{"id":10080,"date":"2012-04-02T21:10:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T02:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10080"},"modified":"2012-04-02T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T02:10:09","slug":"great-blue-heron-rookery-on-massachusetts-south-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10080","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron Rookery on Massachusetts South Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team discovered a major great blue heron (Ardea herodias<\/em>)\u00c2\u00a0rookery (heronry) this afternoon, April 2nd alongside a fresh water pond in Marion on the South Coast of Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 The first specimen we spotted (shown above) stood still and tall in a completed nest\u00c2\u00a0atop\u00c2\u00a0pine tree abutting the lake.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Three Nesting Great Blue Herons<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The image of a second and then a third heron emerged from the camouflage of nearby trees.\u00c2\u00a0 (Click on the above photograph to enlarge.)\u00c2\u00a0 Within a few minutes we were able to identify at least six (6) herons roosting on nests within about an acre immediately adjacent to the far side of this small pond.\u00c2\u00a0 We could only distinguish nests and birds near the pond; there could have been numerous other nests hidden from view.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nesting Great Blue Heron<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A fourth heron\u00c2\u00a0about 50 feet to the \u00c2\u00a0left of the three herons pictured above appeared to be building or strengthening its nest\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nesting Great Blue Heron<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Turtle Journal usually works along side these magnificent birds during the summer as we do our marine turtle research in the salt marshes of Cape Cod and the South Coast.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a rare treat to find a great blue heron rookery so close to home base.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully, we’ll be able to document hatching and then fledging of the next generation of great blues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Blue Heron Mating Behavior<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As we silently watched and snapped pictures of the herons, a large bird flapped its enormous wings and hovered near another.\u00c2\u00a0 Quickly this bird took flight with raucous rasping honks in off-beat duet with its amorous companion.\u00c2\u00a0 The two glided like pterodacyls to the far shore of the pond where they engaged in mating rituals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Blue Heron Rookery on South Coast<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The photograph above shows the rookery across the pond from the pathway.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s located in dense swamp land with extremely limited access.\u00c2\u00a0 The pond itself lies about a\u00c2\u00a0quarter mile from an active cranberry bog operation to the northeast, and a half mile from the Sippican Harbor estuary to the south.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Visit Turtle Journal soon.\u00c2\u00a0 We hope to have updates on the progress of these nests through the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) The Turtle Journal team discovered a major great blue heron (Ardea herodias)\u00c2\u00a0rookery (heronry) this afternoon, April 2nd alongside a fresh water pond in Marion on the South Coast of Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 The first specimen we spotted (shown above) stood still and tall in a completed nest\u00c2\u00a0atop\u00c2\u00a0pine tree abutting the lake.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[654],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10080"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10112,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10080\/revisions\/10112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}