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April 19, 1979 - Great Blue Heron APRIL 19, 1979 focus on nature by Paul Stoutenburgh GREAT BLUE HERON --Ever alert, this largest of herons can be found from Florida to Canada – but passes up Long Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh The great blue heron has been seen in our area for the past few weeks. Just this morning I saw four lumbering through the air headed for Little Creek. This bird is our tallest heron, standing well over four feet high and when flying with a wing span of almost eight feet. This great heron must have nested in our area at one t e, but the records show the last known ne.tin site was on Gardeners Island in the ear y 1900s. Many of the birds we now see are migrants just passing through. Some have already stopped along the coast to nest, while the ones here will find isolated areas all the wav along the maritime states to Canada. Years ago we visited a rookery in beautiful Prince Edward Island. It was a sparkling day and our family was on a summer camping trip. We had seen great blues flying in the evening where we were camping, and so I followed them to a rookery right off the road in a deep swamp. Wanting to photograph these birds, the next day I found a beautiful beach for the family and I headed for the swamp. The plan had been to spend the morning or if necessary the whole day photograph- ing. But like so many plans of mine, that's not what happened. When I got to the area where the birds were nesting I began to feel the ever - present abundance of mosquitoes. The air v, as almost black with them. Driven Out By Insects, Stench - All -about me in the trees were the white - washed nests from the excrement of the birds. The odor was overwhelming. On top of this, herons have the habit of tossing their food up whenever they get excited or shaken up. Needless to say when some birds get too close to another's nest, territorial instincts prevail and a great battle sets up. Parent birds will squeal and squawk with loud calls and much flapping of the wings. This triggers the upchucking of food that falls to the ground to decay. Perhaps they weren't affected way up in their lofty nests, but down on the bottom, with the mosquitoes on the rampage, I just couldn't take it. I was literally driven out. I can take almost anything. I've sat for long hours in a hot, cramped blind to get a particular photograph but this occasion was just too-much. Some -day when the wind is right and there's quiet in another rookery, perhaps I'll try again, but for now I'll have to be satisfied with pictures of a great blue heron right here in our own Long Island creeks. The great blue is an expert stalker. His slow and deliberate hunts are a joy to watch. A ballet in slow motion. Often he'll stand motionless for long periods of time just waiting for that unsuspecting killie, shrimp, flounder, eel or whatever's alive to get within range of his long, pointed bill. I'll never forget the comical sight of one trying to swallow a small flounder up in the shallows of Riverhead. It was about the size of a small saucer. Like all fish - caught meals, it had to be tossed up and turned around so that it was facing head first down the mouth. Then, once this was accomplish- ed, it had to fold it like a sandwich to get the wiggling fish down. The next major job was to get the whole mass down that long, slender, 18 -inch neck. Half way down I could see the great bulge in the heron's throat as it jerked and wobbled its head back and forth trying to help the still- moving flounder on its way down. Difficult To Photograph Shortly after my fiasco of photographing the great blue in its nesting sight, I was determined to photograph it right here in our local creeks. I found the ideal spot, just outside of Greenport, in one of the great marsh areas there. And sure enough a great blue heron was hunting among the tall marsh grass. This afforded me a good opportunity to sneak up on the bird, so with my long telephoto lens and much wallowing, crawling, and stooping I managed to get relatively close. All went well as I set the exposure, focused and waited for the bird to pick its head up so I'd be able to get a better picture. What seemed like hours soon ended in a great.thr ast,.as.theheron had pinned a huge- Island for a nesting site. eel right behind the head with its bill. This was just what I was waiting for. And so I clicked the camera, but the noisy shutter was too much for the heron, who didn't want any intrusion and flew off dangling the two-foot eel in its bill. I quickly recocked the camera and took two more shots of the bird as it flew away. It made a great sequence as it flew over the marsh grass with this long eel hanging below. I only wish it hadn't been quite so shy, as this would have made a great picture. I can see it now, standing in some quiet pool, the eel half -way down its throat and it patiently waiting for its digestive system to work so that the rest could be swallowed. I've often seen this situation of a fish hanging out of the mouth when baby terns have ben fed with oversize spearing or silversides. I guess this is where the old saying comes by, "Don't bite off more than you can chew." Some of the herons are non- breeders and stay around our area all year. Those people who have the great blue in their creek during the summer and winter are extreme- ly fortunate, for it is not a nesting bird in our area. Some of these birds can eke out a 1— living at 1 creek heads-, the water is always open; but should severe cold come and these areas freeze up the birds either starve or move away. During the winter they seem to congre- gate in groups. Our Orient Christmas bird count has often had as many as 15 or 20 birds on its list, usually found roosting in the cedars over in Orient State Park. In the evening they go off to their own special creek to fish, only to return and roost during the day. Most of their fishing is done at night. but this does not always hold true -- as many times you'll find them stalking in our creeks during the day. The great blue heron is a handsome bird. Its quiet colors are usually missed because it is such a wary bird and flies away before we can get up close. Because of its great height it can see over all the other birds and the marsh grass as well, and therefore is usually the first to fly off when danger is near. Its instinct for survival is sharply tuned, and as long as there is a wild place left for the bird to nest, and non - polluted fish for it to hunt, we will see it here on Long Island. Let's hope these conditions will always prevail, for its. presence is a sure sign of the great outdoors, still unpolluted and•still a bit wild. F US onNtue NOTEPAPER Available ut The Wedgwood Shop. S.T. Prestons. The Lore Lane Shop and McCabes.