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Nesting of the Great Blue Heron in Montana

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Nesting of the Great Blue Heron in Montana 252 CA•RoN,Nesting o[ GreatBlue Heron. [July[Auk Some thirty thousandpersons, it is estimated,viewed the fire, and a largenumber of themsaw the birds,but probablyvery few appreciatedthe opportunity that was offered them of lookingbehind the dark curtain which so persistentlyshrouds one of nature's greatestmysteries, or realizedthat what they saw was,literally aswell as figuratively, 'some light on nightmigration.' NESTING OF THE GREAT BLUE HERON IN MONTANA. BY E. S. CAMERON. Plates IV and V. SINCEliving near the YellowstoneI haveoften wondered where the Great Blue Herons(Ardea herodias) nested which flew up and down the river, or stoodmotionless on the sandbarsintercepting its brown flood. The differentferrymen, on being questioned, saidthe birdspassed and repassed daily, but couldsupply no infor- mationas to their breedinghaunts. Mr. A. C. Giffordof Fallon informedme that he recollectedwhen there were twenty nestsin somecottonwoods about two miles below his property,but was doubtfulif heronsbred there in recentyears, and Mr. Dan Bowman had known of one nest on the Powder River in a cottonwood close to his ranch. Thesewere my onlyrecords. Accordingly,on May 30 my wifeand I rodeto the groveindicated by Mr. Giffordand madea thoroughinvestigation, which proved a taskof somediffi- culty on accountof the thick underbrushof wild roses,willows, and bulberrybushes, concealing regular pitfalls, through which a horsecould scarcely force its way. Part of the woodwas made intoan islandby a smallbranch of the river(called here a slough), and two pairsof Blue-wingedTeal, evidentlynesting, were seen, THE AUK, VOL. XXIII. PLATE V. FIG. 1.--SITE OF GREAT BLUE HERONRY, YELLOWSTONEI{IVER, MONTANA. The nests •re nearly concealed by the thick foliage. FIG. 2.--YouNG GREAT BLUE I-IERoN, TWO MONTHS OLD. Vol.1906XXIII'] J CAMERON,Nesting o/ GreatBlue Heron. 253 but no tracewas found of the heroncolony. It wasmy conviction that, at the presenttime, heronsnested on inaccessibleislands in the Yellowstoneand that the nests,accordingly, escaped observa- tion, as boatsare veryscarce in this country. Last year (1905)I wasable to locatea heronryon an islandof the Yellowstoneabout fifteen miles below my ranch,but, previous to the discovery,my friend Mr. J. H. Price had written sending particularsof anotherwhich he hadvisited on PowderRiver about thirty miles above the mouth. The latter, therefore,received attentionfirst, and on June29 an expeditionwas made there, when we foundseven nests at the topof two tall pole-likecottonwoods, placedin the extremitiesof branchesso thin that they wouldnot bearthe weight of evena smallboy. Sixof thenests were in a tree at the extremeedge of the fiver bankand three overhung the water in sucha mannerthat any birdsfalling out wouldhave been car- ried awayon the swiftcurrent. The seventhnest was built at the summitof anothertree, directly behind the first,in a deadbranch, as alsowas one of the othernests. All werequite out of reachof the mostexpert climber except one which was nearest to the first fork of the tree containingsix. At our approachnine old birds flew to a sandbarin the centreof the river, on which, later, they wereobserved to be fishing,but aftertheir departure no signof life was visibleat the nests. A recentlydead, full leatherednestling of largesize which had beenkilled by a fall from abovelay under the trees. We proceededto pitchour tent in a gladeof the cotton- woods,choosing a situation about a hundredyards off whereunob- structedobservations could be made on severalnests through binoculars.It was found that the birds,both old and young, were extremelywary, so that until all talkingand campprepara- tions ceasedthere was no sign from either. With such a small numberof neststhe peculiar odor of decayingfish from the heronry, althoughstrong, was not veryunpleasant. After a longperiod of silencethe youngherons, beco•ning hungry, stood quite erect, when it was seen that five nests contained four birds in each and the remainingtwo but threeoccupants. It is a likelysupposition that all sevennests, at first,held four birds each, as the nestling picked up underthe tree accountedfor one,while another might easily have fallen into the river. 