their necks, and waving their wings. They were Great Blue Herons, and there were 5 or 6 of them, mostly in seperate trees, with big nests. There's a brook nearby, but it's not as big or open as where I usually see herons, so I was surprised. I had flushed a heron off a farmer's irrigation pond nearby, as well. I occasionally see a heron on a lake or river in the area.

What surprised me and still leaves me a little amazed was to see several of these impressive birds together in a wooded area, not near water. I know that herons nest in groups, sometimes very large groups, but when I've seen them or heard about them before, they were near large swamps or other bodies of water. I've driven by a huge heronry beside Route 2 in Acton, with tall dead trees in a swamp.

Has anyone had a similar experience with herons? Any ideas why they were so agitated? I don't think they were reacting to me or anything else on the ground. They didn't seem to notice me at all. Would bird enthusiasts be interested in this?

 

[Waumbek]

Herons are sensitive to human activity so perhaps they were reacting to you. Too late for mating time. Feeding time in the rookery can be raucous. I doubt that it was fledging time, another noisy time when the adult birds "call" to the nestlings to fly the nest. I don't know why they were in the wooded area. Perhaps there was a body of water that you couldn't see? Here's a NH F&G piece on the rookery.

Feeding Time at the Heron Rookery

One of the true pleasures of summer in New Hampshire is catching the sight of a regal great blue heron stalking along the water's edge, its dagger-like bill poised to spear a frog or fish. These magnificent, lean gray birds stand 4 feet tall.
In late March, great blue herons return to New Hampshire. Males bring sticks to females, which arrange them in the nest. Old nests can become quite large, but new ones look sparse. Courtship includes neck stretching, crest raising, bill clapping and feather nibbling. Mating occurs on or near the nest. Other than during courtship and when young are on the nest, the birds are quiet.

Great blue herons are colony nesters, meaning that they nest together in groups. In New Hampshire, the nest areas, or rookeries, tend to be in remote places often associated with beaver impoundments; each has from one to more than 50 nests. It's best if rookeries aren't easily accessible, because human activity can cause herons to abandon their nests.

Herons lay eggs from mid-April to early May, depending on the weather. Both males and females incubate the 3-5 eggs. Young herons hatch after 28 days, and both parents are kept busy feeding the young. When the birds are small, one parent will guard the nest and the other will find food. Herons first feed their young herons by regurgitating their own food, and later switch to providing whole fish. As the nestling grows, both parents are kept busy hunting for food.

By early July, the young herons are almost as big as adults and look way too big for the nest. Young herons stay in the nest for seven to eight weeks, and most have fledged by late July. The parents continue feeding them for two to three weeks after they leave the nest. Once the parents stop feeding the young, the herons disperse in all directions, starting in mid-September. -- Judy Silverberg, Wildlife Educator

 

[rondak46]

careful...

..and from what I am told, stay far away. The parents are easily spooked. In spooking them, they often harm their chicks or eject them from the nest.

Mike

 

[Barbarossa]

The place I most frequently see herons is near the I 495/I 93 interchange in Andover. There is a swampy area in the NW quadrant with a sign designating 'Fish Brook'.

I can't see any nests driving at highway speed, but I often see them flying over.

 

[AMF]

I came across one in a similar setting with regard to water myself. Although they raised quite a racket, I felt sure I had not disturbed them as I could hear the cacaphony from a good ways distant, and was under heavy tree cover on the approach. Seem positively prehistoric the way these huge birds would land in the very tops of the trees. Long-term colonies are frequently identified by a large number of dead trees, killed by the droppings, but the one I came on had virtually none.

 

[Davehiker]

AMF, I also noted only small amounts of droppings. All of the trees were very tall white pines, and all were alive. Rookeries I've seen in swampy areas had the nests in dead trees, too.

I'm going to be careful to avoid disturbing this place.

 

[SherpaKroto]

While fishing about 10 years ago on Norway Lake in Maine we saw the most ungraceful landing I've ever seen by a bird, high up in a pine. I did not know that Herons nested high up in trees until then. It was really something to see. I kept expecting it to come falling out of the tree, but eventually it flew off, went fishing, and returned shortly to do another rough landing, dropping it's catch in the nset. Very odd, and the only time I've ever seen a Heron's nest.

 

[Mike D.]

Herons

I have a swamp right near my house that has what I have been told is the biggest nesting area in Mass. There has to be 50-75 herons there, its quite impressive. Mike D.