Dear Janice,
Thank you for your interest in the great blue herons nesting in Stanley Park.
After the fledglings leave the nest, the herons disperse to local feeding grounds such as Lost Lagoon, Beaver Lake, the Stanley Park shoreline, Coal Harbour, False Creek, and the coastline from Jericho to Wreck Beach. Some likely move to Ambleside Beach, the West Vancouver coastline, the inner area of Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, Iona Beach and to some of the islets and islands off the mainland. In winter, adult and juvenile herons can be seen feeding around the shoreline and in agriculture fields around the Fraser Delta.
Breeding Pacific Great Blue Herons require accessible prey within about 10 km of a nesting location. Adults from the colony have been observed around the Stanley Park’s coastline, as well as along English Bay and Burrard Inlet shorelines. Although they used to feed mainly along Spanish Banks, the majority of herons now fly across the city at the north arm of the Fraser River. A few herons have even been observed flying past Point Atkinson towards Horseshoe Bay or Bowen Island. There is actually a very large colony of herons nesting at the base of the ferry terminal jetty in Tswassen, and those birds all feed on the mudflat there.
For more information on herons including FAQ’a, nesting timeine and history of the colony or to join the Adopt a Nest program, please visit: http://stanleyparkecology.ca/conservation/urban-wildlife/herons
Sincerely,
Robyn Worcester, RPBio
Stanley Park Heronry Webcam
#HeronTalk