254 CA•:RON,Nesting o/ß GreatBlue Heron. [.Julyrank The young heronspresented a remarkablesight, as in their eagernessto seethe parentsarrive they stretched their longnecks to the fullestextent and with bills pointingstraight up in the air lookedfrom belowlike so many snakes. This extraordinaryatti- tude is shownat the left handbranch in the photographof the tree top (Plate V), but it was found impossibleto obtain a near view becauseat the slightestunfamiliar soundthe youngherons croucheddown as low as possible,maintaining co•nplete silence. This, no doubt,accounted for nonebeing see n uponour arrival, but it seemedstrange that suchlarge birds couldhide so easily and, subsequently,their abilitythus to concealthemselves appeared to me the most strikingfeature about them. That three or four youngherons could make themselves invisible from below in quar- tersonly large enough for onebird, as shownby the photographs, waslittle shortof incr.edible,nevertheless, they •nanaged to do so. On the first day of our arrival a thunderstormcooled the air, but next morning, the remarkableeffect which the hungry young heronsproduced was further increased by the rapid inflationand contractionof their gulletsas they pantedin the hot sun. They seemedto sufferas muchas the youngGolden Eagles (see Auk, Vol. XXII, p. 162), and, from their situation,being exposed to all vicissitudesof weather,it is certainthat the parentsshaded the•n duringintense heat. When unalarmedthey kept up a continuous soft croakinglike frogswhich, on the appearanceof the parents, waschanged to a vociferousquacking like the ducks in a farm-yard. I wasinformed by Mrs. Murphy,who lived at a ranchnear, that this heronrywas established here for the first time and that three of the birds beganto lay on April 23, when only three nestswere completed.As the periodof incubationis about 28 days some of the youngherons were now five ;veeks old. We arrivedat the heronryat 2 p.M. and the old birdscould not summonsufficient courageto recommencefeeding their youngfor four hours,during the latterpart of whichtime my wife and I remainedquiet in the tent. The heronsflew frownthe river directlyto the nests,but, too cautiousto alightimmediately, circled round and roundabove the trees utteringa harshlow croak recallingCanada Geese. Even after the fears of the majority had been allayed, severalherons continuedcircling, passing frequently within gunshot of the tent, Vol.1906xxIII] J C•a•rRo•r,Nesting o/ GreatBlue Heron. 255 whichthey regarded with suchsuspicion that a sentinelwas perched on a high boughkeeping watch on it eachtime that the nestlings werefed. From thistime (6 r. n.) until 11 r. n. the parentscatered to the wantsof their offspring,and sinceout of a total of fourteen old birds only three or four came at one time, the operationwas practicallyincessant. After dark the arrival of the parentswas signalledby the quicktransition from a temporarylull to the furi- ousquacking above mentioned on the part of the youngbirds. The latter were fed on the small fish known as 'suckers' here, and are able to managequite a large gullet-full,two of the fish whichfell under the tree beingseven inches long. Both parentsalternately fed the nestlings,nor wouldit havebeen possible otherwise. Be- tweenthe screaming,flapping, and strugglingof the youngto be fed, their rivalryfor the first fish, and the effortsof the parentto satisfythem it seemedas thoughthe frail boughmust break under their unitedweight. As is well known,herons feed their youngby regurgitationand the end of the processhas been thus graphically described: "The strugglebetween the young heron and the parent seemslike a wrestling-match,the formerstanding up almostas high as the lat- ter, the tree swayingto and fro, and both birds staggeringupon the nestto suchan extentthat themother is occasionallycompelled to stepoff and standon oneof the branchesto avoidfalling. This struggleoccurs when all the food has beengiven, and the mother is seekingto extricateher bill from that of her young."• On this occasionthe nestlingsbecame so excitedas to leavethe nestaltogether for the branch,and only savedthemselves from a fall into the riverbelow by the combineduse of bill, feet,and wings. In a long-leggedbird like a heronthese arboreal gymnastics are very curiousto witness,and are sometimesunsuccessful, as evi- dencedby themany bodies found beneath the treesin largecolonies. The onlyaccessible nest in the colonyof whichI am nowwriting containedthree large full featheredyoung belonging to the same brood as the unfortunate bird which had fallen under the tree. As it was impossibleto make a photographicexposure of them in t Water Birds of North America, by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Vol. I, p. 19, 1884. 256 CAuEsON,Nestiruj o/Great Blue Heron. I.J•uly['Auk situ one was loweredto a brokencottonwood stump underneath the nestingtree. The bird, however,though it could stand so erect in the nest, refusedto do so for even the fraction of a second outside,and as no amountof coaxing,nor our absence,had any effectin alteringits intention,only a pictureof the crouchingpose couldbe obtained. The temporaryremoval of this youngheron causedone of its companionsto leaveits own nestand climbmuch higherup to enteranother. Severaltimes it seemedlikely to fall into the water but managedto regainits balancewith violentflap- ping
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