Stalking the shoreline: Where to spot great herons and egrets

I was very fortunate to grow up on a good-sized muddy lake not far from where I'm sitting. There, I could watch muskrats, catch sunfish, and observe a particular great blue heron.

Every spring we would take a raft out from the shore and anchor it in the lake's muddy bottom. The raft was composed of a canvas-covered piece of plywood attached to empty metal drums. There was a ladder which had metal hoops on each side to grab as you climbed out of the water.

For a young human, it was a great place to swim. For a great blue heron, it was a great place to hunt.

Every summer, using a pair of clunky binoculars, I could watch this heron standing on the edge of the raft waiting for a fish to swim near the surface.

With a sudden slashing motion, the bird's dagger-like beak struck the water and ended the life of an unwary fish. I watched this again and again. The bird's predatory single-mindedness and patience was amazing.

This four-foot tall, grayish-blue bird demonstrated some heron truisms. They often hunt alone, and they hunt where food is readily available. In the case of the raft, fish would often swim in its shade to avoid the heat of a hot summer sun on the murky surface waters. The fish also seemed to like to nibble on plants and invertebrates clinging to the barrels.

Before proceeding, let's quickly review the three tallest birds that can be seen in our neighborhood: great blue herons, great egrets and sandhill cranes.

Herons and egrets belong to the same group of wading birds. Five-foot tall cranes are in a different bird category. Herons have broad wings, short tails, and long legs. They are often seen standing or slowly stalking along a pond's shoreline. The birds are looking for aquatic meals such as frogs, fish, and crayfish.

Great egrets hunt in similar locations and are roughly 40 inches tall. They are noticeably all white. Brownish-gray sandhill cranes stride through meadows, cornfields, and other less wet areas in search of grains, berries, insects as well as small mammals and amphibians. (More on cranes in a subsequent column.)

In flight, herons and egrets fold their necks in an "S" shape. Cranes fly with their necks outstretched. Let's stop there. I've made this heron/crane neck comparison for years but never really gave it much thought. I thought it was like wearing your shirt tucked in or untucked. But really, how do you fold your neck into an “S” shape? I mean we can look down at our feet or tuck into a ball and turn a somersault, but fold our vertebrae into an "S"?

I found the answer in "The Unfeathered Bird" by Katrina van Grouw. It turns out that the sixth vertebrae in the heron's neck is elongated and mounted at right angles to the adjacent vertebrae. While some of us may complain about having a kink in our necks, the herons have a kink by internal design. This “hinge” explains how the heron can snap its head at prey with such speed and precision.

This brings me back to the heron on the raft. With its drab gray coloration, it didn't stand out much. The bright white egret, by contrast, is quite obvious. Its bright white feathers made it a target for hunters. This egret's showy feathers were prized hat decorations at the turn of the 20th century. In 1903, egret plumes were worth twice their weight in gold.

Not surprisingly, a great egret was chosen as the symbol for the nascent National Audubon Society. That conservation group cut its teeth fighting to protect the egret. As the great egrets here at Stillman testify, Audubon's early mission has been accomplished.

As you watch these bright white birds stalking the shoreline, you can't help but wonder, “How come tadpoles and crayfish can't see them coming?”

OK, imagine you are underwater in a pool or a lake on a summer day. You open your eyes and look up. What color do you see? Whether it is sunny or partly cloudy, you will see white or light colored tones. The white egret blends in perfectly.

Speaking of white, let's get back to that raft. If the great blue heron had been perching there for a few days, you could expect to find liberal amounts of white feces sprayed across the canvas. Of course, that had to be washed off first thing. I didn't mind that task at all. To put it another way, I had no egrets.

Mark Spreyer is the executive director of the Stillman Nature Center in Barrington. Email him at stillnc@wildblue.net.