The heron family contains about 60 species (mostly tropical) but a few are found in Pennsylvania or the Times News area. Two species breed in our region, the green heron and the great blue heron. It is possible to observe great egrets, black crowned night herons or, very rarely, American bitterns or the yellow crowned night heron here as well.

Great blue herons (often incorrectly called cranes) are probably the most commonly seen probably because of their large size. “Great blues” stand about 3 feet tall and have nearly a 6-foot wingspan. They aren’t very blue, but more a grayish color with a mostly white head. If you startle one from a roost or along a stream bank, they make a rather loud squawk.

The green heron is more of a recluse, often feeding slowly along a pond’s shoreline or perched on a branch jutting out of the water. The green herons will begin arriving in our area about a week after this column is published. They are much smaller at about 14 inches in size.

Great blue herons, and both the night heron species, generally nest in colonies. These group nesting areas are called rookeries. I am aware of at least one heron rookery in Carbon County. It is at the base of the Blue Mountain not too far from our neighboring Monroe County. There historically was a small rookery near Lizard Creek in East Penn Township, but a number of the birds were shot illegally and the rookery was abandoned.

A Lehigh County friend alerted me to a rookery in Lehigh County and I made a visit there this past weekend. In a 2- or 3-acre woodlot containing mature oak and maple trees was what I searched for. I counted over 50 heron nests, probably only 2 or 3 feet across and constructed of intertwined twigs and small branches. I have no way of knowing how many were from this year’s nesting, but I did see at least a dozen herons either standing on or sitting on nests. I probably saw more than two dozen herons total, either perched in trees or flying to and from the rookery. The nests were 50 or 60 feet high in forks of the trees. I will visit there again before the trees “leaf out” to try to ascertain the number of active nests. The lower reaches of the Susquehanna River in southern Pennsylvania has a few large islands where rookeries of both the night herons and “great blues” are intermingled.

Great blue herons eat fish, snakes, frogs and even eels. I have seen them in damp pastures and have read they are opportunists and would even eat small rodents. (Their fish diet can cause a few problems with fish hatcheries or those residents with small private ponds) I have heard some accounts where small koi ponds were completely “cleaned out” in a day or two after a heron found the brightly colored buffet items.

As with all bird species depending on marshes, wetlands and streams, their numbers are not growing because of the loss of those habitats. Just like saving our watershed forests, protecting our wetlands should be a priority as well. Keep your outdoor eyes open for these herons in your nature outings this year.

Test Your Outdoor knowledge: True/False, great blue herons cannot be found in our region between November and March.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Biologists were able to “track” a Hudsonian godwit that migrated eight straight days without stopping.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.