Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is the largest heron in North America. It stands three to four feet tall and has a wing span of seven feet. The bills are a yellowish color and the legs are green. Great blue herons have gray upper bodies, and their necks are streaked with white, black and rust-brown. They have grey feathers on the back of their necks with chestnut colored feathers on their thighs. The males have a puffy plume of feathers behind their heads and also tend to be slightly larger than females. In flight, the head is held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the long neck. The long legs trail behind. This bird flies with strong deliberate wing beats.

Habitat

Great blue herons always live near sources of water, including rivers, lake edges, marshes, saltwater seacoasts, and swamps. They usually nest in trees or bushes that stand near water, breeding at elevations of up to 1,500 m.

Behavior

The great blue heron migrates in the fall, although some stay in the northern part of their range. The great blue heron usually tucks its head into an S shape when its resting and flying.

Diet

The great blue heron fishes for food during the day and at night. It stands in shallow water or at waters edge and waits for prey like frogs and fish to pass by and then it grabs them with its long bill. It also eats salamanders, lizards, snakes, turtles, shrimps, crabs, crayfish, dragonflies, grasshoppers, aquatic insects and occasionally birds and small mammals like mice.

Life Cycle

The female great blue heron lays two to seven pale blue eggs on a bulky nest made of sticks and twigs and lined with a soft material. The nest is usually in a tall tree, but it may be built in the reeds or a cliff edge. They usually breed in colonies close to lakes or wetlands, often with other species of herons. These groups are called ’heronry’ (more accurately than ’rookery’). The eggs hatch in about a month and the chicks will fledge when they are about two months old. Great blue herons nest in colonies. They usually nest in the same spot from year-to-year. They may even use the same nest. Both parents feed the young by regurgitating food.

Burrowing Owl

The Burrowing owl, iccasionally called "Ground owl", is a grayish brown, round-headed owl lacking ear tufts. It has long slim legs and a short tail, and is smallish, about the size of a pigeon. The adults have a white abdomen with brown bars that are lacking on the young, which have a rusty throat instead. The Burrowing owl is active both day and night, and may be seen standing erect on the ground, though its small size and earth-colored plumage makes it difficult to spot. Burrowing owls are able to live for at least 9 years in the wild and over 10 years in captivity. Being one of the smallest owl species, Burrowing owls weigh only five or six ounces and are about 10 inches tall.

Habitat

The Burrowing owl requires treeless plains largely free of visual obstructions, such as grasslands grazed by livestock. It uses burrows abandoned by ground-dwelling mammals (e.g., badgers, gophers and prairie dogs) for nesting, roosting and caching food. Short or sparse vegetation and permanent cover are preferred around the burrows. Grasslands with thicker vegetation support the small mammals that they eat. Thus the owls need a mosaic of grass densities to successfully breed. The species is sometimes found on roadsides and crop lands and in urban areas where mowing keeps expanses of grass short.

Food

Burrowing owls mostly eat small mammals such as moles and mice during late spring and early
summer. Later they switch to insects, especially grasshoppers and beetles. They also prey on birds, amphibians and reptiles.

Behavior

Unlike most owls that only hunt at night, burrowing owls also hunt during the day. In October, they migrate to a warmer climate. Burrowing owls make a tremulous chuckling or chattering call. In summer they are active day and night.

Offspring

These owls inhabit their breeding grounds from April to September. Burrowing owls often nest in loose colonies about 100 yards apart. They lay 3 to 12 eggs in their underground nest from mid-May to early June. The female incubates the clutch for about 28 days while the male provides her with food. The young owls begin appearing at the burrows entrance two weeks after hatching and leave the nest to hunt for insects on their own after about 45 days. The chicks can fly well at 6 weeks old. Eggs and young in the nest are susceptible to predators such as snakes, badgers, skunks, foxes, cats and weasels. In addition many young starve to death
because the male is not able to deliver enough food to the nest. The family breaks up in August, when the young disperse over the prairies.

Threats

They are often killed by vehicles when crossing roads, and have many natural enemies, including badgers, coyotes, and snakes. They are also killed by feral and domestic cats and dogs.