The Patient Predator: Foraging and Population Ecology of the Great Blue Heron Ardea Herodias in British Columbia
- ISBN-10
- 0662231449
- ISBN-13
- 9780662231448
- Pages
- 44
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1995
- Publisher
- Canadian Wildlife Service
- Authors
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Robert William Butler
Description
This report describes a six-year study of the great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on British Columbia's Pacific coast. The study period included five breeding seasons and four winters. The researchers studied a colony of 85-100 pairs on Sidney Island and visited about 40 other colonies around the Strait of Georgia over 1986-91. This report presents the results of the study, with information on the heron's diet, food availability, foraging behavior, use of habitats by age-classes and sex-classes, seasonal shifts in habitat use, spacing of breeding colonies in relation to predators and foraging habitats, effects of nest site selection and time of breeding on breeding success, and local survival of age-classes.
