Barry Mitschke
-BY BARRY A. MITSCHKE
November 25, 2021If you were in your vehicle, you couldn’t see much of this view because your speed and the guard rail prevent it. However, if you were walking or riding a bike that morning or during one of those sunny mornings from mid-September onwards, you might have noticed the Heron fishing in the shallows of the river. I was riding my bike back home from Lumsden and noticed the Heron on several days. When I decided to get a picture, I pedalled past, snuck back, and could only manage this picture. Every time the bird would flush, and I couldn’t get a better photo. The sketch shows some details of the bird (Field Book of Natural History/FBNH).
The GBH is the front cover artwork of Al Smith’s Saskatchewan Birds book (2001; 176 pages). Being Saskatchewan’s largest heron, it is hard to miss in summer as it frequents sloughs, marshes, rivers and lake edges. “It stands statuesquely, surveying shallow waters for its next meal.” It will gobble its prey (frogs, small fish, aquatic invertebrates, snakes, mice, etc.) or spear them. It will also hunt in moist fields or wet meadows and will scavenge food.
This large grey-blue bird has a long curving neck that is held back over its shoulders when it flies, distinguishing it from cranes (sandhill and whooping). Its body is about 1.3 metres long with a wing span of about 2 metres; it has a large, long sharply-pointed yellow bill.
A colonial bird, they will build a collection of stick-and-twig platform nests, usually in large dead trees, laying 3-5 bluish eggs to incubate for about 28 days. In the 1970s from a respectful distance, I saw one of these heronries near Nicolle Flats, Buffalo Pound Lake area. The encyclopedic Birds of Saskatchewan (2019), authored by Smith, Roy and Houston, reports (p.167) that there are about 175 heronries in the province; the longest continuous occupation occurred at Nicolle Flats (1883-1999). They will also nest individually in shrubs and bedside marshes. When not nesting, they are solitary birds.
Depending on the weather, they may arrive from their spring migration in early April and depart by early November. Whenever and wherever you see them flying or hunting, they are one of our most majestic birds. They always deserve our protection as they grace local habitats. Take only photographs. Enjoy!
