To view the answer to each question, just click on the question and the answer will appear below it. Click again on the question to hide the answer. ​If viewing on a smart phone, to scroll through the questions, you must use the space on the right or left side of the questions block.

1. What do Great Blue Herons eat, besides fish?

Though they are best known as fishers, mice constitute a large part of their diet, and they also eat insects and other small creatures.

2. How do Great Blue Herons catch their prey and eat it?

Herons snare their aquatic prey by walking slowly, or standing still for long periods of time and waiting for fish to come within range of their long necks and blade-like bills. The deathblow is delivered with a quick thrust of the sharp bill, and the prey is swallowed whole. Great blue herons have been known to choke to death by attempting to swallow fish too large for their long, S-shaped necks. 

3. HOW FAST DO GREAT BLUE HERONS FLY?

They can cruise at some 20 to 30 miles per hour. In comparison, Bald Eagles can fly up to 99 miles per hour.

​4. How big is a Great Blue Heron?

The great blue heron grows to 4 feet tall with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan. Despite its large size, its hollow bones allow it to weigh only 5 to 6 pounds.

5. The Great Blue Heron is a fairly large bird.  Do you think it has any predators?

Crows and ravens eat heron eggs. Hawks, bears, eagles, raccoons and turkey vultures have been known to prey on young and adult herons.

6. A heronry, sometimes called a heron rookery, is a breeding ground for herons.  When does breeding take place and for how long?

For 3 months of the year, February –April. Herons often lay their eggs in the same nests each year, hatching between March and April.

7. How long does it take for Great Blue Heron eggs to hatch and how are the young cared for?

Eggs hatch after about 28 days, and both parents care for the chicks. The young are initially fed a diet of regurgitated food, but eventually eat whole fish dropped into the nest. Juveniles leave the nest after about 60 days and, if they survive their first winter, may live for another fifteen years.

​8. In the past, herons and egrets were shot for their feathers, which were used as cooking utensils and to adorn hats and garments, and they also provided large, accessible targets. The slaughter of these birds went relatively unchecked until 1900 when the federal government passed the Lacey Act, which prohibits the foreign and interstate commercial trade of feathers. What challenges have Great Blue Herons faced in recent years?

Loss of nesting sites and deterioration of water quality and wetland habitat are issues of concern for heron survival. Poor water quality reduces the number of large fish and invertebrate species available in wetland areas. Toxic chemicals that enter the waterways from runoff and industrial discharges pose yet another threat. Although great blue herons currently appear to tolerate low levels of pollutants, these chemicals can move through the food chain, accumulate in the tissues of prey and may eventually cause reproductive failure in the herons.

​9. What can be done to improve the chances for Great Blue Heron survival into the future?

Preserve shallow water habitat, nesting sites, and feeding areas. Nesting sites should be observed from a distance of at least 200 meters to minimize disruption of the colony. If herons are disturbed frequently, they may abandon their nests or neglect their young. 

10. Do Great Blue Herons fly south in the winter?

No, the Great Blue Herons that live in Virginia do not fly south.  Great Blue Herons live year-round in marshes and wetlands throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.